VisibleWeb - Support - Tutorial

This page provides an introduction to VisibleWeb. VisibleWeb is designed to reduce the effort in web activities that need to be repeated periodically. Automation usually means more effort being expended in initial set up and configuration and less effort being required in operational running.

The VisibleWeb program can be executed directly. Nevertheless it is far easier and less prone to typological mistakes if the sample batch command files as described in this tutorial are used as the starting points.

1. Executable Program or Java Jar

The executable program "vw.exe" version of VisibleWeb requires the Microsoft Java virtual machine to be installed. This program only works on a computer running a Microsoft operating system which is able to run the Microsoft virtual machine. The following is an example of running VisibleWeb as a Microsoft executable program and as a Java jar.

WebGet - single page retrieval

Two versions of the command file to retrieve a single web page are listed. Please refer to the main WebGet section for details about using WebGet. Note the retrieved page and the report is the same irrespective of whether the program is an executable or uses a Java jar.

	webget-p01-bat.txt	command file (MS executable program)
	webget-j01-bat.txt	command file (Java jar)
	webget-01.html	retrieved page
	webget-01.xml	report formatted as XML

The differences in the batch command files are as follows:

"vw.exe" executable program

setp.bat - sets the environment variable


set progexe=c:\wwfe\bin\vw.exe

exep1.bat - executes the "vw.exe" program


%progexe% "%myurl%"  "%mypag%" "%myrep%" "%mylic%"

"java.exe" (version 1.3.1) executing "vw.jar" VisibleWeb Java classes

setj131.bat - sets the environment variables


set classpath =
set javaexe=d:\java\jdk131\bin\java
set javacpth=c:\wwfe\jar\vw.jar;d:\java\jdk131\lib\jvm.lib
set javaprog=com.whywaitforever.VisibleWeb

exej1.bat - executes the Java program


%javaexe% -classpath %javacpth%  %javaprog% 
            "%myurl%" "%mypag%" "%myrep%" "%mylic%"

Those of us who have worked with Java from the early days of 1.0.x through 1.1.x and 1.2.x and 1.3.x have found it pays dividends to be organised when developing and using Java.

The majority of examples in this tutorial execute using the more complex but more flexible VisibleWeb Java classes which are stored in a Java jar file "vw.jar".

Using "java.exe" allows a wide variety of Java virtual machines to be used from a wide variety of suppliers and across a wide range of operating systems. Sometimes a difference in performance can measured when both methods are tested. This difference might not be consistent and is dependent on what other work is running on the particular machine.

2. Review Processing

Building on the above the three topics in this section covers how VisibleWeb is used in the majority of cases.

Support - Tutorial - WebGet describes web page retrievals.

Support - Tutorial - FormGet describes web form submissions using get method.

Support - Tutorial - FormPost describes web form submissions using post method.

You should now be confident in how VisibleWeb could be used to meet your needs.

3. Review Parameters

The above should have given you a good idea of how VisibleWeb can be used. The examples use the most typical combinations of parameters. It is now a good idea to review all the parameters that can be supplied to VisibleWeb. Form data generation is an area many find useful.

Support - Parameters describes the parameters used by VisibleWeb.

4. Suggestions

Congratulations you have the patience and application to complete the above sections. Now it is time for you to apply VisibleWeb to meet your needs. The following are a number of suggestions which you may wish to try to confirm that you are comfortable with using VisibleWeb.

Select a news site and retrieve their entertainment or sport or business page using "WebGet".
Select a stock or share information site which requires you to complete a form with a code for stock or share holding. Retrieve the share information for a couple of stocks or shares using "FormGet" or "FormPost".

WhyWaitForever