How to find out all files that my browser loads while accessing a webpage?

Question

I can use Firebug and it will show lots of info about files that are loaded and even http return codes but it doesn't seem to show all of them.
For example i visit a page that loads a flash file. In firebug it will show that the file is loaded, but if that swf itself loads other swf's and accesses other resources those will not be showed in firebug. Same with ajax calls.
So i would like to know how can i monitor ALL activity that is made while browsing a page, what files are loaded, from where, etc...

Answer 1

You could set up a simple local HTTP proxy and pass all your requests through that. Then monitor the proxy log file to see what was requested.

Answer 2

Firebug does record AJAX requests. The safari web inspector would be the next thing to try, but I don't think any browser tools will record flash data sent. For that a packet recorder like wireshark would be better.

Answer 3

I use this:

http://www.httpwatch.com/

Answer 4

There is a Firefox add-in called lori (life-of-request info) which does this: it displays the total number of bytes and other stats on the toolbar and if you right click on it it offers to copy the detailed stats to the clipboard which contains the urls themselves. It works for ajax requests, I am not sure about swf though.

Also, the resource inspector in Webkit browsers like Safari or Chrome will do the same for you.

Answer 5

One of the tools I use for inspecting requests and responses is Fiddler. It works very well and it is free. From their homepage http://www.fiddlertool.com/fiddler/

Fiddler is a HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data. Fiddler includes a powerful event-based scripting subsystem, and can be extended using any .NET language.

I have also used IEWatch, however IEWatch is not free and only works for IE.