[Rd] Retrieving data from aspx pages

[jose ramon mazaira]

Thanks for your interest, Paul.
I've checked the source code of TSjson and I've seen that what it does
is to call a Python script to retrieve the data. In fact, I've already
done this with Java using the URLConnection class and sending the
requested values to fill the form.
However, I think it would be more useful to open a connection with R
and to send the requested values within R, and not through an external
program.
The application I've designed, like yours, is also page-specific
(i.e., designed for
http://cxa.gtm.idmanagedsolutions.com/finra/BondCenter/AdvancedScreener.aspx),
but I think that our applications would be more powerful if they were
able to parse the name-value pairs generated from ASPX (or of any
other dynamically generated web page) and ask the user to select the
appropiate values.

2012/10/30, Paul Gilbert <pgilbert902 at gmail.com>:
> I think RHTMLForms works if you have a single form, but I have not been
> able to see how to use it when you need to go through a sequence of
> dynamically generated forms (like you can do with Python mechanize).
>
> Paul
>
> On 12-10-30 09:08 AM, Gabriel Becker wrote:
>> I haven't used it extensively myself, and can't speak to it's current
>> state but on quick inspection RHTMLForms seems worth a look for what you
>> want.
>>
>> http://www.omegahat.org/RHTMLForms/
>>
>> ~G
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 t 5:38 AM, Paul Gilbert <pgilbert902 at gmail.com
>> <mailto:pgilbert902 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     I don't know of an easy way to do this in R. I've been doing
>>     something similar with python scripts called from R. If anyone knows
>>     how to do this with just R, I would appreciate hearing too.
>>
>>     Paul
>>
>>
>>     On 12-10-29 04:11 PM, jose ramon mazaira wrote:
>>
>>         Hi. I'm trying to write an application to retrieve financial data
>>         (specially bonds data) from FINRA. The web page is served
>>         dynamically
>>         from an asp.net <http://asp.net> application:
>>
>>
>> http://cxa.gtm.__idmanagedsolutions.com/finra/__BondCenter/AdvancedScreener.__aspx
>>
>> <http://cxa.gtm.idmanagedsolutions.com/finra/BondCenter/AdvancedScreener.aspx>
>>
>>         I'd like to know if it's possible to fill dynamically the web
>> page
>>         form from R and, after filling it (with the issuer name),
>>         retrieve the
>>         web page, parse the data, and covert it to appropiate R objects.
>>         For example, suppose I want to search data for AT&T bonds. I'd
>>         like to
>>         know if it's possible, within R, to fill the page served from:
>>
>>
>> http://cxa.gtm.__idmanagedsolutions.com/finra/__BondCenter/AdvancedScreener.__aspx
>>
>> <http://cxa.gtm.idmanagedsolutions.com/finra/BondCenter/AdvancedScreener.aspx>
>>
>>         select the "corporate" option and fill with AT&T the field for
>>         "Issuer
>>         name", ask the page to display the results, and retrieve the
>> results
>>         for each of the bonds issued by AT&T (for example:
>>
>>
>> http://cxa.gtm.__idmanagedsolutions.com/finra/__BondCenter/BondDetail.aspx?ID=__MDAxOTU3Qko3
>>
>> <http://cxa.gtm.idmanagedsolutions.com/finra/BondCenter/BondDetail.aspx?ID=MDAxOTU3Qko3>)
>>
>>         and parsing the data from the web page.
>>
>>         Thanks in advance.
>>
>>         ________________________________________________
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>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Gabriel Becker
>> Graduate Student
>> Statistics Department
>> University of California, Davis
>>
>