hi. i need to write a client application that would open a webpage (a protocol converter's web gui) and refresh it every once in a while. it would also need to read the table at that page (system events) and check if the contents of the table has changed. if it did, the application needs to open a warning pop-up window and sound an audible alarm on the pc's speakers. i used to do quite a lot of visual basic programming before moving to the telecom industry but i have absolutely no web programming experience except for some primitive html web page creating. i need your expert advice. which programming tool(s) is(are) the best suited to write such application? do you think it will be easy enough to learn these tools and create such application in the matter of, say, a couple of weeks? tx.
I think VB would probably do the trick. Read the page into an array just using the HTTP functions, parse the array looking for the data you want, check for differences between those results and the results from the previous parse, then if there are changes open the popup and play the sound. Sleep for a while (the refresh time) and repeat the operation. Does it need to display the page as well? Is the client application a standalone executable or does it need to be a component of some larger system?
thanks a lot for your reply! i just need to figure out how to read the page now. it's been long since i've done any programming and didn't deal much with the web. now i've got an idea from you about the algorithm so that should make it easier. no, it doesn't need to display the page itself. the client application will be a standalone executable as it's going to be just a handy tool to improve system monitoring.
