C++ capabilities

[bdy120602]

Hello,

I would like to develop a client-side application that:

* tests web forms (fill-in forms)
o this test feature of the application would fill in a
web form with random data and submit the data,
recording whether or not the submission was
successful;
* tests chat features
o this test feature of the application would attempt to
open a chat feature on a webpage, for example, a
chat feature on the customer support section of a
website. Once a response is received, the
component of this client-side application would
disconnect, logging the results;
* monitors web links
o this feature of the application would monitor all the
links on the site and return results of any pages
that were changed;
* scans a site for spelling mistakes;
* tests e-mail addresses
o ensures that mailto links launch an e-mail client and
populate the "to" field with a properly formed e-
mail address;
* scans a site for specific keywords, which would be entered via a
form in said application;
* scans a site for image file formats, recording the links of said
image files.


First, I would like to know if C++ can do all this; or if there is
another language that would be able to do all this that is less
complicated, but capable of client-side operation.

Also, I'm an extremely stubborn person, so please don't waste your
time or bits trying to convince me that this is not a task to be taken
by a C++ novice, which I most certainly am. (I'm sure you can work
arrogance in there as a reson why I think I can do this;basically,
humor me.)

If C++ can accomplish such things, please recommend a text to help me
get started.

Thanks,

Fäffy

 

[Victor Bazarov]

I would like to develop a client-side application that:

* tests web forms (fill-in forms)
o this test feature of the application would fill in a
web form with random data and submit the data,
recording whether or not the submission was
successful;
* tests chat features
o this test feature of the application would attempt to
open a chat feature on a webpage, for example, a
chat feature on the customer support section of a
website. Once a response is received, the
component of this client-side application would
disconnect, logging the results;
* monitors web links
o this feature of the application would monitor all the
links on the site and return results of any pages
that were changed;
* scans a site for spelling mistakes;
* tests e-mail addresses
o ensures that mailto links launch an e-mail client and
populate the "to" field with a properly formed e-
mail address;
* scans a site for specific keywords, which would be entered via a
form in said application;
* scans a site for image file formats, recording the links of said
image files.


First, I would like to know if C++ can do all this; or if there is
another language that would be able to do all this that is less
complicated, but capable of client-side operation.

Yes and no. There are no mechanisms in the language itself to do
"test web forms", for example, but since web forms are usually just
information given to your program via standard input, you should
be able to do all the processing you need. As to other things,
there are libraries to help you with that. C++ is fully capable
of utilizing those libraries, of course.

Also, I'm an extremely stubborn person, so please don't waste your
time or bits trying to convince me that this is not a task to be taken
by a C++ novice, which I most certainly am. (I'm sure you can work
arrogance in there as a reson why I think I can do this;basically,
humor me.)

If C++ can accomplish such things, please recommend a text to help me
get started.

If you're so hell-bent on using C++, go for it. Find a copy of
and read "Accelerated C++". You will need much more knowledge
than contained in that one book, so your next book will probably
be one with "Dynamic HTML" in its title.

Of course, most of what you are talking about is already covered
in some server-side development products like Websphere, probably.
You can program them using their own language (whatever that is)
or using some common programming language like Visual Basic, most
likely. Unfortunately this is the wrong place to ask about them.

V

 

[Alf P. Steinbach]

* (e-mail address removed):

I would like to develop a client-side application that:

* tests web forms (fill-in forms)
o this test feature of the application would fill in a
web form with random data and submit the data,
recording whether or not the submission was
successful;
* tests chat features
o this test feature of the application would attempt to
open a chat feature on a webpage, for example, a
chat feature on the customer support section of a
website. Once a response is received, the
component of this client-side application would
disconnect, logging the results;
* monitors web links
o this feature of the application would monitor all the
links on the site and return results of any pages
that were changed;
* scans a site for spelling mistakes;
* tests e-mail addresses
o ensures that mailto links launch an e-mail client and
populate the "to" field with a properly formed e-
mail address;
* scans a site for specific keywords, which would be entered via a
form in said application;
* scans a site for image file formats, recording the links of said
image files.


First, I would like to know if C++ can do all this; or if there is
another language that would be able to do all this that is less
complicated, but capable of client-side operation.

Also, I'm an extremely stubborn person, so please don't waste your
time or bits trying to convince me that this is not a task to be taken
by a C++ novice, which I most certainly am. (I'm sure you can work
arrogance in there as a reson why I think I can do this;basically,
humor me.)

Some of this smells of bad analysis. For example, there are a great many
different chat features, and monitoring web pages for changes has very high
overhead. And, for example, in order to scan a web site for keywords, just use
Google.

As a start you could implement your own minimal version of wget.

See where that gets you.

If C++ can accomplish such things, please recommend a text to help me
get started.

You'd be better off using e.g. PHP for this.

PHP uses modules that are implemented in C and/or C++.


Cheers, & hth.,

- Alf

 

[lbonafide]

First, I would like to know if C++ can do all this; or if there is
another language that would be able to do all this that is less
complicated, but capable of client-side operation.

