Internet Screen Scraping

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

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Internet Screen Scraping by ww (Archbishop) on Mar 18, 2015 at 17:37 UTC
Insufficient data for an on-target reply. So, relying on guessing: To access a site, extract, etc: see webscraping ?node_id=3989;BIT=web%20scrape Super Search (on this site) and your favorite search engine web-wide are your friends. Send what data to the (same?) website from which "Form Data" from what sort of "application" to which "Web Site Form?" I infer (very tentatively) that you may be seeking a tool to populate a multi-entry form on the same page from which you've scraped field names (but why "links, & buttons?"). But I can't infer your "application('s) API, nor whether you expect to manually populate the "Form Data" (that you're sending back) or somehow have it populated by your "application." Please provide more detail. Spirit of the Monastery	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Internet Screen Scraping by sauoq (Abbot) on Mar 18, 2015 at 19:59 UTC
I am looking for a package that will access a website, extract the field names, links, & buttons. Easy, peasy. Just install WWW::Mechanize and you're good to go! (As you don't seem very interested in discussing details, I'll trust you can work them out.) Good luck! `-sauoq "My two cents aren't worth a dime.";`	[reply]
Re^2: Internet Screen Scraping by zeuscon (Initiate) on Mar 22, 2015 at 20:00 UTC
Thankyou sauoq! I have been playing with it for the past couple of days & appears to have what I need. However, I'm a dummy...I am looking to interact with the website. I have followed the tutorials but I am not getting the browser on the screen. I am missing something extremely simple.	[reply]
Re: Internet Screen Scraping by Anonymous Monk on Mar 19, 2015 at 17:04 UTC
is website scraping like for example goods search engines like kelkoo.com legal?	[reply]
Re^2: Internet Screen Scraping by zeuscon (Initiate) on Mar 23, 2015 at 18:54 UTC
I am simply looking to logon to a website that has fillable forms. Once logged on, I want to send the form data to the appropriate form fields and when completed, I want to turn website control over to the user to manually update or modify any existing fields that were not completed through my scripting process.	[reply]
Re^3: Internet Screen Scraping by Corion (Patriarch) on Mar 23, 2015 at 18:59 UTC
Maybe you want to automate a browser? Win32::IEAutomation does that for Internet Explorer and you can automate Firefox using WWW::Mechanize::Firefox.	[reply]