[Tutor] Have Python Update Forms

[James]

All,

I'm helping a buddy write a program and could use a few pointers. :) I
know this is a bit 'off-topic,' but hopefully someone can shed some
light on how to go about doing this.

First some background information: there's a web tool which keeps
track of a 'to do' list. The to-do list has a database backend that a
user can interact with by using a set of very mature web tools already
in production. One of the fields in each 'to-do list item' is 'last
updated'.

Each to-do list item is tracked by a number. The goal is to write a
program that will the 'last updated' field in the to-do list.  A user
can edit the 'to-do item' by accessing a web interface (where you can
change status, priority, etc. of the to-do list item):

http://site/todoUpdate.do?item=225532

There's a form field in this web tool interface where the 'last
updated' field (a *date* field) can be manually modified by a user.
Thus, when a user makes a modification to the item, the date field for
'last updated' has to be manually changed.

A user can also see an overview of all to-do items by going to a URL
similar to the following:

http://site/todoList.do?user=testUser

I want to write a program that will update the 'last updated' field on
*every* item. This will require some sort of 'post' to the web server
and interaction with the existing web tools and its back-end. I can
probably whip up a program (using the advice Kent gave yesterday in a
thread on this mailing list :)) to gather the entire list of items
that needs to be modified (all the to-do list item numbers, that is).
I'm not sure, however, how to mimic manually updating the last-updated
field.

Any thoughts?
- james