NAME

WWW::Mechanize::Firefox - use Firefox as if it were WWW::Mechanize

SYNOPSIS

use WWW::Mechanize::Firefox; my $mech = WWW::Mechanize::Firefox->new(); $mech->get('http://google.com');

$mech->eval_in_page('alert("Hello Firefox")'); my $png = $mech->content_as_png();

This will let you automate Firefox through the Mozrepl plugin, which you need to have installed in your Firefox.

METHODS

C<< $mech->new( ARGS ) >>

Creates a new instance and connects it to Firefox.

Note that Firefox must have the mozrepl extension installed and enabled.

The following options are recognized:

tab - regex for the title of the tab to reuse. If no matching tab is found, the constructor dies.

If you pass in the string current, the currently active tab will be used instead.

create - will create a new tab if no existing tab matching the criteria given in tab can be found.

launch - name of the program to launch if we can't connect to it on the first try.

log - array reference to log levels, passed through to MozRepl::RemoteObject

bufsize - Net::Telnet buffer size, if the default of 1MB is not enough

events - the set of default Javascript events to listen for while waiting for a reply

repl - a premade MozRepl::RemoteObject instance

pre_events - the events that are sent to an input field before its value is changed. By default this is [focus].

post_events - the events that are sent to an input field after its value is changed. By default this is [blur, change].

Launch Firefox if C is not running

This will launch Firefox if the program can't connect to the mozrepl plugin in Firefox. This will also enable mozrepl in a Firefox process if it is not already running.

my $mech = WWW::Mechanize::Firefox->new( launch => 'firefox', );

JAVASCRIPT METHODS

C<< $mech->allow( OPTIONS ) >>

Enables or disables browser features for the current tab. The following options are recognized:

plugins - Whether to allow plugin execution.

javascript - Whether to allow Javascript execution.

metaredirects - Attribute stating if refresh based redirects can be allowed.

frames, subframes - Attribute stating if it should allow subframes (framesets/iframes) or not.

images - Attribute stating whether or not images should be loaded.

Options not listed remain unchanged.

Disable Javascript

$mech->allow( javascript => 0 );

C<< $mech->js_errors( [PAGE] ) >>

An interface to the Javascript Error Console

Returns the list of errors in the JEC

Check that your Page has no Javascript compile errors

$mech->get('mypage'); my @errors = $mech->js_errors(); if (@errors) { die "Found errors on page: @errors"; };

Maybbe this should be called js_messages or js_console_messages instead.

C<< $mech->clear_js_errors >>

Clears all Javascript messages from the console

C<< $mech->eval_in_page( $STR [, $ENV] [, $DOCUMENT] ) >>

C<< $mech->eval( $STR [, $ENV] [, $DOCUMENT] ) >>

Evaluates the given Javascript fragment in the context of the web page. Returns a pair of value and Javascript type.

This allows access to variables and functions declared "globally" on the web page.

The returned result needs to be treated with extreme care because it might lead to Javascript execution in the context of your application instead of the context of the webpage. This should be evident for functions and complex data structures like objects. When working with results from untrusted sources, you can only safely use simple types like string.

If you want to modify the environment the code is run under, pass in a hash reference as the second parameter. All keys will be inserted into the this object as well as this.window. Also, complex data structures are only supported if they contain no objects. If you need finer control, you'll have to write the Javascript yourself.

This method is special to WWW::Mechanize::Firefox.

Also, using this method opens a potential security risk as the returned values can be objects and using these objects can execute malicious code in the context of the Firefox application.

Override the Javascript C<alert()> function

$mech->eval_in_page('alert("Hello");', { alert => sub { print "Captured alert: '@_'\n" } } );

C<< $mech->unsafe_page_property_access( ELEMENT ) >>

Allows you unsafe access to properties of the current page. Using such properties is an incredibly bad idea.

This is why the function dies. If you really want to use this function, edit the source code.

UI METHODS

C<< $mech->addTab( OPTIONS ) >>

Creates a new tab. The tab will be automatically closed upon program exit.

If you want the tab to remain open, pass a false value to the the autoclose option.

C<< $mech->tab >>

Gets the object that represents the Firefox tab used by WWW::Mechanize::Firefox.

This method is special to WWW::Mechanize::Firefox.

C<< $mech->progress_listener( SOURCE, CALLBACKS ) >>

Sets up the callbacks for the nsIWebProgressListener interface to be the Perl subroutines you pass in.

Returns a handle. Once the handle gets released, all callbacks will get stopped. Also, all Perl callbacks will get deregistered from the Javascript bridge, so make sure not to use the same callback in different progress listeners at the same time.

