Welcome to AutoPOST!

AutoPOST is a Web site/utility that can automatically submit a form, complete with data. Your form submission is packaged into one extended URL, which you can use anywhere you'd use a normal URL-- a bookmark, a link, a non-form-supporting browser. Whenever you access the URL, the form is automatically submitted. AutoPOST supports both GET and POST form submissions (POST submissions are routed through a special AutoPOST script when called, transparent to the user). If you're wondering why on earth this would be useful, see What's the Point?, below. (Quick answer: automatic logins, queries, etc.)

You don't need to put anything on your local machine at all-- you can be browsing from a food processor for all AutoPOST cares. The program itself lives on www.io.com; all you do is access your AutoPOST extended URL (which calls the AutoPOST program if necessary). Instructions for creating this extended URL are under How Do I Use It?, below.

It's real simple to use. Just fill out your form the way you want AutoPOST to automate it, then save the result as a bookmark. Read a couple more paragraphs, and you'll be set. Or just go for it if you don't like reading.

There are limits to AutoPOST: You can't submit huge amounts of data, or to sites that require Netscape's "cookie" feature (an HTTP extension). Also, the form must be accessible by AutoPOST, not inside a firewall. But for most forms you'd want to automate submission to, AutoPOST will work fine.

Wow, this is great! (Or at least, OK, I'm game.) How Do I Use It?

Just reference your AutoPOST extended URL wherever you would use a normal URL, whether in a bookmark, a link from your page, or anywhere else. Once your URL is created, you can forget AutoPOST is there.

You can either generate your AutoPOST URL with the simple form below, or you can create it manually-- messy if you don't know CGI, but doable.

To let us make the AutoPOST URL for you:

1. Enter the URL where the input form lives, right here:
   
   
   We'll send you back a mock-up of that Web page, that lets you enter data just like the real thing.

2. When you get the mock-up, enter the same data you want AutoPOST to enter, and submit the form.
3. AutoPOST will generate your extended URL, and return it to you. From there, you can test the URL immediately, or copy it to a bookmark.
4. You're done! You can skip the rest of this manual, now that you're off and running with your new URL. If you're automating logins, though, read the Wait Just a Minute! section for a note on security.

What's the point? Isn't this kind of geeky, or is there actually a practical use for this thing?

Another use of AutoPOST is to automate common queries. If you're always checking a server for updated information, you might make the same query every day.

Yet another use of AutoPOST is to include links on your pages that perform that automatic posting when the user clicks on your link. For example, you might say "Click here for a WebCrawler search of 'sex' (be prepared to wait)". This can be done since all form data is contained in the one encoded URL, which you put in your <A HREF=...> tag.

Lastly, if you're unlucky enough to be using a browser that doesn't support forms, maybe you can use AutoPOST as a workaround.

Notice how I avoided answering the "geeky" question.

Wait Just a Minute! You want me to send all my passwords through YOU? What are you trying to pull?!

(What? You'd doubt someone with a server named "Illuminati Online"?)

Yes, I'm afraid it's true. To automate your logins, you need to send AutoPOST all your login information, including passwords.

All you can do is trust me when I assure you that

I will NOT be using your form data to log in to Web sites under your username, nor to breach any security in any other way. I don't save any data whatsoever after I submit it-- it's gone with the bit-wind. In the future, I may save some data for statistics and the like, but I'll tell you about it here first.

Also, as Iain Tuddenham pointed out, any password or other private information you enter will be stored in the URL, which will be stored in your bookmark file if you bookmark it. Anyone who has access to your bookmark file can get your password, or even just follow the URL itself. Plus, remember that the URL is probably displayed in a field on your browser somewhere, for anyone to read over your shoulder.

Many sites require logins not for security, but for the ability to manage their Web traffic. Use your own judgement on a site-by-site basis.

--- A Few Technical Details, if you're interested ---

AutoPOST is a Non-Parsed Header (NPH) script, which means the Web server at www.io.com doesn't put any HTTP headers in front of the data; it assumes the script will put them there instead, for more control. AutoPOST simply pipes the entire data stream from the POST response back to the user, including the HTTP headers and the HTML body.

Well, not quite: AutoPOST inserts the HTTP "Location:" header into the response stream, to tell the browser where the data came from, so it can set relative URL's correctly. Otherwise, your links wouldn't work and your images wouldn't show up.

And again, not quite: Netscape 2.0, unfortunately, doesn't support the "Location:" header. So, AutoPOST actually parses the HTML stream coming through, and inserts a <BASE> tag as needed, so the browser can set relative URL's correctly. This means that the HTML file is not quite what the server sent back, in case that matters to you. It's a messy solution, and doubles the size of the AutoPOST program, but I have no choice until Netscape fixes the "Location:" bug. If that gets fixed, AutoPOST's "cookie" limitation may go away too.

For details and anatomy of the AutoPOST URL, see Manually Creating Your AutoPOST URL.