Python Tools for Web Form Interaction

If you are like me, who, needs to write custom automated testing software to interact with devices with web interfaces, the tools you choose will definitely make a big difference to your productivity.

I've discovered ClientForm

... a Python module for handling HTML forms on the client side, useful for parsing HTML forms, filling them in and returning the completed forms to the server.

that is very good news for me, since I have to automate several tasks working with devices that provide only an interactive web interface. Activities like logging in, updating code, resetting the device, etc, that require more complicated mechanisms like cookies, hidden fields, and random nonces, prohibit the use of statically configured form submissions.

I had started off sniffing and dissecting web pages to manually discover the required information to submit dynamic forms. This activity can take me a whole day for just a simple user interface login. ClientForms, by doing all the hard work of parsing the form, has enabled me to cut this down to 15 minutes. I guess the only difficulty remaining is with forms being manipulated by Javascript during submission. I am still learning more about ClientForms but there is much more in the Python community (and for that, Perl) that can be harnessed to make life for programmers more productive.

I shall leave you here. In a subsequent post, I shall share some of the other tools that I have found, and also some history of my programming experience.

Run Multiple Versions of Internet Explorer AT THE SAME TIME

Anyone who has been a web developer for any amount of time would understand how tricky it is to get web pages to render correctly on different browsers, especially when the user base has a varied installation of browsers.

Installing a new version of IE replaces the previous version, so this is not encouraging at all for the adventurous (of which developers by nature are) who like to install cutting edge versions of software to test drive.

I've just thought about this problem myself, and viola, it turns out that I am too late! The problem has already been solved.

Here's a quote from TredoSoft:

Ever wanted to test your website in various versions of Internet Explorer?

It is possible to run Internet Explorer in standalone mode without having to over-write previous versions thanks to Joe Maddalone who came up with a way of achieving that in November 2003. Basically, Internet Explorer is run by exploiting a known workaround to DLL hell - which was introduced in Windows 2000 and later versions - called DLL redirection.

Get the Multiple IE installer.

Intricacies of Design

Many under-informed people believe that good web design of dynamic HTML content is as straightforward as using a word processor (lay: Microsoft Word). Believe me, I've had these kinds of arguments from more people (who talk more than they do) than you can imagine at my workplace.

The truth of the matter is, in this day and age where

• a good, user-friendly interface has taken a huge bump in importance (thanks for spoiling the market, Apple),
• features in embedded devices (routers, etc) increase in complexity,
• web technologies are maturing and constantly evolving,
• the ever-present lack of cross browser conformity to web standards,

developing a good, consistent web UI is significantly harder than say, developing applications written in C/C++/VB/Python.

It is hence also appalling that designers (web and industrial) are seemingly getting lower pay (in Singapore) than marketing/sales/engineers. Please correct me if I am wrong - I really hope competitive market wages exist for good designers.

Actually, the main motivation for this post is a link that I have found while doing some research for CSS. I came across Web Design From Scratch which turned out to be easy to read and understand. I would recommend this site to web designers and developers young and old.

I may not be doing the multitude of web design websites justice by listing only one here. So I welcome comments and suggestions from readers about good, easy-to-understand websites on web design.

I have been involved with web development since 2003, but unfortunately, I have not focused enough to be very good (I am still a programmer rather than a designer).

I'm also soliciting substantiated opinions on good Javascript frameworks/toolkits - I have Prototype and script.aculo.us in mind. A co-worker suggested Dojo which I have not had the time to read about. Please let me know your suggestions.