post variables to script on other server

bortero

I' d like to write a script that allows library patrons to log in blindly to online databases and journals, a script that emulates the submission of a html-form. I have to keep the username and password hidden from the patron at any cost, so sending them in a query string attached to the url is out of the question.
I've tried using the httpclient-module which allows me to post variables to another server and returns the output of the script on that remote server as a variable. I can print this variable as output from my script, but that's not what I need, since that way I do not really open a page on the remote server, but a copy of that page on my server (and because all the links on that page are relative, none of them work).
So I do not think httpclient can do what I'm trying to achieve, I really just need to post the variables, I do not need the output of the script to which I post the variables to be returned to my script.
any ideas?

superwormy

www.php.net/cURL

www.php.net/fsockopen

Or if you don't want to print the output... just don't echo() or print() it out...

If I read your post right, you're trying ti basically make a little proxy server for certain sites right?

You're best bet is probably to do what youre doing now, and change all the relative links before you print the HTML out. Change them to /YourPage.php?Page_They_Want_To_Visit=[the original url would go here]

That way they stay always on your site... and are basically browing another site throug hyours... yes?

bortero

what I'm trying to do is indeed having my webserver behave as a proxy server to access certain sites, I don't really get your suggestion, though (the /YourPage.php?Page_They_Want_To_Visit=[the original url would go here] part), what would I do with that variable?

here's what I've tried till now:

I have tried to rewrite the references, the problem is this: the site I'm trying to log in to uses frames, hence the output I receive looks like somewhat this:

which left me with two 404 error pages

I replaced the references with absolute paths "http//remote_server/1.html" which resulted in the 2 pages I was looking for. however, in those pages, the links are relative as well; since my browser assumes that I'm still working on my local server, it tries to resolve these links on my local server, which doesn't do much. because the output I receive is merely the definition of the framespage and not the actual frames, there's no way for me to rewrite the references in the actual frames (or is there?)

superwormy

ICK. Frames.

I guess the only way I could see to do it, is that each frame piece would have to be proxied as well...

So the frameset would have to look like this:

That way you would proxy those two framed pages and change all those URLs to be http://yourdomain.com/yourpage?theirpage=... whatever the original link was ...

But man... what a B!TCH...