Python script to click a web page button

Question

I have a python script that sends data to a django app using the requests library. Then the users switch to the web page and click a button which fetches an edit form to add some additional info

I want that immediately after requests recieves a status code 200 it will switch to the web page and click the button automatically, instead of the users doing it manually each time.

I looked into using Selenium but it seems like an overkill. Any thoughts how I can do this?

edit

The current process looks a little like this:

user runs script on client side
script runs and collects static data
script sends data as post using requests
the data is saved to a model called "Report", with a boolean field called "public" marked as False
The user switches to the web app
the user clicks a button that does an ajax call and fetches an edit form for that report (it knows you're the one who sent it by comparing the username of the logged in user)
the user adds additional data and saves
the field "public" changes to True and everyone can see the report.

Most of this is working, I just want the script to automatically switch to the web page and click the button instead of it being done manually. I know this is a little convoluted but I hope it explains things better

Also I'm using Windows and Chrome as my web browser

Second Edit

So I built a little demo to play around with. I created a file named 'test.html' which looks like this:

<html>
    <head>
        <title>Test</title>
        <script type='javascript/text' src='jquery.js' ></script>
    </head>
<body>
    <div class="container">
        <button id="button1"> Fake </button>
        <button id="button2"> Fake </button>
        <button id="button3"> Real </button>
    </div>


<script>
$(function() {
    $('#button3').on('click', function() {
          alert('you found it!');
    });
});

</script>

</body>
</html>

As you can see, the only way to run the script is to click on the "real" button. Now I have written a python script which brings it up into the screen:

import win32gui

class Window(object):
    def __init__(self, handle):
        assert handle != 0
        self.handle = handle

    @classmethod
    def from_title(cls, title):
        handle = win32gui.FindWindow(title, None) or win32gui.FindWindow(None, title)
        return cls(handle)


chrome = Window.from_title('Test - Google Chrome')

win32gui.SetForegroundWindow(chrome.handle)
win32gui.SetFocus(chrome.handle)

Now how do I get it to replicate a button click done by the user? There probably is a way to do it graphically using coordinates but is that the only way? And how do you assure the button will always be at the same spot? Is there a better way than to use a button?

Send the appropriate POST request. Perhaps using Django's client. — Elazar
– Elazar, Commented Sep 26, 2013 at 22:32
Just to clarify, you're asking to do this client side? You don't want to edit the django app right? — kalhartt
– kalhartt, Commented Sep 26, 2013 at 22:32
I'm not following why you can't just do all of this using requests... perhaps if you post some of your script and show exactly where you are running into an issue? — Mark Hildreth
– Mark Hildreth, Commented Sep 26, 2013 at 22:34
Requests is working fine. But my users need to add some data after the generic data has been autocollected. Instead of switching the window and clicking the button the script should do it for them — yuvi
– yuvi, Commented Sep 26, 2013 at 22:34

Josh Smeaton · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-27 02:57:14Z

1

So all you want to do is automatically click a button when the page opens? I'm assuming you only want to auto-click in certain circumstances, so hide the javascript/jquery behind a conditional.

def your_view(request):
    # your standard processing
    auto_click = request.GET.get('auto_click', False)
    if auto_click is not False:
        auto_click = True
    render('yourtemplate.html', {'auto_click': auto_click })

Then, in your template:

{% if auto_click %}
<script>
$(document).ready(function() {
    $('yourbutton').click();
});
</script>
{% endif %}

When the user opens up the webpage, just append "?auto_click=1" to the URL, and you'll get the correct behaviour.

edited Sep 27, 2013 at 2:57

answered Sep 26, 2013 at 22:39

Josh Smeaton

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7 Comments

yuvi Over a year ago

Some of the data has to be added manually. So I can't do everything using requests. I need that after the initial data is sent, the form on the web page will open up (I'm using bootstrap modal.js) and allow the users to do so. Right now they run the script, switch to the browser window and click on the fetch button manually

Josh Smeaton Over a year ago

@yuvi Hmm, I've just updated but I think I've made an incorrect assumption. Is the webpage already open in the browser? I've assumed that the URL needs to load.

yuvi Over a year ago

No heh that would've been easy. I want it to run on an already open tab

yuvi Over a year ago

I can use win32gui to find the browser window and bring it up front but then what?

yuvi Over a year ago

I have added an example of what I'm trying to achieve and my current progress. Will you kindly take a look?

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