Get notified when the current tab changes

my $browser = $mech->repl->expr('window.getBrowser()');

my $eventlistener = progress_listener(
    $browser,
    onLocationChange => \&onLocationChange,
);

while (1) {
    $mech->repl->poll();
    sleep 1;
};

C<< $mech->repl >>

Gets the MozRepl::RemoteObject instance that is used.

This method is special to WWW::Mechanize::Firefox.

C<< $mech->events >>

Sets or gets the set of Javascript events that WWW::Mechanize::Firefox will wait for after requesting a new page. Returns an array reference.

This method is special to WWW::Mechanize::Firefox.

C<< $mech->cookies >>

Returns a HTTP::Cookies object that was initialized from the live Firefox instance.

Note: ->set_cookie is not yet implemented, as is saving the cookie jar.

C<< $mech->highlight_node( NODES ) >>

Convenience method that marks all nodes in the arguments with

background: red; border: solid black 1px; display: block; /* if the element was display: none before */

This is convenient if you need visual verification that you've got the right nodes.

There currently is no way to restore the nodes to their original visual state except reloading the page.

C<< $mech->get( URL ) >>

Retrieves the URL URL into the tab.

It returns a faked HTTP::Response object for interface compatibility with WWW::Mechanize. It does not yet support the additional parameters that WWW::Mechanize supports for saving a file etc.

C<< $mech->get_local( $filename ) >>

Shorthand method to construct the appropriate file:// URI and load it into Firefox.

This method is special to WWW::Mechanize::Firefox but could also exist in WWW::Mechanize through a plugin.

C<< $mech->synchronize( $event, $callback ) >>

Wraps a synchronization semaphore around the callback and waits until the event $event fires on the browser. If you want to wait for one of multiple events to occur, pass an array reference as the first parameter.

Usually, you want to use it like this:

my $l = $mech->xpath('//a[@onclick]', single => 1); $mech->synchronize('DOMFrameContentLoaded', sub { $l->__click() });

It is necessary to synchronize with the browser whenever a click performs an action that takes longer and fires an event on the browser object.

The DOMFrameContentLoaded event is fired by Firefox when the whole DOM and all iframes have been loaded. If your document doesn't have frames, use the DOMContentLoaded event instead.

If you leave out $event, the value of ->events() will be used instead.

C<< $mech->res >> / C<< $mech->response >>

Returns the current response as a HTTP::Response object.

C<< $mech->success >>

Returns a boolean telling whether the last request was successful. If there hasn't been an operation yet, returns false.

This is a convenience function that wraps $mech->res->is_success.

C<< $mech->status >>

Returns the HTTP status code of the response. This is a 3-digit number like 200 for OK, 404 for not found, and so on.

C<< $mech->reload( [BYPASS_CACHE] ) >>

Reloads the current page. If BYPASS_CACHE is a true value, the browser is not allowed to use a cached page. This is the difference between pressing F5 (cached) and shift-F5 (uncached).

Returns the (new) response.

C<< $mech->back >>

Goes one page back in the page history.

Returns the (new) response.

C<< $mech->forward >>

Goes one page back in the page history.

Returns the (new) response.

C<< $mech->uri >>

Returns the current document URI.

CONTENT METHODS

C<< $mech->document >>

Returns the DOM document object.

This is WWW::Mechanize::Firefox specific.

C<< $mech->docshell >>

Returns the docShell Javascript object.

This is WWW::Mechanize::Firefox specific.

C<< $mech->content >>

Returns the current content of the tab as a scalar.

This is likely not binary-safe.

It also currently only works for HTML pages.

C<< $mech->update_html( $html ) >>

Writes $html into the current document. This is mostly implemented as a convenience method for HTML::Display::MozRepl.

C<< $mech->save_content( $localname [, $resource_directory] [, %OPTIONS ] ) >>

Saves the given URL to the given filename. The URL will be fetched from the cache if possible, avoiding unnecessary network traffic.

If $resource_directory is given, the whole page will be saved. All CSS, subframes and images will be saved into that directory, while the page HTML itself will still be saved in the file pointed to by $localname.

Returns a nsIWebBrowserPersist object through which you can cancel the download by calling its ->cancelSave method. Also, you can poll the download status through the ->{currentState} property.

If you are interested in the intermediate download progress, create a ProgressListener through $mech->progress_listener and pass it in the progress option.

The download will continue in the background. It will not show up in the Download Manager.

C<< $mech->save_url( $url, $localname, [%OPTIONS] ) >>

Saves the given URL to the given filename. The URL will be fetched from the cache if possible, avoiding unnecessary network traffic.

