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I have a task to fill in certain data in a web bas application monthly. It usually took up like 30 mins to 1 hr of my day.

Can anyone advise me whether there is any tool that can help to automate this? E.g help me to fill in the form data automatically base on the previous input. Then I access and just change the data only instead of rekeying all the data again

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3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Another option is Roboform.

  • It is a browser-based plugin in all major browser, works on Windows and Mac, and Linux I believe.
  • You can create multiple identities, and save common information like address, contact details, personal information.
  • When a form needs to be filled in, you click on the button in the Roboform browser toolbar, and all relevant information is filled in automatically.
  • The free version allows you to enter an additional 3 custom values, which can be used to match similar or custom field names. Presumaly a paid option allows unlimited custom field information.
  • You can also save passwords in Roboform if you don't want your browser to do this, but I think this is unnecessary.
  • You can backup your data up to Roboform's cloud, meaning you can access Roboform data from any machine, but I think this is a feature of the paid version, called Roboform Everywhere, and not available in the free version.
  • You can use Roboform as a portable app on a USB stick, and take it with you, but be careful when doing this on public computers, which are not gaurenteed to be bug/virus/spyware/sniffer free.

Firefox form history is okay, but beware: in my experience it will save every variation of data you input, including mistakes, and alternative grammar etc, meaning it may present multiple yet similar information to choose from when selecting historic data to enter into a form. You can edit bad information, and perhaps prevent spelling mistakes from being saved as well.

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+1: This is old school compared to the above solutions. – surfasb Oct 13 '11 at 9:32
@surfasb: Thanks for making me feel old. :-P – Steve Oct 13 '11 at 16:22
Didn't mean it that way. I meant that it was an "old" enough program where the kiddies around here don't use it. They all have been filling out those registration forms by hand all this time! – surfasb Oct 14 '11 at 9:04
@surfasb: I know, just teasing. – Steve Oct 15 '11 at 11:22
up vote 0 down vote

If you don't mind a little programming you can script Firefox to do exactly what you want.

I would suggest looking into Watir : http://watir.com/installation/ . It's a Ruby gem that lets you control web browsers and will let you enter and submit any/all information you want.

It's easy to use, you can look at these examples : http://watir.com/examples/

Works on on platforms.

If you are on a Mac, you could also use Applescript, although I would still suggest to use Watir as it is easier.

Watir does open a browser window, so if you really want it to work in the background maybe something like Mechanize (ruby/perl/python? library) can do that for you.

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up vote 0 down vote

Firefox has an inbuilt feature to auto complete form fields. Check "Remember History" is enabled in Tools/Options/Privacy

Some sites will inhibit autocomplete for forms to protect their content being stored in browsers. If you want to override this, you can install the Greasemonkey extensions, and use this script to allow form content to always be saved. Note that this can apply to credit card numbers and other sensitive info (not passwords however).

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