Mozilla::Mechanize question

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

Has anybody managed to install Mozilla::Mechanize on Debian?

Also, anybody here using Mozilla::Mechanize or its sibling, Win32::IE::Mechanize? Can it handle onSubmit Javascript and follow link to javascript: links, which in turn opens some link in another frame? I'm trying to automate pulling balance inquiries from an Internet banking site, which utilizes a lot of Javascript and frames.

Comment on Mozilla::Mechanize question

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Re: Mozilla::Mechanize question by ikegami (Patriarch) on Oct 10, 2007 at 05:57 UTC
Win32::IE::Mechanize can definitely handle JS. Win32::IE::Mechanize simply runs IE as a OLE control, so it does everything just like IE would, including using and changing IE's cookies, cache and history. Think of the module as a remote control for IE. Mozilla::Mechanize is suppose to be the same thing for Mozilla. It should handle JS without problem. I have never used it.	[reply]
Re^2: Mozilla::Mechanize question by sanPerl (Friar) on Oct 10, 2007 at 09:27 UTC
Althouh Win32::IE::Mechanize uses IE as a OLE control. I have faced problem of login to a website which was using heavy javasripts. This module can help you (I mean this is a best of available options) however it cannot be used as a general solution.	[reply]
Re: Mozilla::Mechanize question by Gangabass (Vicar) on Oct 10, 2007 at 03:56 UTC
I'm think No :-(. It very hard to handle Javascript such as handlers and javascript: links. You can try install LiveHTTPHeaders for Firefox and record request which your browser do than you make some page activity (e.g. clicking a button). And after that you can repeat those requests in your script.	[reply]
Re: Mozilla::Mechanize question by mkirank (Chaplain) on Oct 10, 2007 at 22:23 UTC
have you looked at WWW::Selenium ?	[reply]
Re^2: Mozilla::Mechanize question by Anonymous Monk on Oct 11, 2007 at 00:36 UTC
From the Selenium website: "Selenium Core uses a unique mechanism which allows it to run on so many platforms. Written in pure JavaScript/DHTML, you copy Selenium Core tests directly into your your application webserver, allowing the tests to run in any supported browser on the client-side. Thus, you must have write access to the machine your web application server is running on to install Selenium Core." Well, this means you can't use it to mechanize against remote/3rd party websites.	[reply]
Re^3: Mozilla::Mechanize question by mkirank (Chaplain) on Oct 11, 2007 at 15:29 UTC
You can use remote control and need not have to use selenium core..I have not used it using https but as per the tutorials it is possible	[reply]


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