[ale] How to drive Linux browser to make a campground sniper?

[Neal Rhodes]

Boring "Real-World Details":


        So, we are planning a summer trip to Glacier National Park in
        Montana. 
        
        We would really like to camp at Many Glaciers Campground in the
        park.  However, at present,  all the sites are already reserved.
        They are reserved through recreation.gov, starting 6 months to
        the day from today. 
        
        But we have a really strong impression that people initially
        book a long stretch, then later either reduce the duration once
        they get more specific plans, or cancel. 
        
        SO, we really want to detect if/when sites become available over
        the next 6 months and jump on it before someone else does. 
        
        There is someone who offers this as a service for $40 a
        reservation, irrespective of whether they are successful.
        

Exciting Technology Application: 


        Initially I looked at the HTML for their search page, with the
        thought of using "wget" to simulate the reservation request.
        That increasingly looks like a fool's errand, assuming that they
        may have session cookies related to sign-on and other magic
        handshake crap that would be difficult to simulate.  And what
        happens when they alter their data fields? 
        
        Then I thought:  All I want to do is: 
        
                Setup a browser window on our Centos 6 desktop, any
                browser that understands https;
                Run that browser through the responses to get it to the
                search window on this campground, and put in all the
                dates and related input. 
                Then: 
                
                        Run SOMETHING that will automate: 
                        
                                Hit the Search Submit button;
                                See if the resultant page contains "No
                                Suitable availability"
                                IF Not: Email me
                                Sleep 15 minutes
                                Rinse, Later, Repeat
                                
        
        This sounds to me like a very elemental application of a
        test/control manager for a GUI interface.    If I can automate
        an existing browser, we can eliminate all the complexities of
        trying to fake out their web server. 
        
        Since this just sits on my desk in the basement, I can live with
        hard-coded screen coordinates. 
        
        What tools exist in Linux to do this? 
        

regards, 

Neal Rhodes
MNOP Ltd
 

                
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