WWW:::Mechanize and credentials

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

Hey all, I am trying to set up a short Mecahnize script to request a page, but for some reason the passing of credentials isn't doing what I expect. The reponse I get seems to be implying that the credentials are not getting passed.
Here is the code I am using:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w

use WWW::Mechanize;
use strict;

my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new( );
my $url = 'https://mybox/bin/engine.cgi';
my $base = 'https://mybox';
my $username = 'foo';
my $password = 'foo';
$mech->credentials($base, $username, $password);
$mech->get( $url );

use Data::Dumper;

print Dumper($mech);
[download]

Result:

HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>401 Authorization Required</TITLE>
</HEAD><BODY>
<H1>Authorization Required</H1>
This server could not verify that you
are authorized to access the document
requested.  Either you supplied the wrong
credentials (e.g., bad password), or your
browser doesn\'t understand how to supply
the credentials required.<P>
<HR>
<ADDRESS>Apache/1.3.28 Server at [ip address] Port 443</ADDRESS>
</BODY></HTML>
[download]

Two items:
1) I know the URL is correct
2) I know the username and password combination is correct.
Any help you call can provide is appreciated.

Edit: fixed code so that is matches what I really had ( both netlocs matching ).

Comment on WWW:::Mechanize and credentials Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: WWW:::Mechanize and credentials by brian_d_foy (Abbot) on Mar 09, 2005 at 15:35 UTC
The credentials method comes straight from LWP::UserAgent (since WWW::Mechanize is a subclass). It takes four arguments: the base, realm, user, and password. You don't have the realm in there, so the user name becomes the realm, and so on. "Normal" browsers do this in two steps: they try to fetch the resource and get a 401 response that contains the challenge (which has the realm information). They ask the user for the name and password, which they then use to request the resource again. They save that information for future accesses to the same realm. The realm helps the user-agent keep things straight on the user side, and the server doesn't really care about it otherwise. Sometimes you'll need to pull the auth method from the challenge, but usually it's just "Basic". If you want to do it in one step (so you don't get the 401 at all), you stick the "Authorization" header in the initial request. It makes no difference to the server that you don't know the realm name. With HTTP::Request you just add the header to the request. In WWW::Mechanize, you can use the add_header() method. The HTTP specification (RFC 2616) explains the format of the Authorization header. -- brian d foy <bdfoy@cpan.org>	[reply]
Re^2: WWW:::Mechanize and credentials by petdance (Parson) on Mar 10, 2005 at 17:41 UTC
Nice. I've added this to the Mech Cookbook. xoxo, Andy	[reply]
Re: WWW:::Mechanize and credentials by saintmike (Vicar) on Mar 09, 2005 at 15:29 UTC
The `credentials` method expects four parameters: `$ua->credentials( $netloc, $realm, $uname, $pass )` Also, your `$netloc` doesn't match the netloc in the URL. `WWW::Mechanize` (aka the underlying `LWP::UserAgent`) will only send the credentials if both netlocs are matching.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: WWW:::Mechanize and credentials by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on Mar 09, 2005 at 15:52 UTC
Sifmole, While the other answers in this thread are good, sometimes it helps to have example code: `#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; use WWW::Mechanize; my $url= 'http://10.11.12.13/password.html'; my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new( autocheck => 1 ); $mech->credentials( '10.11.12.13:80', 'ABCDEF', 'admin' => 'password' ); $mech->get( $url ); print $mech->content();` [download] Cheers - L~R	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: WWW:::Mechanize and credentials by petdance (Parson) on Mar 10, 2005 at 17:42 UTC
Nice. I've added this to the Mech Cookbook. xoxo, Andy	[reply]
Re: WWW:::Mechanize and credentials by Sifmole (Chaplain) on Mar 09, 2005 at 16:09 UTC
Thank you all for your replies, It is working now.	[reply]
Re^2: WWW:::Mechanize and credentials by Anonymous Monk on Dec 19, 2013 at 08:44 UTC
please will you do help of me.i am getting same problem like as you but till now it is not resolve.	[reply]