<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Neal,<div>Have you looked at getting a head start by having someone build you the <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica;">website scraping part for you? You may look at <a href="http://Fiverr.com">Fiverr.com</a> and search for </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica;">website scraping and/or automation. You should be able to get initial custom script built for anywhere from $5-$25. I’ve had great experiences with these freelancers. Be sure to include Linux in your requirements. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica;"><br></span><div><br><div>Mark Ulmer</div></div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="color: black;">
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<p style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin: 10pt 0;">On January 13, 2018 1:16:34 PM Neal Rhodes via Ale <<a href="mailto:ale@ale.org">ale@ale.org</a>> wrote:</p>
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Boring "Real-World Details":<br>
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So, we are planning a summer trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. <br>
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We would really like to camp at Many Glaciers Campground in the park. However, at present, all the sites are already reserved. They are reserved through <a href="http://recreation.gov">recreation.gov</a>, starting 6 months to the day from today. <br>
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But we have a really strong impression that people initially book a long stretch, then later either reduce the duration once they get more specific plans, or cancel. <br>
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SO, we really want to detect if/when sites become available over the next 6 months and jump on it before someone else does. <br>
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There is someone who offers this as a service for $40 a reservation, irrespective of whether they are successful.<br>
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Exciting Technology Application: <br>
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Initially I looked at the HTML for their search page, with the thought of using "wget" to simulate the reservation request. That increasingly looks like a fool's errand, assuming that they may have session cookies related to sign-on and other magic handshake crap that would be difficult to simulate. And what happens when they alter their data fields? <br>
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Then I thought: All I want to do is: <br>
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Setup a browser window on our Centos 6 desktop, any browser that understands https;<br>
Run that browser through the responses to get it to the search window on this campground, and put in all the dates and related input. <br>
Then: <br>
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Run SOMETHING that will automate: <br>
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Hit the Search Submit button;<br>
See if the resultant page contains "No Suitable availability"<br>
IF Not: Email me<br>
Sleep 15 minutes<br>
Rinse, Later, Repeat<br>
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This sounds to me like a very elemental application of a test/control manager for a GUI interface. If I can automate an existing browser, we can eliminate all the complexities of trying to fake out their web server. <br>
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Since this just sits on my desk in the basement, I can live with hard-coded screen coordinates. <br>
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What tools exist in Linux to do this? <br>
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regards, <br>
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Neal Rhodes<br>
MNOP Ltd<br>
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