in reply to testing website with login

As jonadab says, it is essential to check the HTML source of the site you are accessing to make certain you have the correct field names, and to insure you're not trying to put 20 chars into a field with a limit of 10, for example...

If you still have trouble after checking the source, I would try using a module such as HTTP::Recorder or WWW::Mechanize::Shell to record a successful manual form submission. The output of HTTP::Recorder, for instance, can be "dropped" right into your WWW::Mechanize scripts.

Another important tool for finding out what is really happening behind the scenes between server and browser is a protocol analyzer such as Ethereal.

Don't forget that Super Search is your friend here on PM. Many questions such as yours have been asked recently...

HTH,

planetscape

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Re^2: testing website with login
by hesco (Deacon) on Mar 12, 2006 at 20:45 UTC
    Thank you so much. WWW::Mechanize::Shell was just the tool I needed. And thanks to whoever pointed me at the SuperSearch tool here. It helped me search through a tremendous backlog of wisdom and experience in my quest. In fact, it got me here.

    I was running out of developed perl options I had yet found when I started to read about python's twill-shell. Installed it even (at the cost of a trusted library) and had played around with it. Was imagining using it for the tests I couldn't figure out with Test::More, when I found this post.

    I'm still checking out ethereal. Need to spend more time with its docs to get a clue, I guess. But it certainly looks promising.

    Even wrote an enthusiastic email about this module to my coding buddies.

    Thanks again.

    -- Hugh

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