CODEWITHSUNDEEP
java
Serge Vinogradoff
Serge Vinogradoff

Reputation: 2272

Java SE: Open Web Page and Click a Button


I have a Java 7 program (using WebStart technology, for Windows 7/8 computers only).

I need to add a function so that my program clicks a button on a page with known URL (https).

Some people suggest WebKit SWT, but I went to their site and they say that the project was discontinued. (http://www.genuitec.com/about/labs.html)

Other people say that JxBrowser is the only option but it looks like it's over $1,300 which is crazy. (http://www.teamdev.com/jxbrowser/onlinedemo/)

I'm looking for something simple, free, lightweight, and able to open HTTPS link, parse HTML, access a button through DOM and click it. Perhaps some JavaScript too, in case there are JS handlers.

Thanks for your help.

Upvotes: 11

Views: 28138

Answers (2)

Matt
Matt

Reputation: 5778

Your question is kind of difficult to understand what you want. If you have a webstart app and want to open a link in the browser, you can use the java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop().browse(URI) method.

public void openLinkInBrowser(ActionEvent event){

    try {
        URI uri = new URI(WEB_ADDRESS);
        java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop().browse(uri);

    } catch (URISyntaxException | IOException e) {
        //System.out.println("THROW::: make sure we handle browser error");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

}

Upvotes: 0

acdcjunior
acdcjunior

Reputation: 135762

You may be looking for HtmlUnit -- a "GUI-Less browser for Java programs".

Here's a sample code that opens google.com, searches for "htmlunit" using the form and prints the number of results.

import com.gargoylesoftware.htmlunit.*;
import com.gargoylesoftware.htmlunit.html.*;

public class HtmlUnitFormExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        WebClient webClient = new WebClient();
        HtmlPage page = webClient.getPage("http://www.google.com");

        HtmlInput searchBox = page.getElementByName("q");
        searchBox.setValueAttribute("htmlunit");

        HtmlSubmitInput googleSearchSubmitButton = 
                          page.getElementByName("btnG"); // sometimes it's "btnK"
        page=googleSearchSubmitButton.click();

        HtmlDivision resultStatsDiv =
                                page.getFirstByXPath("//div[@id='resultStats']");

        System.out.println(resultStatsDiv.asText()); // About 309,000 results
        webClient.closeAllWindows();
    }
}

Other options are:

  • Selenium: Will open a browser like Firefox and operate it.
  • Watij: Also will open a browser, but in its own window.
  • Jsoup: Good parser. No JavaScript, though.

Upvotes: 13

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