Automate database search

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

Can anyone direct me to some good resources applicable to the following task. I'm trying to automate pulling data from a database available online. I have a list of IDs that I can use to search for a company, and then I need to select the tab on the page that contains the link to the page that has links to the files I need to download. Is this something that the Mech module can take care of?

Comment on Automate database search

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Re: Automate database search by xyzzy (Pilgrim) on Jul 03, 2012 at 21:15 UTC
It might help if you clarify whether you are connecting to the database directly and need to automate/process SQL queries (in which case you would use one of the DBI modules) or if you are connecting to a web interface/application and need to automate/process HTTP queries (not as much experience with that but LWP would seem a logical place to start) `$,=qq.\n.;print q.\/\/____\/.,q./\ \ / / \\.,q. /_/__.,q..` Happy, sober, smart: pick two.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Automate database search by onelesd (Pilgrim) on Jul 03, 2012 at 23:08 UTC
WWW::Mechanize::Firefox can impersonate you very well. You may have to work around it's peculiarities, but it's certainly capable if you are.	[reply]
Re: Automate database search by Anonymous Monk on Jul 03, 2012 at 21:13 UTC
Is this something that the Mech module can take care of? Maybe yes, maybe no, it all depends what you mean by the generic terms "database available online" -- use technical language	[reply]