Not sure if I am even asking the correct thing in the title but here is what I want to do:
I am given a property listing website: https://hudson.rdeskbw.com/himanshu-shah/listing/listingsearch.aspx
On the website you can search for listings in a specific city. For instance, Hoboken.
I want to create a html button that when clicked will lead to Hoboken page.
I am pretty sure this is not possible, at least without a lot of effort, but doesn’t hurt to ask others.
Thank You!
2
Answers
Here is a button that refers to Hoboken listings:
Alternatively, you can add an input and some javascript to search more then Hoboken
Well, the site does NOT use URL and parameters.
The system thus uses server side code, either c#, or vb.net. So, you have a compiler, code, and variables for that code.
When you enter a search, then code behind runs, sets up the values, saves the values, and pure c# code is running behind. So, in place of someone who taken their first HTML course? They are in for a big rude awaking, since asp.net sites have code written in c# with things like variables and code etc.
You thus don’t have some "static" url to hit, nor do you have some URL with "lame" URL parameters used. You can no more feed that site some "value" then can you assume that Quickbooks accounting software running on your desktop allows YOU to feed some values to that accounting package to bring up one single customer or run some report.
They may have written some web methods and some kind of API, but then again, you have to contact them, and see if they wrote code for such provisions.
I always hated URL parameter’s anyway. They can be messed with by users, and as noted, if you taken a 1 week HTML course, then that might suffice. But for "real" code and an application development environment? We use asp.net, and write the code server side in a actually nice coding environment with real code and variables.
You can’t touch that code behind, and thus you can’t change the code behind that drives that site – and that’s how most asp.net sites work.
For that next page to display the search results? Miss one code call, miss one setup of one "little" variable in that c# code? it not going to run correctly, and the ONLY way for such code behind to work, run correct?
you have to followed the same steps you did when manual using the site, and without a published interface, you are out of luck.
Welcome to the "real" world, in which sites are written with real code, and has things like compilers, debuggers, and an IDE in which that code was created and written. The HTML part is of little consequence here, but the server side application code written in a high level language like c# is EVERYTHING here!
You can’t call that code behind, and thus you can’t feed that code behind with the correct code sequence and setup the correct code variables for htat site to operate correctly.
In fact, in a LOT of my code, if some code behind values are not setup by YOU having used the last 5 buttons and steps to get the one part of the web site?
My code will bounce you back to the previous page, since the existing code can’t work correctly unless you get to the one page by having clicked on, and run code from the previous 2 pages, and ALL of the values and code having been run in that correct order simple will not allow the current page you are on to even function correctly, let alone allow some external URL to setup that code and variables in the correct way.
You can I suppose adopt some of the "screen scraping" applications that would type in the name into that text box, and then find the button on the page, and click that button.
this means YOUR code would have to host a copy of the browser for this to work, and that in most cases means a desktop application, not a web based one.
Unless that site exposes some web methods for you to consume + use, then you are really out of luck here.