CGI script and captcha input

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

Hi, i am trying to write a script that will scrape a page and display the captcha image for me to enter and then continue with the input however ive run into a problem, here is the code i have so far...

my $page = $mech->content;
if ($page =~ /Please enter/) {
#print $mech->content;
my $captchaimage = $mech->find_image( url_regex => qr/site.com\/captch
+a/i );
$captchaimage = $captchaimage->url;
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "Enter the letters to continue!\n" .
      "<form>\n".
      "<img src='" . $captchaimage . "'>\n".
      '</br>' .
      '<input type=text name=\'CAPTCHA\'>' .
      '</br>' .
      '<input type=submit value=\'Continue...\'>' .
      "\n</form>";
if (param()) {
my $captcha = param('CAPTCHA');
chomp($captcha);
$mech->submit_form(
    form_number => 1,
    fields => { 'CAPTCHA' => $captcha }
    );

$page = $mech->content;
if ($page =~ /Thank you/) { print "Success!\n"; }
else { print "Error!\n" }
}
}
else { print "Error!\n"; }
[download]

What im trying to figure out is how can i get the script to wait for the input and then continue with the rest of the forms.

Comment on CGI script and captcha input Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: CGI script and captcha input by jhourcle (Prior) on Jun 02, 2007 at 03:21 UTC
Although you're proving that you're a human by doing this, many CAPTCHAs exist because they're intentionally trying to make it more difficult to run large batches of jobs against their system. I can only assume you wouldn't be going through this effort for submitting a single job, and so I don't feel it would be a good idea to help you in your endeavor. I know that CAPTCHAs can be defeated in a number of ways, but their existance can be taken as sign that they would prefer you not to screw with their web form.	[reply]
Re: CGI script and captcha input by moritz (Cardinal) on Jun 02, 2007 at 10:46 UTC
You can't let a CGI script wait for input. CGI works this way: you deliver pages to the user, and when they are displayed, the user choses to fill in forms and send them - or he doesn't. To implement what you're about to you need a way to introduce state, that can be achieved with cookies that store session informations. Take a look at CGI::Session::Tutorial, it should help you. Perl 6 in German	[reply]