Input into site using Mechanize (Python)

Question

I'm trying to make a dictionary program using dictionary.com for the source but I can't find the name of the search box in the source code

from mechanize import Browser

inp = raw_input("Enter Word: ")
Word = (inp)

SEARCH_PAGE = "http://dictionary.reference.com/"

browser = Browser()
browser.open( SEARCH_PAGE )
browser.select_form( nr=0 ) 

browser['name of search form'] = Word
browser.submit()

Can anyone help me make this work or help me find the name of the search bar in the HTML source?

user2134086 · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-18 02:07:54Z

1

You can look through the forms with the method Browser.forms(). Each of these forms has a variable called controls, a list of controls in the form. Each control in this list has a "name" variable. You can use these names to index with the browser, as you already know.

from mechanize import Browser

inp = raw_input("Enter Word: ")
Word = (inp)

SEARCH_PAGE = "http://dictionary.reference.com/"

browser = Browser()
browser.open( SEARCH_PAGE )

form = list(browser.forms())[0]                        #The first form
print form
names = map(lambda n: n.name, form.controls)
print names

browser.select_form( nr=0 ) 

browser[names[0]] = Word

txt = browser.submit().read()

#txt has the html from dictionary.reference.com

answered Apr 18, 2013 at 2:07

user2134086

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