I am now in the middle of a similar but more difficult project and have some questions, if you can kindly help:
My mobile phone provider, Nextel, allows me to read text messages sent to or from my phone at Nextel.com. I must login to read them. I would like a script to login for me and scrape all the new messages, which it could then provide in an RSS feed or save to a database, etc.
Here are a few concerns that come to mind:
- Should my script act like a normal user, "typing in" a name and password to become authenticated and redirected to the Message Inbox, or should I, the programmer, figure out which cookies or POST values nextel.com is looking for and supply them?
- Are there any methods or tools for helping me through the hassle of discovering which cookies and POST values are passed between pages while authenticating?
- (Is there a browser or plugin that will allow me to see, for testing purposes, which POST values have been sent to the server or are currently in effect?)
- IN GENERAL, which tools should one use to produce a script that acts like a normal user in a browser, "typing in" names and passwords, submitting forms, working with cookies, etc.? I'd really like to automate a lot of this process.
I appreciate your help, which you so kindly give.
Richard Miller
smime.p7s
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