Web automation

[Paul Boddie]

Mike Meyer wrote:
> "Paul Boddie" <p... at boddie.org.uk> writes:
> > The problem on non-Windows systems is the lack of a common (or
> > enforced) technology for exposing application object models
>
> OS X has AppleScript. VM/CMS has Rexx. The Amiga had ARexx when MS was
> still peddling DOS. Plan 9 has files.

I knew I should have written "UNIX systems" or "non-Windows but still
mainstream systems". ;-)

> I don't think any of them are "enforced" - then again, I don't think anything enforces
> exporting objects from Windows applications, either.

No, but COM is the obvious choice for doing so on Windows. Combine that
with the component developer mindset and it's likely that some kind of
object model will be exposed by an application.

Still, I wouldn't say that automation is necessarily "ass-backwards":
sometimes you want the additional baggage that the browser can give you
- witness the occasional comp.lang.python thread about working with
JavaScript-laden pages - and it's not necessarily automation involving
the activation of coincidental user interface components (find the
"Register Later" button in the "Register Now?" pop-up dialogue and
click on it") that's involved here either.

Yes, the very architecture of the Web should have made automation tasks
a lot more open and convenient, but sometimes there's a need for a
"complete" browser to get at the data.

Paul