ASP.NET - Interaction with Other Websites

Question

I was wondering if it is even possible to interact with other websites using my own.

Here is the scenario:

Lets say I have a Lockerz account, which is a place where you do daily tasks to earn points. Once a month you can redeem those points to get prizes such as an ipod, macbook, or other items. I know that sounds rediculous, but stay with me.

For someone to gain membership to this website they must be invited by a member. So I get your email address then log in to my account, then send you an invite from there.

What I want to do is create a website where a user enters their email into a textbox and presses a submit button. From there the program, behind the scenes, sends my login information, and the users email address to lockerz and sends the invite. All without ever leaving my site.

I have worked with ASP.NET with VB codebehind for a while now, so I understand the basics of that. I am just wondering if what i want to do is even possible. If so, can someone redirect me to a tutorial or guide of some kind that will give me a basic knowledge on this.

Thanks

Answer 1

You'll have to work down at the HTTP level, sending POST and GET requests.

Fortunately, .NET has the WebRequest and WebClient classes to help you.

Answer 2

WebClient would probably be your best starting point... But I would hang on a second.

Websites like this tend to employ some pretty intense fraud-protection. Banning, blocking or at least ignoring actions when multiple accounts use one IP, or otherwise do things in a predictable pattern.

WebClient isn't going to load up the JavaScript either so you might you can't access required parts of the page.

Either way, you don't need to do this on your webserver - I'd start off by writing it initial connect code locally as a simple script. It'll make testing it a lot faster.