web_submit_data

Performs an "unconditional" or "contextless" form submission.

C Language

int web_submit_data( const char *StepName, const char *Action, <List of Attributes>, ITEMDATA, <List of data>, [ EXTRARES, <List of Resource Attributes>,] LAST );

Example: web_submit_data

Action Functions

Java Language

int object.submit_data( String stepName, String action, String[] options, String[] data );

Example: web.submit_data

Action Functions

Java Syntax

Argument	Description
object	An expression evaluating to an object of type WebApi. Usually web for Java. See also Function and Constant Prefixes.
StepName	The name of the step, as it appears in the graphical script.
Action	The HTTP address of the action to perform when submitting the data. The syntax is "Action=<urlAddress>" Action: The ACTION attribute of the FORM element. The ACTION attribute specifies the address (URL) to be used to carry out the action of the form. You can also specify Action/sfx, which indicates to search the form using the suffix of the action.
List of Attributes	The following attributes are supported: Method: The form submission method: POST or GET (default: POST). EncType: The encoding method used. EncodeAtSign: Encode the `"@"` sign as in its ASCII representation. The possible values are Yes or No. TargetFrame: The name of the frame containing the current link or resource. Click TargetFrame for more information. RecContentType: The content type, for example, text/html. Referer: The URL of the referring web page. The page that referred to the current page. If the location was explicitly expressed, this attribute is omitted. Mode: The Recording Level: HTML or HTTP. Click Recording Level / Mode (Web) for more information. UserAgent: Identifies a component other than the browser that will execute the step, for example, an ActiveX component running under the browser. This user agent header is sent for the requests made by the step. No check is made to confirm that the user agent argument matches the browser's User-Agent Runtime Setting. Non-browser steps do not affect the emulated browser context, nor do they build a new context from the result.
ITEMDATA	A marker that separates between the attributes and the list of data fields. (Not used in Java syntax)
List of Data	The list of data fields used to define the form submission. Because the request is contextless, the list of data fields includes all hidden fields. The rules of data encoding for submission of forms apply. For a list of the possible entries in the list, see "Item Data", below. The value fields can be encoded or plain, for example: "name=n1", "value=v1", ENDITEM, "name=n2", "EncryptedValue=qwerty", ENDITEM, name: The name attribute within an INPUT element of the field. It is the name of the field as it appears on the web page.
EXTRARES	A demarcation parameter indicating that the next parameter will be a list of resource attributes.
List of Resource Attributes	List of Resource Attributes
LAST	A marker that indicates the end of the field list.

Return Values

This function returns LR_PASS (0) on success, and LR_FAIL (1) on failure.

Parameterization

The following argument(s) can be parameterized using standard parameterization: Action, Method, List of Data Fields

General Information

The web_submit_data function is an action function that performs an "unconditional" or "contextless" form submission. (Each Web Action Function in a script causes the browser to display a new web page or frame. All Web Action functions can be recorded by VuGen.) This function allows you to generate GET and POST requests as made by the HTML forms. You do not need to have a form context to execute this request.

web_submit_data is recorded only when VuGen is in either the URL–based recording mode, or in the HTML–based recording mode with the A script containing explicit URLs only option checked (see VuGen's Recording Options).

The method indicates how the data of the form is sent to the server, whether as a query within the URL (GET), or as a request body (POST).

This function is generated when VuGen is set to record a web session in HTTP (all requests from the server) recording mode. VuGen also records a web_submit_data statement whenever a form is submitted and it is unable to generate a web_submit_form statement.

Examples of non–HTML–generated resources are .gif and .jpg images. The List of Resource Attributes is only inserted when the recording option for these resources is set at Record within the current script step. This is the default setting. See the Virtual User Generator Help Center (select the relevant version).

In Java calls to lrapi.web..submit_data the list of attributes, including hidden fields, is part of the options array. The list of data and the list of resources are part of the data array.

The HTTP header can be modified to pass additional information about the request to the server. Using HTTP headers you can, for example, allow other content types in the response such as compressed files, or you can request a web page only on certain conditions. To modify the HTTP header in the request see web_add_header, or to modify all subsequent requests see web_add_auto_header.

The EncType attribute specifies a Content Type to be specified as the value of the "Content–Type" request header. It indicates the encoding type (either URL–encoding or multi–part) to be used for generating an HTTP request from other arguments. The allowed specifications are:

"EncType=application/x–www–form–urlencoded"
"EncType=multipart/form–data" (any "; boundary=" is silently ignored)
"EncType=" (an empty string, indicating that no "Content–Type" request header is to be generated).

An EncType specification silently overrides any web_add_[auto_]header for "Content–Type". If EncType is omitted, any applicable web_add_[auto_]header is used. If there is none and "Method=POST", "application/x–www–form–urlencoded" is used. If Method is not POST, no "Content–Type" request header is generated.

Item Data

The possible entries in the ItemData section are:

Name - The form field name. For example: "Name=name_of_files"
Value - The value in the Content-Disposition parameter of the multipart message. For example: "Value=c:/dummy/dummy.doc"
File - Whether the message content is a file. For example: "File=Yes"
ContentType - The value in the ContentType parameter of the multipart message (for example: "ContentType=text/special"). ContentType, a file type specifier, is needed in the ItemData section in cases where the EncType is a multipart/form–data file upload. ContentType is passed as one value of a data clause in the ITEMDATA section where "File=Yes" is specified, and applies only to the file in the same clause.
FilePath- The path to the uploaded file, for example, "FilePath=stub.txt". The path can be relative (recommended) or absolute. If relative, the path is based on the path specified in the Value entry. Backslashes must be escaped. FilePath is passed as one value of a data clause in the ITEMDATA section where "File=Yes" is specified.
ContentTransferEncoding - The value in the Content-Transfer-Encoding parameter of the multipart message (for example, "ContentTransferEncoding=html/text"). ContentTransferEncoding is passed as one value of a data clause in the ITEMDATA section where "File=Yes" is specified.

Normally, a "Content–Type" entity header is generated in the request body according to the extension of the uploaded file. For example:

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––7d025e2b16b064e\r\n Content–Disposition: form–data; name="uploaded_file"; filename="D:\\temp\\a.txt"\r\n Content–Type: text/plain\r\n \r\n

However, especially for non–browser applications, content type based on the file type may not be correct. To override it, ContentType can be specified. Specifying an empty value will cause the Content–Type header not to be included for this file.

When the uploaded file is empty, "application/x–unknown–content–type" is used regardless of the file extension. Explicitly specifying ContentType, empty or not, overrides this mechanism.

No attempt is made to check whether the specified ContentType is recognized or valid.

When web_submit_data is recorded, "name" and "value" are generally recorded for items in the ITEMDATA section. If you do not wish the recorded value to appear in the script, you can encode it. Change the word "Value" to "EncryptedValue", and substitute the encoded value for the recorded value.

For example:

Change:

"Name=grpType", "Value=radRoundtrip", ENDITEM,

to:

"Name=grpType", "EncryptedValue=409e41ebf102f3036b0549c799be3609", ENDITEM,

To get an encoded value for later use, copy the value. Then go to Windows Start menu > Password Encoder. Paste the value into the Password field, and click Generate. The masked string appears in the Encoded String box. Click Copy and paste the masked string into a parameter for later use, or assign the value to a string variable.

Another option for encoding the value is to convert the entire value string to an lr_unmask call. Select an entire string between quote marks, not including the quote marks. Right-click in the string and select Mask String. The output looks like:

"Name=grpType", lr_unmask("40d176c46f3cf2f5fbfaa806bd1bcee65f0371858163"), ENDITEM,