Record interaction with websites
It works by tagging links in a page, and then when a link is clicked looking on the submitted tag to see which link was clicked
It can not handle Javascript-created links or \s-1JS\s0 manipulation of the page so it works only for fairly static websites
For better options check out Selenium
Patchs are welcome, and I'll fix bugs as much as I can, but please don't expect me to implement new features
Set HTTP::Recorder as the user agent for a proxy, and it rewrites \s-1HTTP\s0 responses so that additional requests can be recorded.
The Proxy Script
For quick start, run the httprecorder script
httprecorder
This will open a local proxy on port 8080, and will dump the recorded traffic to a file named http_traffic in the current directory. use the -help parameter for usage info
Start the proxy script, then change the settings in your web browser so that it will use this proxy for web requests. For more information about proxy settings and the default port, see HTTP::Proxy.
The script will be recorded in the specified file, and can be viewed and modified via the control panel.
For better control, use this example:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use HTTP::Proxy; use HTTP::Recorder;
my $proxy = HTTP::Proxy->new();
# create a new HTTP::Recorder object my $agent = new HTTP::Recorder;
# set the log file (optional) $agent->file("/tmp/myfile");
# set HTTP::Recorder as the agent for the proxy $proxy->agent( $agent );
# start the proxy $proxy->start();
Start Recording
Now you can use your browser as your normally would, and your actions will be recorded in the file you specified. Alternatively, you can start recording from the Control Panel.
Using the Control Panel
If you have Javascript enabled in your browser, go to the HTTP::Recorder control \s-1URL\s0 (http://http-recorder by default), optionally type a \s-1URL\s0 into the \*(L"Goto page\*(R" field, and click \*(L"Go\*(R".
In the new window, interact with web sites as you normally do, including typing a new address into the address field. The Control Panel will be updated after each recorded action.
The Control Panel allows you to modify, delete, or save your script.
As of version 0.03, HTTP::Recorder can record \s-1SSL\s0 sessions.
To begin recording an \s-1SSL\s0 session, go to the control \s-1URL\s0 (http://http-recorder/ by default), and enter the initial \s-1URL\s0. Then, interact with the web site as usual.
By default, HTTP::Recorder outputs WWW::Mechanize scripts.
However, you can override HTTP::Recorder::Logger to output other types of scripts.
Creates and returns a new HTTP::Recorder object, referred to as the 'agent'. Get or set the prefix string that HTTP::Recorder uses for rewriting responses. Get or set the \s-1URL\s0 of the control panel. By default, the control \s-1URL\s0 is 'http-recorder'.
The control \s-1URL\s0 will display a control panel which will allow you to view and edit the current script. Get or set the logger object. The default logger is a HTTP::Recorder::Logger, which generates WWW::Mechanize scripts. Get or set ignore_favicon flag that causes HTTP::Recorder to skip logging requests favicon.ico files. The value is 1 by default. Get or set the filename for generated scripts. The default is '/tmp/scriptfile'.
WWW::Mechanize can't play back Javascript actions, and HTTP::Recorder doesn't record them.
HTTP::Recorder only tries to rewrite responses that are of type text/*, which it determines by reading the Content-Type header of the HTTP::Response object. However, if the received image gives the wrong Content-Type header, it may be corrupted by the recorder. While this may not be pleasant to look at, it shouldn't have an effect on your recording session.
See also LWP::UserAgent, WWW::Mechanize, HTTP::Proxy.
Please submit any feature requests, suggestions, bugs, or patches at http://rt.cpan.org/, or email to [email protected].
If you're submitting a bug of the type \*(L"X doesn't record correctly,\*(R" be sure to include a (preferably short and simple) \s-1HTML\s0 page that demonstrates the problem, and a clear explanation of a) what it does that it shouldn't, and b) what it should do instead.
Copyright 2003-2005 by Linda Julien <[email protected]>
Maintained by Shmuel Fomberg <[email protected]>
Released under the \s-1GNU\s0 Public License.