Utl_http authentication

Question

Not an Apex question, but hoping some of the Oracle Web Gurus may know the answer, or can point me in the right direction.
I need to retrieve XML into my 10g database, from a website that requires authentication. Username and Password is done via HTML form on the front page, once authenticated a session (SID) is produced. All interaction from then on is via session.cgi in the URL.
Is there any way I can use utl_http to interact with the website , to POST the username and password (via the login form) , and retrieve the session ID? So I can make further URL calls to retrieve the XML.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The docs describe the entire API. Please read through with a little more diligence. You can have the login form send a 'POST' request as belowreq := UTL_HTTP.BEGIN_REQUEST (url=>'www.abc.com', method=>'POST');
UTL_HTTP.SET_HEADER (r      =>  req,
                     name   =>  'Content-Type',  
                     value  =>  'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
UTL_HTTP.SET_HEADER (r      =>   req,
                     name   =>   'Content-Length',
                     value  =>'  <length of data posted in bytes>');
UTL_HTTP.WRITE_TEXT (r      =>   req,
                     data   =>   'username=value1&passwd=value2...');
resp := UTL_HTTP.GET_RESPONSE
                     (r     =>   req);
.... process response Varad