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POHow do I crawl a site with dynamic forms using WWW::Mechanize?
 

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  1. POHow do I crawl a site with dynamic forms using WWW::Mechanize?
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    <p>I like to retrieve and store the values of an HTML table from a Web site which uses some Javascript and has an URL which ends on <code>.aspx</code>, by writing a Web crawler in Perl.</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.comelec.gov.ph/results/2004natl/2004electionresults_local.aspx" rel="nofollow">Web site</a> provides some data on election results.</p> <p>You have a search form with two options as drop down menus, Province <code>provlist</code> and City/Municipality <code>munlist</code>.</p> <ul> <li>You choose the Province. The web page gets reloaded to the same URL and changes the list of available options of the second drop down menu, i.e. City/Municipality.</li> <li>Now you can choose your City/Municipality and after clicking the button SEARCH, a HTML table becomes visible with the results.</li> </ul> <p>I like to retrieve all these tables and their results.</p> <p>I like to do it with Perl, however so far I have only written very small/simple scripts. It would be very helpful if you have some general informations on how I should start this task.</p> <ol> <li>I have used some of the <code>WWW::Mechanize</code> functions before, only a few though. Can I do this job with the <code>WWW::Mechanize</code> functions, are these functions sufficient? Or do I need additional packages?</li> <li><p>The FAQ for <code>WWW::Mechanize</code> states that it has some problems with Javascript. However, in another post I read it may be possible to avoid the this Javascript. Does the called Javascript function for one of the drop down menus cause a problem?</p> <pre><code>&lt;select name="provlist" onchange="javascript:setTimeout('__doPostBack(\'provlist\',\'\')', 0)" id="provlist" tabindex="1"&gt; </code></pre></li> <li><p>How troublesome is the ASPX framework?</p></li> </ol> <p>As I have said before, I only have a little experience with writing Perl crawlers, so any information/hints/etc. you can provide are highly appreciated.</p>
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