Book Image

Python Automation Cookbook - Second Edition

By : Jaime Buelta
Book Image

Python Automation Cookbook - Second Edition

By: Jaime Buelta

Overview of this book

In this updated and extended version of Python Automation Cookbook, each chapter now comprises the newest recipes and is revised to align with Python 3.8 and higher. The book includes three new chapters that focus on using Python for test automation, machine learning projects, and for working with messy data. This edition will enable you to develop a sharp understanding of the fundamentals required to automate business processes through real-world tasks, such as developing your first web scraping application, analyzing information to generate spreadsheet reports with graphs, and communicating with automatically generated emails. Once you grasp the basics, you will acquire the practical knowledge to create stunning graphs and charts using Matplotlib, generate rich graphics with relevant information, automate marketing campaigns, build machine learning projects, and execute debugging techniques. By the end of this book, you will be proficient in identifying monotonous tasks and resolving process inefficiencies to produce superior and reliable systems.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
14
Other Books You May Enjoy
15
Index

Interacting with forms

A common element present in web pages is forms. Forms are a way of sending values to a web page, for example, to create a new comment on a blog post, or to submit a purchase.

Browsers present forms so you can input values and send them in a single action after pressing the submit or equivalent button. We'll see how to create this action programmatically in this recipe.

Be aware that sending data to a site is normally a more delicate matter than receiving data from it. For example, sending automatic comments to a website is very much the definition of spam. This means that it can be more difficult to automate as it involves considering security measures. Double-check that what you're trying to achieve is a valid, ethical use case.

Getting ready

We'll work against the test server https://httpbin.org/forms/post, which allows us to send a test form and sends back the submitted information.

Note that...