WWW::Mechanize::Firefox, select with multiple names

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

I'm doing some web scraping and falling short.

#!/usr/local/bin/perl 

use strict;
use warnings;

use WWW::Mechanize::Firefox;

use 5.010;

my $mech = WWW::Mechanize::Firefox->new(
  autoclose => 0,
);

my $url =
q(https://selfservice.mypurdue.purdue.edu/prod/bwckctlg.p_disp_dyn_ctl
+g?);

$mech->get($url);

say q(got url);

say q(choose term);
$mech->form_number(1);
$mech->field('cat_term_in', '201220');
$mech->submit();

say q(choose subject);
$mech->form_number(1);
$mech->select('sel_subj', ['AAE']);
$mech->submit();

say $mech->content();
[download]

This will generate.

got url
choose term
choose subject
2 elements found for './/*[(local-name(.)="input" or local-name(.)="se
+lect" or local-name(.)="textarea") and @name="sel_subj"]' at ./get_co
+urse_descriptions2.pl line 28
[download]

I think this is because the html for the page has:

<FORM ACTION="/prod/bwckctlg.p_display_courses" METHOD="POST">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="term_in" VALUE="201220">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="sel_subj" VALUE="dummy">
^^^^^ Relavant Hidden Input Type
<SNIPPED HTML>

vvvvvvvvv Relevant Select Name
<SELECT NAME="sel_subj" SIZE="3" MULTIPLE ID="subj_id">
<OPTION VALUE="AAE">AAE-Aero & Astro Engineering
[download]

How the do I get it to properly select a value? I think the problem lies in that there is a hidden input type of the same name as the select. The select has a label and id defined but I'm not sure how to use those. I think this script might work in plain WWW::Mechanize but it just returns the same page without giving me this error. Thanks, gizmo

Comment on WWW::Mechanize::Firefox, select with multiple names Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: WWW::Mechanize::Firefox, select with multiple names by Corion (Patriarch) on Oct 28, 2011 at 20:02 UTC
I think you can also pass a DOM object instead of a name, so I'd try: `my $select = $mech->selector('#sel_subj', single => 1); $mech->select( $select, ['AAE']);` [download] Update: As noted below, I shouldn't have put the `name` attribute there but the `id` attribute.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: WWW::Mechanize::Firefox, select with multiple names by gizmo_mathboy (Friar) on Oct 28, 2011 at 20:09 UTC
While that didn't work. I think the DOM object is subj_id. This did work: `my $select = $mech->selector('#subj_id', single => 1); $mech->select($select, ['AAE']);` [download] Thanks for the help. I knew there had to be a way to pass the DOM/CSS stuff into it. Thanks, gizmo	[reply] [d/l]