Returns a nsIWebBrowserPersist object through which you can cancel the download by calling its ->cancelSave method. Also, you can poll the download status through the ->{currentState} property.

If you are interested in the intermediate download progress, create a ProgressListener through $mech->progress_listener and pass it in the progress option.

The download will continue in the background. It will also not show up in the Download Manager.

Upload a file to an C server

You can use ->save_url to transfer files. $localname can be a local filename, a file:// URL or any other URL that allows uploads, like ftp://.

$mech->save_url('file://path/to/my/file.txt' => 'ftp://myserver.example/my/file.txt');

__ Not implemented __ - this requires instantiating and passing a nsIURI object instead of a nsILocalFile.

C<< $mech->base >>

Returns the URL base for the current page.

The base is either specified through a base tag or is the current URL.

This method is specific to WWW::Mechanize::Firefox

C<< $mech->content_type >>

Returns the content type of the currently loaded document

C<< $mech->is_html() >>

Returns true/false on whether our content is HTML, according to the HTTP headers.

C<< $mech->title >>

Returns the current document title.

EXTRACTION METHODS

C<< $mech->links >>

Returns all links in the document.

Currently accepts no parameters.

C<< $mech->find_link_dom( OPTIONS ) >>

A method to find links, like WWW::Mechanize's ->find_links method.

Returns the DOM object as MozRepl::RemoteObject::Instance.

The supported options are:

text - the text of the link

id - the id attribute of the link

name - the name attribute of the link

url - the URL attribute of the link (href, src or content).

class - the class attribute of the link

n - the (1-based) index. Defaults to returning the first link.

single - If true, ensure that only one element is found. Otherwise croak or carp, depending on the autodie parameter.

one - If true, ensure that at least one element is found. Otherwise croak or carp, depending on the autodie parameter.

The method croaks if no link is found. If the single option is true, it also croaks when more than one link is found.

C<< $mech->find_link( OPTIONS ) >>

A method quite similar to WWW::Mechanize's method.

Returns a WWW::Mechanize::Link object.

C<< $mech->find_all_links( OPTIONS ) >>

Finds all links in the document.

Returns them as list or an array reference, depending on context.

C<< $mech->find_all_links_dom OPTIONS >>

Finds all matching linky DOM nodes in the document.

Returns them as list or an array reference, depending on context.

C<< $mech->click NAME [,X,Y] >>

Has the effect of clicking a button on the current form. The first argument is the name of the button to be clicked. The second and third arguments (optional) allow you to specify the (x,y) coordinates of the click.

If there is only one button on the form, $mech->click() with no arguments simply clicks that one button.

If you pass in a hash reference instead of a name, the following keys are recognized:

- selector - Find the element to click by the CSS selector
- xpath - Find the element to click by the XPath query
- synchronize - Synchronize the click (default is 1)

Returns a HTTP::Response object.

As a deviation from the WWW::Mechanize API, you can also pass a hash reference as the first parameter. In it, you can specify the parameters to search much like for the find_link calls.

C<< $mech->follow_link >>

Follows the given link. Takes the same parameters that find_link uses.

FORM METHODS

C<< $mech->current_form >>

Returns the current form.

This method is incompatible with WWW::Mechanize. It returns the DOM <form> object and not a HTML::Form instance.

C<< $mech->form_name NAME [, OPTIONS] >>

Selects the current form by its name.

C<< $mech->form_id ID [, OPTIONS] >>

Selects the current form by its id attribute.

This is equivalent to calling

$mech->selector("#$name",single => 1,%options)

C<< $mech->form_number NUMBER [, OPTIONS] >>

Selects the _number_th form.

C<< $mech->form_with_fields [$OPTIONS], FIELDS >>

Find the form which has the listed fields.

If the first argument is a hash reference, it's taken as options to ->xpath

C<< $mech->forms OPTIONS >>

When called in a list context, returns a list of the forms found in the last fetched page. In a scalar context, returns a reference to an array with those forms.

The returned elements are the DOM <form> elements.

C<< $mech->value NAME [, VALUE] [,PRE EVENTS] [,POST EVENTS] >>

Sets the field with the name to the given value. Returns the value.

Note that this uses the name attribute of the HTML, not the id attribute.

By passing the array reference PRE EVENTS, you can indicate which Javascript events you want to be triggered before setting the value. POST EVENTS contains the events you want to be triggered after setting the value.

By default, the events set in the constructor for pre_events and post_events are triggered.

