Is there a way to enter text into an HTML Form edit field

[Angus Comber]

Hello

I can run a command as below:

start www.iteloffice.com

this launches my web browser and opens up the url www.iteloffice.com

What I want to do is open a particular web page and then insert some text
into a field in an HTML form. Is there any way to do this.

Once I can do this from a command prompt, my program will do this using
Shellexecute. I want to extract some information from the user and then
insert the vlaues in a form on my web site. Anyone got any ideas on how to
do this?

Angus Comber
angus@NOSPAMite loffice.com

[Martin Honnen]

Re: Is there a way to enter text into an HTML Form edit field



Angus Comber wrote:

[color=blue]
> I can run a command as below:
>
> start www.iteloffice.com
>
> this launches my web browser and opens up the url www.iteloffice.com
>
> What I want to do is open a particular web page and then insert some text
> into a field in an HTML form. Is there any way to do this.[/color]

If you are on Windows and talking about MS Internet Explorer then you
can use scripting (JScript, VBScript, if installed Python or Perl too)
to automate Internet Explorer like you can automate other Windows
applications like Word or Excel.
Newsgroups that deal with such stuff are wsh (Windows Script Host)
groups on the MS news server news.microsoft. com or JScript or VBScript
groups on that server.
Docs are here:
<http://msdn.microsoft. com/workshop/browser/webbrowser/reference/objects/internetexplore r.asp>

But of course if all you want to do is submit data to a URL then it
doesn't need a browser necessarily, most programming languages
(sometimes with the help of libraries) will allow you to send HTTP
requests and receive the response.

--

Martin Honnen

http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

[Angus Comber]

Re: Is there a way to enter text into an HTML Form edit field

Basically I want a web page on my web site to open with a string of text
(taken from the program the user will be running) entered into a field on a
form on this web page.

One way I could do it is call a perl script and pass it the text as a
parameter. Then I can have a Perl script dynamically create the form for
me. I was wondering if there was an easier way.

Angus


"Martin Honnen" <mahotrash@yaho o.de> wrote in message
news:41fbc073$0 $803$9b4e6d93@n ewsread2.arcor-online.net...[color=blue]
>
>
> Angus Comber wrote:
>
>[color=green]
> > I can run a command as below:
> >
> > start www.iteloffice.com
> >
> > this launches my web browser and opens up the url www.iteloffice.com
> >
> > What I want to do is open a particular web page and then insert some[/color][/color]
text[color=blue][color=green]
> > into a field in an HTML form. Is there any way to do this.[/color]
>
> If you are on Windows and talking about MS Internet Explorer then you
> can use scripting (JScript, VBScript, if installed Python or Perl too)
> to automate Internet Explorer like you can automate other Windows
> applications like Word or Excel.
> Newsgroups that deal with such stuff are wsh (Windows Script Host)
> groups on the MS news server news.microsoft. com or JScript or VBScript
> groups on that server.
> Docs are here:
>[/color]
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/b...ce/objects/int
ernetexplorer.a sp>[color=blue]
>
> But of course if all you want to do is submit data to a URL then it
> doesn't need a browser necessarily, most programming languages
> (sometimes with the help of libraries) will allow you to send HTTP
> requests and receive the response.
>
> --
>
> Martin Honnen
> http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/[/color]

[Martin Honnen]

Re: Is there a way to enter text into an HTML Form edit field



Angus Comber wrote:
[color=blue]
> "Martin Honnen" <mahotrash@yaho o.de> wrote
>[color=green]
>>If you are on Windows and talking about MS Internet Explorer then you
>>can use scripting (JScript, VBScript, if installed Python or Perl too)
>>to automate Internet Explorer like you can automate other Windows
>>application s like Word or Excel.
>>Newsgroups that deal with such stuff are wsh (Windows Script Host)
>>groups on the MS news server news.microsoft. com or JScript or VBScript
>>groups on that server.
>>Docs are here:
>>[/color]
>
> <http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/b...ce/objects/int
> ernetexplorer.a sp>[/color]
[color=blue]
> Basically I want a web page on my web site to open with a string of text
> (taken from the program the user will be running) entered into a[/color]
field on a[color=blue]
> form on this web page.
>[/color]

As said, MS Internet Explorer on Windows can be automated with script,
so you can use script to open an Internet Explorer instance, load a URL,
access the document and its content once it is loaded, manipulate the
content meaning for instance you can fill in data in some form controls,
submit the form if needed. See the hints given above in my earlier reply
to find details.


--

Martin Honnen

http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

[Angus Comber]

Re: Is there a way to enter text into an HTML Form edit field

I cannot assume my user has Internet Explorer. I need a very generic
solution.

Angus

"Martin Honnen" <mahotrash@yaho o.de> wrote in message
news:41fbcb05$0 $809$9b4e6d93@n ewsread2.arcor-online.net...[color=blue]
>
>
> Angus Comber wrote:
>[color=green]
> > "Martin Honnen" <mahotrash@yaho o.de> wrote
> >[color=darkred]
> >>If you are on Windows and talking about MS Internet Explorer then you
> >>can use scripting (JScript, VBScript, if installed Python or Perl too)
> >>to automate Internet Explorer like you can automate other Windows
> >>application s like Word or Excel.
> >>Newsgroups that deal with such stuff are wsh (Windows Script Host)
> >>groups on the MS news server news.microsoft. com or JScript or VBScript
> >>groups on that server.
> >>Docs are here:
> >>[/color]
> >
> >[/color][/color]
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/b...ce/objects/int[color=blue][color=green]
> > ernetexplorer.a sp>[/color]
>[color=green]
> > Basically I want a web page on my web site to open with a string of[/color][/color]
text[color=blue][color=green]
> > (taken from the program the user will be running) entered into a[/color]
> field on a[color=green]
> > form on this web page.
> >[/color]
>
> As said, MS Internet Explorer on Windows can be automated with script,
> so you can use script to open an Internet Explorer instance, load a URL,
> access the document and its content once it is loaded, manipulate the
> content meaning for instance you can fill in data in some form controls,
> submit the form if needed. See the hints given above in my earlier reply
> to find details.
>
>
> --
>
> Martin Honnen
> http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/[/color]

[David Dorward]

Re: Is there a way to enter text into an HTML Form edit field

Angus Comber wrote:

Please don't top post, it makes it very difficult to follow the tread.
[color=blue]
> I cannot assume my user has Internet Explorer. I need a very generic
> solution.[/color]

From what I gather, the user will be running a piece of software. They will
then visit a webpage in their browser. This will be a process they do
manually, the software they are running won't trigger the opening of the
browser.

As far as I know, the only way to do this would be using an ActiveX control,
on a Windows system, running Internet Explorer, with low security settings.
Webpages are not typically allowed to communicate with processes on the
user's system, the security issues would be too severe.

On the other hand, if the program were laucnhing the users default browser,
it could url encode the data and append it as a query string. A server side
process on the website could then read that value and populate the value
attribute of the input element.


--
David Dorward <http://blog.dorward.me .uk/> <http://dorward.me.uk/>
Home is where the ~/.bashrc is

[Martin Honnen]

Re: Is there a way to enter text into an HTML Form edit field



Angus Comber wrote:
[color=blue]
> I cannot assume my user has Internet Explorer. I need a very generic
> solution.[/color]

As for the original question and the topic of this group, in HTML you
would need
<input value="input string">
you somehow indicated you would know how to create that with Perl for
instance so go that way if it solves your problem.
As for entering data in a running browser instance from another program
I don't think that is a topic here.

--

Martin Honnen

http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/