C++ is a general purpose programming language. It appears you'll need
some kind of HTTP libraries or have to roll your own to do what you're
wanting to do. You may want to consider Java for this task.

 

[bdy120602]

Yes and no.  There are no mechanisms in the language itself to do
"test web forms", for example, but since web forms are usually just
information given to your program via standard input, you should
be able to do all the processing you need.  As to other things,
there are libraries to help you with that.  C++ is fully capable
of utilizing those libraries, of course.



If you're so hell-bent on using C++, go for it.  Find a copy of
and read "Accelerated C++".  You will need much more knowledge
than contained in that one book, so your next book will probably
be one with "Dynamic HTML" in its title.

Of course, most of what you are talking about is already covered
in some server-side development products like Websphere, probably.
You can program them using their own language (whatever that is)
or using some common programming language like Visual Basic, most
likely.  Unfortunately this is the wrong place to ask about them.

V
--
Please remove capital 'A's when replying by e-mail
I do not respond to top-posted replies, please don't ask- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the quick and loaded response.

No, I'm not hell bent on C++, but I am hell bent on using a language
that can acheive all of the aforementioned, or, at least, access the
languages that can do the aforementioned.

When you speak of Websphere, you're referring to the IBM product,
correct? If it's server-side, then it's not an option for me.

 

[Victor Bazarov]

[..]
When you speak of Websphere, you're referring to the IBM product,
correct? If it's server-side, then it's not an option for me.

Sorry, I misread. Yes, you're right. You're talking about client
side. Consider looking into ways to program ("drive") the web
browser to do those things for you. Most of them are programmable
(and can be objects by themselves). Of course, HTTP communication
is nowadays relatively well specified, and there are numerous
libraries to perform HTTP requests and parse the responses. The
best place to start asking further questions might be the forum
dedicated to your OS.

V

 

[bdy120602]

* (e-mail address removed):











Some of this smells of bad analysis.  For example, there are a great many
different chat features, and monitoring web pages for changes has very high
overhead.  And, for example, in order to scan a web site for keywords, just use
Google.

As a start you could implement your own minimal version of wget.

See where that gets you.


You'd be better off using e.g. PHP for this.

PHP uses modules that are implemented in C and/or C++.

Cheers, & hth.,

- Alf- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks fore the quick response.

Can PHP operate client side?
Also, Rel Link Checker Lite conatins a feature that monitors Web pages
for modifications, but I'm not sure how; I know it's not comparison,
which I think is why you referred to a lot of overhead.

Thanks,

 

[bdy120602]

[..]
When you speak of Websphere, you're referring to the IBM product,
correct? If it's server-side, then it's not an option for me.

Sorry, I misread.  Yes, you're right.  You're talking about client
side.  Consider looking into ways to program ("drive") the web
browser to do those things for you.  Most of them are programmable
(and can be objects by themselves).  Of course, HTTP communication
is nowadays relatively well specified, and there are numerous
libraries to perform HTTP requests and parse the responses.  The
best place to start asking further questions might be the forum
dedicated to your OS.

V

I see. OK, thanks. That was very helpful; much appreciated.

 

[lbonafide]

I see. OK, thanks. That was very helpful; much appreciated.- Hide quoted text -

You might want to look at Python as well. Check out comp.lang.python
for help, and check out the following links.

http://docs.python.org/lib/module-httplib.html
http://docs.python.org/lib/asyncore-example.html

 

[Brian Tyler]

Can PHP operate client side?

Also, Rel Link Checker Lite conatins a feature that monitors Web pages
for modifications, but I'm not sure how; I know it's not comparison,
which I think is why you referred to a lot of overhead.

Thanks,

PHP usually runs on top of a webserver like Apache, but it doesn't need
to run on the same server as the website you want to skim. So you could
write a web application that could be hosted locally for example. I know
that it can be installed independently on a Linux machine (probably
windows) but I don't have any experience of that. Anyway I think it is a
viable client-side solution.

The nice thing about PHP from your point of view is it already "knows"
about internet technology, so traversing websites is fairly straight
forward. You also have very easy interaction with a MYSQL database for
storing all of your information.

Someone else has mentioned Python, which may do this even better, I've
never tried it. Either way, you don't have anything to loose by checking
out these options. I have done a fair bit of C++ and PHP coding and I
know which one I would look at first.

Brian

 

[Sherman Pendley]

If you're like me, and you're thinking these requirements are a bit off the
map, note the date...

sherm--

 

[Ian Collins]

If you're like me, and you're thinking these requirements are a bit off the
map, note the date...

03:30 on the second of April?

 

[Erik Wikström]

03:30 on the second of April?

Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 07:30:44 -0700 (PDT)

 

[bdy120602]

If you're like me, and you're thinking these requirements are a bit off the
map, note the date...

sherm--

Why is the date of importance?

 

[gerfund]

You might want to look at Python as well. Check out comp.lang.python
for help, and check out the following links.

http://docs.python.org/lib/module-httplib.htmlhttp://docs.python.org/lib/asyncore-example.html

Ugh, Python. I quite honestly think that's more of a headache than
it's worth.

Or maybe Python just hates me. Who knows.



Adam
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