CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptxmlhttprequest
user2486308
user2486308

Reputation: 165

How to manually submit a post request to a server?

I am looking for a way to manually submit a Post request to a server, without using the website's UI. I can see the request headers and the post parameters in Firebug when I perform the action manually (clicking the UI's "submit" button). I am hoping there is a way to reverse engineer some Javascript using these headers and parameters so that we can automate this process.

Reason: My company recently purchased some process automation software that enables us to write automation bots that access out business partner's portal site and automatically adjust our digital marketing bids. For one of our partner sites, front-end manipulation doesn't appear to work, because the Post request is submitted via AJAX.

The software does allow us to execute custom javascript within the environment, so I am trying to construct some Javascript using the headers and request parameters.

Is there a standard template into which I can plug these parameters to execute Javascript that will send the Post request to the server?

Thank you

UPDATE:

Thank you all for your help! I've made some progress but am still having difficulty implementing the solution within the software.

The following request works when I run the code in Firebug in Firefox:

$.ajax({
  type: "POST",
  url: "http://acp.example.com/campaigns/122828",
  data: "data-string"
});

However, the software we're using might be a little out of date and I'm not sure it recognizes the AJAX syntax.

Is there a way to effectively write the same statement above, but in Javascript rather than AJAX? Then I think it would work.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 3447

Answers (2)

ONDoubleB
ONDoubleB

Reputation: 330

You can use AJAX to post data to a server without any direct UI interaction. I will break down a simple jQuery example below: 

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: url,
    data: data,
    success: success,
});

$.ajax Is a method offered by the jQuery framework to make AJAX requests simple and cross browser compatible. As you can see I have passed in a JSON object containing various values:

type - This is the first key I have specified, in this instance you'll want this to be of the value POST as this determines the HTTP Request Method.

url - This specifies the server end point, for example: post/data/here.php would post the data to that url so that it can be picked up and handled correctly.

data - This key expects a JSON object, string or array of data to send in the POST request.

success - This key expects a function, it is called on the server's response to the request, with any relevant data passed through.

More documentation is available at: http://api.jquery.com/jquery.ajax/

Upvotes: 1

Brian
Brian

Reputation: 7146

If all you want to do is POST data, no JavaScript needed.

You should be able to use a browser extension for this. I have one called REST Console that is similar to what you describe. I believe REST Console is for Chrome only, but a quick Google search yielded a similar looking extension for FireFox called RESTClient.

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions