Reading CSVs beyond a login?

KNIME Analytics Platform
#1

(This is similar to my post about HTTPS Connections but a bit more specific)

I have a url that will result in a CSV being sent.  But before it will release it I need to login to the site.  What's the best way to approach this?

I notice the IO -> File Handling -> Remote nodes have some connection nodes and a file download node.  Although I also know that the CSV Reader node can work with a url!  I'd rather not have to download the file then read it with csv if I could just read it throught the CSV reader normally?

#2

Most web server support the following syntax:

http://<username>:<password>@hostname/path/file.csv

You can use such URLs directly in all reader nodes. The password is stored in plain text as part of the location, though.

#3

https://firstname%26lastname.com:mypassword@instance.salesforce.com/123817397ayd?export=1&enc=UTF-8&xf=csv

Doesn't work.  I'm testing this url directly in my browser and instead of throwing a CSV at me it just goes to the login page.

#4

I should also mention that to login you need to use

https://login.salesforce.com

but once in you use

https://instance.salesforce.com

...so the url changes between the two

#5

Looks like Salesforce is using form-based login with cookies which is not standardized and therefore not supported in KNIME.

#6

Cookie support would be a great feature :)

#7

It's not only cookie support, login forms usually do not follow any standard so the node has no way of knowing what information to send to the server during authentication.