Is it possible to mimic the POST method of the FORM in HTML using XMLHTTP (or similar) so that I can capture the returning webpage in a textstream to pull out information that I need?

Cross domain security is set so that I cannot create, manipulate or control the pages in HTML format, so seeking a reasonable alternative.

Any help appreciated... and this is where I have started.


Dim sWebsite

sWebsite = "http://...../"

Set xmlhttp = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")


    ' *** FORM CONTENT ***
    ' <FORM name='Contact' method='POST' action='Login.asp'>
    ' <INPUT name='Organise__Recnum' type='hidden' value='0'>
    ' <INPUT name='Contacts__Recnum' type='hidden' value='0'>
    ' <INPUT name='ChangedStates' type='hidden' value=''>
    ' <INPUT name='Contacts__Logon_No' type='text' value='0000'>
    ' <INPUT name='Contacts__Password' type='password' value='00000000'>
    ' </FORM>

    xmlhttp.open "POST", sWebsite & "Login.asp", False

    xmlhttp.send

    Response.Write xmlhttp.responseText

Set xmlhttp = Nothing

Regards,

Sean Anderson

__________________
Regards,

Sean Anderson

You can add a button to your page and wire its onClick event to some AJAX and then you can grab all of your form values; as long as you don't call form.submit() the page will never post.

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I will only tell you how to do it, not do it for you.
Unless, of course, you want to hire me to do work for you.

^^Thats my signature

I think that you may have my scenario muddled.

My page (http://localhost/test.asp) is to submit the information to someone else's page (http://someone/login.asp) and I want to interrogate the HTML that is returned; because it contains a second form that has session specific information that I need.

Hope that this makes sense.

Regards,

Sean Anderson

Now you have lost me. I understand that you are posting to http://someone/login.asp and, as i understand, you are passing some sort of variables via the querystring to that site, is it also correct that the second domain is going to be returning HTML to your domain?



-------------------------
I will only tell you how to do it, not do it for you.
Unless, of course, you want to hire me to do work for you.

^^Thats my signature

If I go to the login.asp page, there is a form (content as shown in my opening message, with a submit button, too, of course).

Yes, the second domain (out of my control) will return HTML that contains a new form where you select your location ... but also has values in hidden INPUTS, which I need in order to submit to the next page.


Regards,

Sean Anderson

Ok, I see what you are trying to do. Yes this should be possible using the XMLHttp object on the server side though, I am not sure how your response is going to come back.

I do the same thing you are asking when connecting to UPS's Shipping APIs but I know exactly what format I am getting back (XML) so that it is structured a certain way and I can parse it effectively. You are going to have to write a text parser that will parse your request to grab the values you need while, at the same time, preserving the data so that it can still be displayed by the browser.

-------------------------
I will only tell you how to do it, not do it for you.
Unless, of course, you want to hire me to do work for you.

^^Thats my signature

Indeed, I have the XMLHTTP at server side and would seem (from today's investigations) that I need:

xmlhttp.open "POST", "http://url/login.asp", False
xmlhttp.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
xmlhttp.send "Contacts__Password=00000000&Contacts__Logon_No=00 00"

When I examine the content of the xmlhttp.responseText it appears to be the same page (ie. not logged in) ... wonder if it's likely that they are checking for this approach to their pages?

I have no idea of the exact format of what would come back from the login.asp page, but based on the style of coding that I have seen so far, would expect it to be nothing more than some basic HTML coding.

Regards,

Sean Anderson

Well, what you are asking is a little bit more involved.

Here is why. You collect some sort of creditnals on your page (lest say username and password) and then you need to, really, supply that information to the login.asp page and then raise THAT pages form handler. (I am guessing here, but based on what you have said that seems likely, that the login.asp page has both a username and password field on it as well)

So, your xml request IS working, you are posting to that page but there is nothing on that page to handle your post so you are getting the default page. hth.



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I will only tell you how to do it, not do it for you.
Unless, of course, you want to hire me to do work for you.

^^Thats my signature

A bit more patience and a lot of double checking for spellings and it does work.

xmlhttp.open "POST", "http://url/login.asp", False
xmlhttp.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
xmlhttp.send "Contacts__Password=00000000&Contacts__Logon_No=00 00"

The content of the HTML on the "http://url" server will now be captured by the xmlhttp.ResponseText, which I can manipulate and display as I wish.

Downsides to this are that even the slightest change of spelling on the "http://url" server for the names of the fields in forms and my page(s) will fall over. This will be a pain as I am writing the code not only into pages that will appear on webservers throughout the UK, but into a DLL that will be installed throughout the UK ... all of which will need updating in such a scenario, until I can convince these people to open up an XML interface.

Ho, fun, huh.

Thanks for the input from everyone on this.

Regards,

Sean Anderson