[SGVLUG] Polling Web Sites

Thu Nov 15 00:46:40 PST 2007

Hey John,

Here is a simple solution that I came up with.  Just create a web page
that calls itself every n seconds with an iframe containing the page
on the other web site you want to refresh.  When you page calls itself
 it will also load a new copy of the remote page inside your page.

Here is an example that automatically refreshes "The Drudge Report"
every 12 seconds:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE></TITLE>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="10;
URL=http://www.yourdomain.com/dummy.html">
</HEAD>

<BODY>
<h2>Waiting for Refresh</h2>
<hr width="100%"><br>
<table width="100%"  border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
	<tr>
		<td>
			<iframe  id="1001"
			src="http://www.drudgereport.com/"
			width="100%"
			height="512"
			scrolling="auto"
			align="top"
			frameborder="1"
			class="wrapper">
			This option will not work correctly.  Unfortunately, your browser
does not support Inline Frames
			</iframe>
		</td>
	</tr>
</table>

</BODY>
</HTML>

On Nov 10, 2007 9:37 PM,  <juanslayton at dslextreme.com> wrote:
>
>      Got a little project here that I could use some help on.  El Monte
> City School District uses a program called Aesop to post daily
> openings for substitute teachers.  All I have to do is go to their
> web site and click on the search button and I can see who has
> currently called in to be absent.  Trouble is, if someone calls in
> sick just after I've checked, I won't find out about it until the
> next time I check.  And I have better things to do than sit and click
> on the search button all evening.
>      So I began to figure out ways to poll that site automatically.  The
> current approach works like this:  A timing program (written in C)
> runs in the background on a virtual terminal and produces a negative
> pulse on data line 1 of the parallel port every few minutes.  I 'hot
> wired' the left click switch (high, pull-down side) of a USB mouse to
> that data line (through a diode to protect the port in case someone
> physically clicks the mouse).  By leaving the cursor on the search
> button, the background program electronically clicks that button
> every few minutes.  All I have to do as I go about my business is
> glance at the screen every now and then to see if anything new has
> come up.
>      But this is over-complicated.  There ought to be a simple way to poll
> that page programatically without messing with the hardware.  Say, by
> using the usb event mechanisms?  Like as not somebody somewhere has
> already written code to do it.  I'd appreciate anyone who could point
> me in the right direction.
>
> John
>
> ***************************************************************************************
> If the mind is not constrained by walls and fences, where is the need for
> Windows and Gates?
>