[Hartford-pm] Re: [Boston.pm] Help using LWP to change password Q's?

[Andrew Langmead]

On Tuesday, August 24, 2004, at 10:42  AM, Bob Mariotti wrote:

> By examining the received HTML code I determined the fieldnames used 
> above so that I could load them on my next POST operation.  I also 
> noted that on the FORM statement the value of the ACTION parameter was 
> "ABC123" with NO extension.   Also, the SUBMIT tag has an onClick 
> function similar to this:  "onClick="return subrname()".
>
> I assume that if the LWP POST operation is performed it emulates 
> someone clicking on the SUBMIT button.  The subroutine is a javascript 
> editing routine that issues an alert(msg) and returns false or true.

The javascript happens solely client side, LWP controls the 
communication between the client and the server. So to get this to 
work, you need to mimic the actions that the Javascript is doing before 
it sends the request.

When the user clicks the submit button, instead of submitting the form, 
it runs the javascript function "subrname". Chances are, subrname 
performs some sort of side effects, like changing the form action. If 
subrname returns true, the form (in its current state, after whatever 
changes subrname caused)  is sent to the server.

I don't know what subrname looks like, or even if it is the same each 
time. It is possible that the  site is intentionally trying to 
intentionally make it difficult to automate the password changing. If 
so, you might have an arms race on your hand.