Set a value without triggering events

$mech->value( 'myfield', 'myvalue', [], [] );

C<< $mech->get_set_value( OPTIONS ) >>

Allows fine-grained access to getting/setting a value with a different API. Supported keys are:

pre post name value

in addition to all keys that $mech->xpath supports.

C<< $mech->submit >>

Submits the current form. Note that this does not fire the onClick event and thus also does not fire eventual Javascript handlers. Maybe you want to use $mech->click instead.

C<< $mech->submit_form( ... ) >>

This method lets you select a form from the previously fetched page, fill in its fields, and submit it. It combines the form_number/form_name, set_fields and click methods into one higher level call. Its arguments are a list of key/value pairs, all of which are optional.

fields => \%fields

Specifies the fields to be filled in the current form

with_fields => \%fields

Probably all you need for the common case. It combines a smart form selector and data setting in one operation. It selects the first form that contains all fields mentioned in %fields. This is nice because you don't need to know the name or number of the form to do this.

(calls <form_with_fields()> and <set_fields()>).

If you choose this, the form_number, form_name, form_id and fields options will be ignored.

C<< $mech->set_fields( $name => $value, ... ) >>

This method sets multiple fields of the current form. It takes a list of field name and value pairs. If there is more than one field with the same name, the first one found is set. If you want to select which of the duplicate field to set, use a value which is an anonymous array which has the field value and its number as the 2 elements.

C<< $mech->set_visible @values >>

This method sets fields of the current form without having to know their names. So if you have a login screen that wants a username and password, you do not have to fetch the form and inspect the source (or use the mech-dump utility, installed with WWW::Mechanize) to see what the field names are; you can just say

$mech->set_visible( $username, $password );

and the first and second fields will be set accordingly. The method is called set_visible because it acts only on visible fields; hidden form inputs are not considered.

The specifiers that are possible in WWW::Mechanize are not yet supported.

C<< $mech->clickables >>

Returns all clickable elements, that is, all elements with an onclick attribute.

C<< $mech->xpath QUERY, %options >>

Runs an XPath query in Firefox against the current document.

The options allow the following keys:

document - document in which the query is to be executed. Use this to search a node within a specific subframe of $mech->document.

frames - if true, search all documents in all frames and iframes. This may or may not conflict with node.

node - node relative to which the query is to be executed

single - If true, ensure that only one element is found. Otherwise croak or carp, depending on the autodie parameter.

one - If true, ensure that at least one element is found. Otherwise croak or carp, depending on the autodie parameter.

Returns the matched nodes.

This is a method that is not implemented in WWW::Mechanize.

In the long run, this should go into a general plugin for WWW::Mechanize.

C<< $mech->selector css_selector, %options >>

Returns all nodes matching the given CSS selector.

In the long run, this should go into a general plugin for WWW::Mechanize.

IMAGE METHODS

C<< $mech->content_as_png [TAB, COORDINATES] >>

Returns the given tab or the current page rendered as PNG image.

All parameters are optional.

TAB defaults to current TAB.

If the coordinates are given, that rectangle will be cut out. The coordinates should be a hash with the four usual entries, left,top,width,height.

This is specific to WWW::Mechanize::Firefox.

Currently, the data transfer between Firefox and Perl is done Base64-encoded. It would be beneficial to find what's necessary to make JSON handle binary data more gracefully.

Save the current page as PNG

my $png = $mech->content_as_png(); open my $fh, '>', 'page.png' or die "Couldn't save to 'page.png': $!"; binmode $fh; print {$fh} $png; close $fh;

Also see the file screenshot.pl included in the distribution.

Save top left corner of the current page as PNG

my $rect = { left => 0, top => 0, width => 200, height => 200, }; my $png = $mech->content_as_png(undef, $rect); open my $fh, '>', 'page.png' or die "Couldn't save to 'page.png': $!"; binmode $fh; print {$fh} $png; close $fh;

C<< $mech->element_as_png $element >>

Returns PNG image data for a single element

C<< $mech->element_coordinates $element >>

Returns the page-coordinates of the $element in pixels as a hash with four entries, left, top, width and height.

This function might get moved into another module more geared towards rendering HTML.

Firefox cookies will be read through HTTP::Cookies::MozRepl. This is relatively slow currently.

INCOMPATIBILITIES WITH WWW::Mechanize

As this module is in a very early stage of development, there are many incompatibilities. The main thing is that only the most needed WWW::Mechanize methods have been implemented by me so far.

Link attributes

In Firefox, the name attribute of links seems always to be present on links, even if it's empty. This is in difference to WWW::Mechanize, where the name attribute can be undef.