I need a script that does cross-browser scripting (a.k.a. cross-site
scripting or cross-page scripting or xss or screen scraping). This
will enable my website users to do online research.

In operation, my users will view a page from my website that includes
a link for launching a child instance of their default browser. In the
child browser window, the user will navigate to another website. Then
the user will go back to the parent browser window (my web page) and
click a submit button to send the entire HTML content of the web page
in the child browser window back to my server. (Some people call this
screen-scraping.)

A few years ago you could do this with JavaScript but present-day
browsers like IE 6 no longer allow this for security reasons. A so
called "same-origin policy" has been added to modern browsers.
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/components/same-origin.html

Today, you can do cross-site scripting only if both parent and child
browsers are at the same domain name. Here is an explanation of the
security concerns that are causing my problem,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting

How can I work-around the same-origin policy with IE 6 and other
modern web browsers without changing the browser's standard security
settings so that my users can do the research outlined above? Proxy
servers do not work because they are easily blocked by their IP address or
other identifiers.

Can it be done with a simple JavaScript or a plug-in? Please submit a
script or example program that works.

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Request for Question Clarification by leapinglizard-ga on 05 Apr 2006 04:51 PDT

JavaScript is not a good tool for this task becaues it runs in the
user's browser and not on your server. However, there are several ways
to implement the desired functionality with a server-side script that
runs through CGI. In other words, the user clicks a button on your
page to get your server to slurp the third-party site. Are you
interested in this approach? If so, I can implement a model page for
you.

leapinglizard

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Request for Question Clarification by leapinglizard-ga on 05 Apr 2006 04:55 PDT

Actually, scratch that. I just reread your question and realized that
you're asking for something more complicated, because you need some
way to find out the child browser's current URL. I'm afraid I don't
have a server-side solution for you at this time.

leapinglizard