Simulating Browser Clicks In PHP

I want to write a PHP script that performs a routine开发者_Python百科 task in a web app I use. I am trying to figure out the easiest way to submit a form, click a link, and get some information. What's the easiest way to do this (keeping the session open, etc.).

Javascript would be a better solution than PHP. You can use it in tandem with PHP to submit a form that references the same page, ie. <form method='index.php' action='post'>

If method is GET then you ought to be able to work it out form the URLs of a few real world attempts.

It POST then you are probably SOL unless it's your own web page./app and you know what $_POST it expects ... unless you find a tool to snoop your HTTP traffic and get the POST info from observing a few real wrold examples.

You can use CURL in PHP to simulate submitting data, clicked links, etc., I suppose, but a client-side scripting language like Javascript--as opposed to a server-side language like PHP--is more suited to what you're describing. I'd need more info to give you a specific example.

You will not be able directly emulate those events in PHP as web apps use Javascript on the client side and PHP is a different language and operates on the server side.

Firstly, I would see if there is an open API available for the web app you're wondering about, e.g. Gmail: http://code.google.com/apis/gmail/ . Not all APIs can do what the web app can do, so you'll need to check the documentation to make sure the API does what you want and has an easy way to interface with PHP.

The other option is to essentially reverse engineer how the web app communicates with it's server. Most all web apps operate by sending POST or GET HTTP data in some sort of serialized format like XML, JSON or text. You can use something like the Firebug add-on for Firefox to view POST/GET data. If you know what the server sends to the client and what the client sends to the server, you can essentially write a script using something like CURL to emulate the client in PHP instead of JavaScript. This would take quite a bit of work and probably involves a lot of trail & error.