From: barjunk <barjunk@...>
Date: 2006-08-06T15:20:09+09:00
Subject: Re: Mechanize


Aaron Patterson wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 06, 2006 at 06:05:04AM +0900, barjunk wrote:
[snip]
> Agreed.  This is not very intuitive, which is something I believe I've
> fixed in 0.5.2 (which isn't released yet).  In 0.5.2 you'll be able to
> say:
>
>   selectlist.options.first.click
> or
>   selectlist.options.first.select
>
> >
> > Maybe a hint about how to go through the API to get the answer for
> > myself? :)
>
> Check out the EXAMPLES file.  I've also tried to put examples in many
> classes, though I will add more for the next release.  I've also got a
> few one liners in my blog:
>
> http://tenderlovemaking.com/2006/05/26/mechanize-one-liners/
>
> >
> > One additional question I have is, what if there is more than one form
> > on the page?
>
> Forms are just stored as an array on the Page object returned to you by
> mechanize.  You can treat them like an array, or better yet use the name
> of the form to find the right one to deal with.
>
> To find the first form, you could do either of these:
>
>   page.forms.first
>   page.forms[0]
>
> To find a form with the name "foo", you can do either of these:
>
>   page.forms.with.name('foo').first
>   page.forms.name('foo').first
>
> Take a look at the "Google" example in the RDoc example page.  The
> EXAMPLES Rdoc, and the NOTES Rdoc should be pretty helpful.
>
This was helpful also, thanks.  I hadn't thought of reading the NOTES
Rdoc, so thanks for that idea as well.

I'm not sure how the "Google" example helps me, I must be missing
something obvious...in addition to being new to ruby, I'm also new to
HTML and that might make more "obvious" things not so obvious. :)

Thanks again Aaron.

I really enjoy using Mechanize...it saved me tons of time.

Mike B.