Links

To find a link by name (or a clickable image by its alt attribute), use the selectLink method on an existing crawler. This returns a Crawler instance with just the selected link(s). Calling link() gives you a special Link object:

1
2
3
4
5

$linksCrawler = $crawler->selectLink('Go elsewhere...');
$link = $linksCrawler->link();

// or do this all at once
$link = $crawler->selectLink('Go elsewhere...')->link();

The Link object has several useful methods to get more information about the selected link itself:

1
2

// return the proper URI that can be used to make another request
$uri = $link->getUri();

Forms

Special treatment is also given to forms. A selectButton() method is available on the Crawler which returns another Crawler that matches a button (input[type=submit], input[type=image], or a button) with the given text. This method is especially useful because you can use it to return a Form object that represents the form that the button lives in:

1
2
3
4
5
6

$form = $crawler->selectButton('validate')->form();

// or "fill" the form fields with data
$form = $crawler->selectButton('validate')->form(array(
    'name' => 'Ryan',
));

The Form object has lots of very useful methods for working with forms:

1
2
3

$uri = $form->getUri();

$method = $form->getMethod();

The getUri() method does more than just return the action attribute of the form. If the form method is GET, then it mimics the browser's behavior and returns the action attribute followed by a query string of all of the form's values.

You can virtually set and get values on the form:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

// set values on the form internally
$form->setValues(array(
    'registration[username]' => 'symfonyfan',
    'registration[terms]'    => 1,
));

// get back an array of values - in the "flat" array like above
$values = $form->getValues();

// returns the values like PHP would see them,
// where "registration" is its own array
$values = $form->getPhpValues();

To work with multi-dimensional fields:

1
2
3
4
5

<form>
    <input name="multi[]" />
    <input name="multi[]" />
    <input name="multi[dimensional]" />
</form>

Pass an array of values:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

// Set a single field
$form->setValues(array('multi' => array('value')));

// Set multiple fields at once
$form->setValues(array('multi' => array(
    1             => 'value',
    'dimensional' => 'an other value'
)));

This is great, but it gets better! The Form object allows you to interact with your form like a browser, selecting radio values, ticking checkboxes, and uploading files:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

$form['registration[username]']->setValue('symfonyfan');

// check or uncheck a checkbox
$form['registration[terms]']->tick();
$form['registration[terms]']->untick();

// select an option
$form['registration[birthday][year]']->select(1984);

// select many options from a "multiple" select or checkboxes
$form['registration[interests]']->select(array('symfony', 'cookies'));

// even fake a file upload
$form['registration[photo]']->upload('/path/to/lucas.jpg');

What's the point of doing all of this? If you're testing internally, you can grab the information off of your form as if it had just been submitted by using the PHP values:

1
2

$values = $form->getPhpValues();
$files = $form->getPhpFiles();

If you're using an external HTTP client, you can use the form to grab all of the information you need to create a POST request for the form:

1
2
3
4
5
6

$uri = $form->getUri();
$method = $form->getMethod();
$values = $form->getValues();
$files = $form->getFiles();

// now use some HTTP client and post using this information

One great example of an integrated system that uses all of this is Goutte. Goutte understands the Symfony Crawler object and can use it to submit forms directly:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

use Goutte\Client;

// make a real request to an external site
$client = new Client();
$crawler = $client->request('GET', 'https://github.com/login');

// select the form and fill in some values
$form = $crawler->selectButton('Log in')->form();
$form['login'] = 'symfonyfan';
$form['password'] = 'anypass';

// submit that form
$crawler = $client->submit($form);