[RESOLVED] Collect username and password

[thorst]

Im writing an application that reads websites and checks to see if there is a place to fill in a username and password. Similar to roboform. My question is I know there is the <form> tag that people usually have the username and password in, but are there any other methods of collecting this information on a website. Basically i need to know what syntax i should be looking for or generally if anyone has any information on how roboform does what it does or what all its looking for.

Thanks
Th

[ray326]

The best mechanism uses no content on the site (like a login form or page) to gather the ID/password.

[thorst]

Im not sure what your saying, I will not be gathering the id or the password. I would like to fill this in. What does the best mechinism use if its not looking at the sites code. How would I know where the form is to fill it in if there isnt any reading to look for the form? Im a little confused, could you explain more on what your saying.

Thanks

[ray326]

Basic Authentication doesn't work from form submissions. It works at the protocol level, i.e. it's done with the HTTP response and request headers.

[thorst]

So in the code what does the http response and request look like. Do you have an exact syntax example? This would help greatly. An just so you know, im not lazy. I did google it but what came up was a little foriegn to me, since i do next to nothing in web dev.

Thanks for your responses

[LeeU]

I'm curious, what is the application of such an application like the one you are writing?

[thorst]

In my first post i reference roboform, google roboform, if you dont already use it, you should. Its a great package that i've used for quite some time. But they charge a considerable amount for it. I personally dont think software should be this expensive- i like under 5 dollars or free. If it were free there could be so many other users that would like it so thats really what i want to do. Make a decent app that everyone would like to use and keep it free. In my opionion there are so many other ways to make money (banner ads) that if needed you can use that route. But i really love open source and ultimately my goal with this project is to get it good enough and throw it out there for the comunity to develope as they see needed. - Having said that do you have any information or ideas to help me towards this goal. I guess i dont mind you asking what im doing, but can you bring some knowledge to the project.

[ray326]

There are three ways a browser can authenticate: through a form, through Basic Authentication and through an NT challenge. Most browsers already have the ability to remember one or more id/password combinations for a given site so the utility of reinventing this wheel seems sort of low to me.

[thorst]

Thanks everyone