Scripting configuration entries?

Now that I'm adding more and more hardware to the mix, idea popped in my
mind that it would be convienent to be able to "script" configs.

Did a google, but didn't find anything that was exactly what I was
thinkiing.

(Let me try to explain how I'm thinking this would work.)

It wouldn't neccessarily have to be a program geared towards any particular
hardware, but a program that runs "scripts" for accessing web sites,
automating data entry, etc. My googles mainly turned up all the trash out
there available for spammers to automate generating free web based email
accounts. Obviously, I'm not interested in any of that "bastardware". :^)

Since all my wireless hardware can be configured with a web browser (over
local LAN, not on outside) -- what popped in my mind was a program that
could "record web interactivity" and generate a "script" off of such
activity. I.e., you would turn the "recorder" on, go to all your web-based
configs, and do your intended configurations. After making your
"recording", you would be able to use the "recorder program" to tell the
"script" which parts of the "recording" were text entry fields. Afterwards,
you could put a table/database(s) together that allows you to have different
text entries. Afterwards, to re-config your entire network to a specifc
configuration, it would be a simple "one-click" process. Perhaps the
"scripts" could even be automated to run automatically under certain
conditions (i.e., time, day, etc) to do virtually limitless number of
re-configs. (I..e, say, new WEP keys entered in for everything every couple
of weeks or whatever. For the really paranoid, the table/database used to
hold your keys would be encrypted itself, so your keys aren't stored as
plain ASCII text. Or, perhaps, during certain hours of the day you could
have an SSID open to public automatically and then closed automatically at
another time of day.)

Examples of the keys and open/closed networks were just examples of one
thing to do. With such software, you could really do anything. I was
thinking of simple "web based" recorder/player scripter since it would offer
tremendous flexibility.

Anything out there like this, or am I nuts? :^)

might read on on forms and form output
I do links to do some things on the router quick and simple opening in a
named window. A few html pages and windows scheduling sounds like it would
work for you.

"Eras" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Lw%Hd.43130$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Now that I'm adding more and more hardware to the mix, idea popped in my
> mind that it would be convienent to be able to "script" configs.
>
> Did a google, but didn't find anything that was exactly what I was
> thinkiing.
>
> (Let me try to explain how I'm thinking this would work.)
>
> It wouldn't neccessarily have to be a program geared towards any
particular
> hardware, but a program that runs "scripts" for accessing web sites,
> automating data entry, etc. My googles mainly turned up all the trash out
> there available for spammers to automate generating free web based email
> accounts. Obviously, I'm not interested in any of that "bastardware".
:^)
>
> Since all my wireless hardware can be configured with a web browser (over
> local LAN, not on outside) -- what popped in my mind was a program that
> could "record web interactivity" and generate a "script" off of such
> activity. I.e., you would turn the "recorder" on, go to all your
web-based
> configs, and do your intended configurations. After making your
> "recording", you would be able to use the "recorder program" to tell the
> "script" which parts of the "recording" were text entry fields.
Afterwards,
> you could put a table/database(s) together that allows you to have
different
> text entries. Afterwards, to re-config your entire network to a specifc
> configuration, it would be a simple "one-click" process. Perhaps the
> "scripts" could even be automated to run automatically under certain
> conditions (i.e., time, day, etc) to do virtually limitless number of
> re-configs. (I..e, say, new WEP keys entered in for everything every
couple
> of weeks or whatever. For the really paranoid, the table/database used to
> hold your keys would be encrypted itself, so your keys aren't stored as
> plain ASCII text. Or, perhaps, during certain hours of the day you could
> have an SSID open to public automatically and then closed automatically at
> another time of day.)
>
> Examples of the keys and open/closed networks were just examples of one
> thing to do. With such software, you could really do anything. I was
> thinking of simple "web based" recorder/player scripter since it would
offer
> tremendous flexibility.
>
> Anything out there like this, or am I nuts? :^)
>
>
>

Eras <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Now that I'm adding more and more hardware to the mix, idea popped in my
> mind that it would be convienent to be able to "script" configs.
....
> local LAN, not on outside) -- what popped in my mind was a program that
> could "record web interactivity" and generate a "script" off of such

Mercury WinRunner or LoadRunner do exactly that.
<http://www.mercury.com/us/products/quality-center/functional-testing/winrunner/>
So does Softek Enview <http://www.softek.com/en/products/enview/>

But those are enterprise solutions that cost lots of money.
When I was shopping around, I didn't find any useful free tools.
A Mercury LoadRunner demo indicated that it did exactly what I wanted. I
was all excited, ready to pay a couple of hundred dollars, but it was
higher than that.

