Auto login to a website programmably?

Question

I would like to make a vb .net application that auto logs into places and retrieves data from them. I have already succeeded in doing this by opening internet explorer programmably and tabbing to enter name and password. But this is messy, and needs to be well timed. I'm using VB .Net. Is there a way to interface with sites to auto login. Maybe I could inject a cookie, but then the browser could change. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks

Answer 1

May not be something you'd consider, but the ideal tool for you is Selenium rather than reinventing the wheel and writing your own version in VB.net.

Best thing to do is have a quick look at that link, see what you think.

Answer 2

Well, it really depends on what authentication scheme the sites use. It is possible to pass a Credentials object with an HttpWebRequest which can be used to authenticate against sites that use basic authentication, windows authentication and similar. But I can't think of a reliable way that would work for any and all sites.

Answer 3

WatiN could be used for some of what you describe but I think almost anything will be messy unless you can find a way to do a silent login where some token is passed along to impersonate someone.