Submitting to web pages

Hi Paul. Thanks for replying to my post -let me clarify the problem.

Many web pages have text entry fields into which the user has to enter their
search requirements etc and then press the "SUBMIT" button; the website then
takes the user to a new URL based on the search engine's results.

www.teletext.co.uk/finance is a simple example of this. Enter DXNS in the
"Company name or symbol" field on the right of the screen and click "GO".
You will be taken to another URL which displays a share price for the DXNS
stock. (I'll refer to this page as "page 2")

My problem is that I want a java program to imitate the action of entering
data into these text entry fields and then to initiate the "GO" submission.

Currently, I am manually cutting and pasting the URL from "page 2" above
into a text file which my java program can read in and then go straight to
that URL.

Hence, this is BYPASSING the text-field entry stage rather than MIMICKING
it. And this is not a very elegant method - there must be a way for a java
program to mimic a user by "entering" data into search fields itself.

I hope this clarifies my problem.

Regards
Andy

"Paul Clapham" <pclapham@core-mark.com> wrote:
>I was going to tell you to create a URL and read from its input stream,
but
>when I read more I saw you had already figured that out. So what's the
>inelegance you want to get rid of?
>
>PC2
>
>"Andy" <ajmassey@london.com> wrote in message
>news:3c05048d$1@147.208.176.211...
>>
>> I think this is going to be either a can of worms or dead easy, but I
>can't
>> find anything in my Java textbooks about this......
>>
>> How can a Java application submit information into a webpage form and
then
>> read the results back as a file?
>>
>> For example - www.teletext.co.uk/finance has a text entry field on the
>right
>> hand side which takes a stock code, such as DXNS. Conceptually, I want
my
>> program to imitate a user by entering a string into the entry field and
>pressing
>> the "GO" link, and then read the resulting web page for the search's
>results.
>>
>> Entering a code in the above page's text field results in a very long
URL
>> for the next page the user sees - at the moment, I cut & paste those URLs
>> into a file which my program reads and then accesses directly using "URL"
>> and "InputStream" classes. This works fine, but it's not an elegant
>solution.
>>
>> Any advice much appreciated, or links to code which does this sort of
>thing.
>>
>> Andy (two months experience of Java programming, and loving it so far!)
>>
>
>

Indeed I could, but...

a) in this specific example, for some reason the URLs stop working after
a couple of days, so I'd have to keep editing and recompiling the source
file.

b) I'd like to find a general way for a program to mimic a user as described
below, so I can write programs which can interrogate websites via the search
text entry fields on their homepages etc.

There MUST be a way of doing this.

"Paul Clapham" <pclapham@core-mark.com> wrote:
>What's the point of the text file? Couldn't you just paste that URL
>directly into your Java program? It would look like this:
>
>URL dixons = new
>URL("http://www.teletext.co.uk/finance/sharedetail.asp?X=%8C%91%AA%A9%A5%CF%
>8D%CE%BE%87%BA%9F%BA%CA%87v%7F%80%85q%9E%B1%B8%8Cq%A1o%9Al%B1z%B2%A7%9B");
>
>PC2
>
>"andy" <andrew.massey@totalise.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:3c0c8646$1@147.208.176.211...
>>
>> Hi Paul. Thanks for replying to my post -let me clarify the problem.
>>
>> Many web pages have text entry fields into which the user has to enter
>their
>> search requirements etc and then press the "SUBMIT" button; the website
>then
>> takes the user to a new URL based on the search engine's results.
>>
>> www.teletext.co.uk/finance is a simple example of this. Enter DXNS in
the
>> "Company name or symbol" field on the right of the screen and click "GO".
>> You will be taken to another URL which displays a share price for the
DXNS
>> stock. (I'll refer to this page as "page 2")
>>
>> My problem is that I want a java program to imitate the action of entering
>> data into these text entry fields and then to initiate the "GO"
>submission.
>>
>> Currently, I am manually cutting and pasting the URL from "page 2" above
>> into a text file which my java program can read in and then go straight
to
>> that URL.
>>
>> Hence, this is BYPASSING the text-field entry stage rather than MIMICKING
>> it. And this is not a very elegant method - there must be a way for a
java
>> program to mimic a user by "entering" data into search fields itself.
>>
>> I hope this clarifies my problem.
>>
>> Regards
>> Andy
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Paul Clapham" <pclapham@core-mark.com> wrote:
>> >I was going to tell you to create a URL and read from its input stream,
>> but
>> >when I read more I saw you had already figured that out. So what's the
>> >inelegance you want to get rid of?
>> >
>> >PC2
>> >
>> >"Andy" <ajmassey@london.com> wrote in message
>> >news:3c05048d$1@147.208.176.211...
>> >>
>> >> I think this is going to be either a can of worms or dead easy, but
I
>> >can't
>> >> find anything in my Java textbooks about this......
>> >>
>> >> How can a Java application submit information into a webpage form and
>> then
>> >> read the results back as a file?
>> >>
>> >> For example - www.teletext.co.uk/finance has a text entry field on
the
>> >right
>> >> hand side which takes a stock code, such as DXNS. Conceptually, I want
>> my
>> >> program to imitate a user by entering a string into the entry field
and
>> >pressing
>> >> the "GO" link, and then read the resulting web page for the search's
>> >results.
>> >>
>> >> Entering a code in the above page's text field results in a very long
>> URL
>> >> for the next page the user sees - at the moment, I cut & paste those
>URLs
>> >> into a file which my program reads and then accesses directly using
>"URL"
>> >> and "InputStream" classes. This works fine, but it's not an elegant
>> >solution.
>> >>
>> >> Any advice much appreciated, or links to code which does this sort
of
>> >thing.
>> >>
>> >> Andy (two months experience of Java programming, and loving it so far!)
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>