in reply to Grab text from web page using Win32::OLE

Use Win32::IE::Mechanize.
  • Comment on Re: Grab text from web page using Win32::OLE

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Re^2: Grab text from web page using Win32::OLE
by athanasia (Pilgrim) on Oct 13, 2008 at 10:14 UTC
    Hi,
    Thanks for the link. I had a look at the Win32::IE::Mechanize module but can not find much info apart from the CPAN page. I found people use the following piece of code to e.g. set a field in the page and submit it 
    $ie->form_name( $name )
$ie->field($name,$value)

    [download]
    However, some initial tests have failed.
    I tried to use $name and $field that I found in the source code of the page http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ldb/ 
    <form id="ldb" name="ldb" method="get" action="/times_fares/ldb/;jsess
+ionid=10BE7B01E6848F6282BF503A24CD606F" onsubmit="kbSubmit(this)">
<div id="contentbg">
    <h1><em>Live</em> Departures &amp; Arrivals</h1>
    <div class="jpbody">
    
            
                <p>Please enter the entire, partial name or 3-letter c
+ode for your station.</p>
        
        
        
        <fieldset>
            <div class="station">
                
                    
                        <label for="mainStation">Station:</label>
                        <input id="mainStation" name="mainStation" typ
+e="text" value="" size="30"/>
                        <div id="mainStationAc" class="sacDiv"></div>

    [download]
    but it seems that the code snippet 
    my $url = "http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ldb/";
$ie = Win32::IE::Mechanize->new( visible => 1 );
$ie->get( $url );
my $formname = "ldb";
my $gotform = $ie->form_name( $formname );

    [download]
    returns an undefined value for $gotform. And, of course, the same applies when I try to set a field, e.g. mainStation to a value.
    Furthermore, this is not exactly what I want to do. I want to get the user input when the user submits the form and not set it myself. Is this possible through Win32::IE::Mechanize?

    Sorry for so many questions, but I am a total newbie in working with perl + web forms.
    Athanasia
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      An update on the previous.
      Working with another web page (in.yahoo.com) and adding a sleep 1 after the $ie->get($url) solved the problem of setting a value to a field and submitting the form correctly.
      However, the last question remains. Can I open a browser window through Win32::IE::Mechanize, then let the user type the input (e.g. some text for search) and grab this input in some way through this Perl module?

      Thanks in advance
[reply]
        I don't know if IE gives access to that. Have you tried it?
[reply]

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