Some web interfaces will work with the text based lynx browser. That can
be scripted by hand, if what you want to do is not too complicated. I use
that to retrieve log files.

I'd like to use it to automate some zip code lookups against the USPS web
site, but I haven't figured that out yet.
http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.htm works with lynx and returns the
correct new zip code for an address, but I have hundreds of addresses that
I need to check against the new zip code.

Lynx is available on Linux, downloadable for other Unixes and Windows.
http://lynx.browser.org

---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:csre2m$pns$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Eras <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > Now that I'm adding more and more hardware to the mix, idea popped in my
> > mind that it would be convienent to be able to "script" configs.
> ...
> > local LAN, not on outside) -- what popped in my mind was a program that
> > could "record web interactivity" and generate a "script" off of such
>
> Mercury WinRunner or LoadRunner do exactly that.
>
<http://www.mercury.com/us/products/q...testing/winrun
ner/>
> So does Softek Enview <http://www.softek.com/en/products/enview/>
>
> But those are enterprise solutions that cost lots of money.
> When I was shopping around, I didn't find any useful free tools.
> A Mercury LoadRunner demo indicated that it did exactly what I wanted. I
> was all excited, ready to pay a couple of hundred dollars, but it was
> higher than that.
>
> Some web interfaces will work with the text based lynx browser. That can
> be scripted by hand, if what you want to do is not too complicated. I use
> that to retrieve log files.
>
> I'd like to use it to automate some zip code lookups against the USPS web
> site, but I haven't figured that out yet.
> http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.htm works with lynx and returns the
> correct new zip code for an address, but I have hundreds of addresses that
> I need to check against the new zip code.
>
> Lynx is available on Linux, downloadable for other Unixes and Windows.
> http://lynx.browser.org
>
> ---
> Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5


Thanks for the info! Yeah, that is definetly much more than I would intend
to spend for such an animal! :^)

Hmm. I forgot all about Lynx. My large file server is running Linux to
spit out files as needed on my WLAN. I have a telnet/ssh client on my
laptop (WinXP) that I occassionaly use to ssh into it, to tweak things.
Never done any "scripting" for Lynx, but will definetly look into it. Lynx
have its own "script processing engine" or does it use something like Perl?
(Got a big O'Reilly book here on Perl, that has been collecting dust. LOL.
Been wanting to get into Perl eventually though. If this is what Lynx
needs, then that would be a perfect little "learning project".)

Thanks!

"bumtracks" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:LR8Id.5741$J6.64@trnddc02...
> might read on on forms and form output
> I do links to do some things on the router quick and simple opening in a
> named window. A few html pages and windows scheduling sounds like it
would
> work for you.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. You mean, using "form processing"
within HTML? I.e., creating an HTML that opens up the intended HTML
(config page), automatically puts in what is needed in which particular
field, etc? Interesting approach! Afterwards, like you said, just use
scheduling to have it autolaunch whenver. This sounds much easier than the
Lynx (Perl?) idea even.

Thanks!

Eras <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Never done any "scripting" for Lynx, but will definetly look into it. Lynx
> have its own "script processing engine" or does it use something like Perl?
> (Got a big O'Reilly book here on Perl, that has been collecting dust. LOL.
> Been wanting to get into Perl eventually though. If this is what Lynx
> needs, then that would be a perfect little "learning project".)

You could probably perl your way into some http.
Ultimately, that would be more useful and flexible.

My thoughts about lynx are more about stuffing a very long command line
with the variables you need.

For retrieving logs, this can be as simple as my cable modem
lynx -dump http://192.168.100.1/logdata.html > logfile.txt
More complicated, after perusing source via IE6,
lynx -source "http://gisdata.usgs.net/XmlWebServices/TNM_Elevation_Service.asmx/getElevation?Y_Value=${1}&X_Value=${2}&Elevation_U nits=FEET&Source_Layer=-1&Elevation_Only=TRUE"


--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5