Using curl with AngularJS and bash

Question

I’m trying to fill out web forms using curl via a bash script to a website that uses AngularJS. Can’t find any documentation on how to do this. Is it even possible to use curl to POST data to webforms that use AngularJS? I’m not even sure I’m asking the right question or if there’s a better method?

AngularJS is a front-end framework. It sends HTTP requests to a backend, jus as curl does. What you need is the documentation of the backend HTTP API that AngularJS sends requests to. — JB Nizet
– JB Nizet, Commented Dec 25, 2019 at 7:48

Maxim Sagaydachny · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-26 08:21:14Z

1

In most cases AngularJS uses ajax calls with JSON payload instead of old-school multipart POSTs.

You can use browser to send test post and save request information "as cURL".

Most likely you will have ready-to-use command to add to your bash file.

But quite often such posts are associated with authenticated person so you will need to fill in up-to-date session cookie into your request.

First things to check will be whether your command works with cleaned cookies. If it works then your task is done. Just call such API with something like this:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type:application/json" \
 http://some-server/handle-form \
 -d '{"parameter1":["41","34"],"another_parameter":"val1"}'

But if your curl request is rejected by server with cookies absent then you need to setup proper cookie before invocation of API request.

This call will authenticate you against server and will store session cookie in a jar file:

curl -b ./jar -c ./jar -i -X POST -H "Content-Type:application/json" \
 http://some-server/login \
 -d '{"login":"my-user-name", "password":"my-password"}'

And such save session cookies would be reused for subsequent API calls:

curl -b ./jar -c ./jar -i -X POST -H "Content-Type:application/json" \
  http://some-server/handle-form \
  -d '{"parameter1":["41","34"],"another_parameter":"val1"}'

edited Dec 26, 2019 at 8:21

answered Dec 26, 2019 at 8:14

Maxim Sagaydachny

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2 Comments

nwood21 Over a year ago

Awesome post! I haven’t used JSON before—I’ll have to do some reading on it. I know the forms are complex and have drop down menus and file uploads for .mp3 files. Does JSON handle all that as well?

Maxim Sagaydachny Over a year ago

"using-curl-with-angularjs" - is this page at StackOverflow. I used it to make screenshot. your request will certainly have some other name.

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