Send/receive user data to 3rd party website

[DanielPirani]

I want to use ASP.NET to impersonate a website visitor.

This means I want to write code to send an HTTP string (I think) to make a search request on a 3rd party's web page with a search box, as if it were a user typing in the search words and pressing Go.

Then I want to read the search results page into my SQL database.

Can it be done? Can anyone help, or tell me where to look?

Thank you!

 

[palbano]

Hi Daniel, guess who?

What you really want is a .NET component that does that. Then if you want to hook in into a ASP.NET (I don't understand that part) web page that would be simple. Lucky for you the .NET library comes with one! HttpWebRequest

Now all you have to do is read the documentation and figure out how to use it to get your data into your database, right?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...ml/frlrfSystemNetHttpWebRequestClassTopic.asp

-pete

 

[DanielPirani]

Thank you!

Another question. Does the HttpWebRequest class work by submitting a URL string?

I'm asking this because I want to put data into a search box. On this 3rd party site the search is not processed with a URL string, it's submitted like a form (I believe). Can I simulate that?

Thanks again

Daniel

 

[palbano]

>> Can I simulate that?

Yes, you can use the class to send a HTTP POST request to the server. The documentation should make that all clear for you. If you find anything unclear you might want to do some reading on the HTTP protocol. Roll your sleeves up and prepare to get dirty!


-pete