WWW::Mechanize - Check if link can be followed

Microcebus has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear Monks, I want to gain information from several websites using WWW::Mechanize and the following code:

use WWW:Mechanize
$website=WWW::Mechanize->new();
$website->get('http://www.website.com');

$link_id=0;
while(1)
    {
    $link_id++;
    if($website->follow_link(n=>$link_id))
        {
        do_something();
        $website->back();
        }
    else
        {
        last;
        }
    }
[download]

The problem is, that the program crashes if the link is not found or a link cannot be followed (e.g. an email address returns the error 'can't find sendmail' and exits). How can I prevent the program from crashing?

Comment on WWW::Mechanize - Check if link can be followed Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: WWW::Mechanize - Check if link can be followed by Corion (Patriarch) on Jun 25, 2013 at 07:23 UTC
Did you read the WWW::Mechanize documentation about the `autocheck` attribute?	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: WWW::Mechanize - Check if link can be followed by Microcebus (Beadle) on Jun 25, 2013 at 07:37 UTC
Thanks. I didn't know that. $website=WWW::Mechanize->new(autocheck=>0); did the job.	[reply]
Re^3: WWW::Mechanize - Check if link can be followed by Corion (Patriarch) on Jun 25, 2013 at 07:53 UTC
You might want to add error checking to your code now, because now WWW::Mechanize will not automatically stop the program when it encounters an error.	[reply]