How can I copy data (several 'fields' at once) from a GUI for .NET form (customer record) to a web page / form? I've looked at screen scraping and copy / paste solutions but haven't found anything yet.
Thanks for the reply Brian.
An end-user of my software will locate a customer record in the database and display it in a .Net form. They will then bring up a (.gov) web page in a separate process (Chrome / Safari / Firefox) and manually copy the data fields from the .Net form to similar fields (customer last name, first name, MI, etc) in the web form. The GUI for .NET application is not controlling the web browser.
It is usually not possible, or desirable from a security perspective, to have a desktop application interface directly with a browser application. The browser typically works within a sandbox and access outside of that sandbox is typically restricted.
This being said, you have some options to communicate indirectly between the desktop application and browser application. You could use web services to send the information between the two applications. Another option would be to use web sockets or node.js to send messages between the two. Of course, you would need to be able to change the browser application in order to do any of this communication. If that is not possible, you are going to be severely limited in options.
The browser application is secure and unavailable for modification. No API exists.
Auto-filling web forms is widely used these days. I was hoping for an external application that would extend this capability and capture form control data, and auto-fill a known-layout web form.
A quick Google search turned up an application called WinAutomation that sounds like it may do what you need.
Thanks all.
My solution is to present the end-user with a 2d barcode of the information needed to complete the web form, use a barcode reader that will parse the data (adding tab keys, etc) that is encoded in the barcode. This way the process can be done in the same or different sessions (print the barcode).