Mozilla::Mechanize

WWW::Mechanize is great, but it has a major shortcoming: it completely
ignores JavaScript. There's a port of WWW::Mechanize, Win32::IE::Mechanize
by Abe Timmerman, that uses OLE automation to control an Internet Explorer
browser, and therefore does deal with JavaScript. However, it has its own
shortcoming: it only works with Internet Explorer.

This module, Mozilla::Mechanize, is a port of Win32::IE::Mechanize that uses
an embedded Gecko widget. I say "an embedded Gecko widget" and not "Mozilla",
because it doesn't use a technology like OLE automation or DCOM to remotely
control a separate, "real" browser. Instead, using Mozilla::DOM, you control
an embedded Gecko widget (probably based on Gtk2::MozEmbed). Since Gecko is
the HTML rendering engine of Mozilla/Firefox, it's the same as Mozilla,
at least as far as the DOM is concerned.

I haven't found the Holy Grail of web automation yet, though. That would
involve rendering an HTML page exactly as a real browser does, on any platform,
but without having to open a browser window. The quest continues... :)


IMPORTANT: this has been very quickly ported from Win32::IE::Mechanize,
and I don't expect it to even be working yet.


DEPENDENCIES

Mozilla::DOM
Gtk2::MozEmbed
URI
Mime::Base64 (only if Basic auth is used)


INSTALLATION

To install this module, execute the following commands:

  perl Build.PL
  ./Build
  ./Build test
  ./Build install

or you can instead do the traditional

  perl Makefile.PL
  make
  make test
  make install


COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright 2005 Scott Lanning. This library is free software;
you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms
as Perl itself.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty
of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.