Question

I am using a new service to pull xml data from a server.

The service provides two methods of logging in, one via a url query:

http://<server>/login.asp?username=<User Name>&password=<Password>

and the server returns a cookie valid for 7 days. This means instead of logging in for every query (and making my script less efficient), I only need to login once a week.

I have just realised that I can’t do this since the script is not run from a web browser but from a cron script on the server. Is there a way to store cookies on my server, or do I have to go for the second method:

Token

The token is the username, passwork
and usergroup encrypted using the DES
algorithm with a key and a timestamp.
The token can be generated by any
application using the DES algorithm
with the appropriate key or the secure
call below can be used: the token is
contained in the body of the returned
page and is valid for one hour

I know nothing of this method. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks.

Ed

Answer 1

Is there a way to store cookies on my
server?

Yes. Here’s how:

curl -c cookies.txt http://<server>/login.asp?username=<User Name>&password=<Password>

That will write them in netscape format to cookies.txt.

Noah