How do I parse a web page via a URL in the clipboard

Question

Hi.
I would like to read the html source of a web page into a string variable. The contents of the clipboard contains the URL.
How do I do this ?
Regards,
Harry W.
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5GHz   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

Answer 1

What I have done is write an Applescript that parses a URL copied from a web site (http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/TV/static/PerthNight.html?) read the web page using CURL and use the EyeTV API to schedule a recording.
The applescript is as follows;
property |version| : 1.0
property author : "HarPat Software"
property |date| : date "Saturday, 18 February 2006 12:00:00 AM"
property license : "freeware, open-source"
version 1.0, February, 18, 2006
- Initial version.
set theURL to contents of (get the clipboard) as text
if theURL contains "http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/cgi-bin/TV/detail?" then
set thePage to do shell script "curl " & quoted form of theURL
set theBDateStr to "Broadcast Date: "
set theChannelStr to "&chan="
set theDescriptionStr to "&descrip="
set theBTimeStr to the offset of "Broadcast Time: " in thePage
set theDurationStr to the offset of "Timeslot Duration: " in thePage
set theBDateOff to the offset of theBDateStr in thePage
copy (characters (theBDateOff + (length of theBDateStr)) thru ((the offset of "Channel: " in thePage) - 9) of thePage) as string to theBroadcastDate
set theChannelOff to the offset of theChannelStr in theURL
copy (characters (theChannelOff + 6) thru ((the offset of "&state=" in theURL) - 1) of theURL) as string to theChannel
set theDescriptOff to the offset of theDescriptionStr in theURL
copy (characters (theDescriptOff + 9) thru ((the offset of "&fta=" in theURL) - 1) of theURL) as string to theTitle
set theBTimeOff to the offset of theBTimeStr in thePage
copy (characters (theBTimeOff + (length of theBTimeStr) + 23) thru ((the offset of "Classifications: " in thePage) - 10) of thePage) as string to theBroadcastTime
set theDurationOff to the offset of theDurationStr in thePage
copy (characters (theDurationOff + (length of theDurationStr) + 26) thru ((the offset of "<!--<br>" in thePage) - 11) of thePage) as string to theDuration
set Durationsecs to (theDuration as integer) * 60
set thetheBroadcastDateTime to theBroadcastDate & " " & theBroadcastTime
set aChannel to 0
if theChannel = "2" then
set aChannel to 1
end if
if theChannel = "7" then
set aChannel to 2
end if
if theChannel = "9" then
set aChannel to 3
end if
if theChannel = "10" then
set aChannel to 4
end if
if theChannel = "SBS" then
set aChannel to 5
end if
if theChannel = "31" then
set aChannel to 6
end if
tell application "EyeTV"
make new program with properties {start time:date thetheBroadcastDateTime, duration:Durationsecs, title:theTitle, channel number:aChannel}
end tell
end if
I'm not very good at scripting yet so please don't laugh at my code.
Regards,
Harry Werkman