If you want to use a Ruby program to access an RSS feed (or some other XML or HTML data), you can start with the standard Net::HTTP module ... full (working, tested) example
here. That example "just" uses a Get method to get an RSS feed of the latest posts to the
First Great Western Coffee Shop Forum - but you could easily tune it for other automated browsing.
If you take a look at
the documentation for the class, you'll see it's straightforward to access data via the POST method too ... although it does require some background knowledge which we would love to teach you (if you don't know it ;-) ) on our
Ruby Programming Course
I've been teaching Ruby over this weekend ... you may have guessed that, having seen the flurry of extra examples and tips posted, and I'm going to add in links to a final few examples here:
Ruby data formatting with the % operator / printf / sprintf
Ruby and $_, the -n option, topicalisation, etc)
Yield in Ruby or how to have two pieces of code passing data back and forth like generators in Python
(written 2008-11-16)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
R114 - Ruby on the Web [2605] Ruby on Rails - a sample application to teach you how - (2010-01-30)
[2607] Answers on Ruby on Rails - (2010-01-30)
[3431] Ruby at both extremes of your website - (2011-09-10)
[3432] 3 digit HTTP status codes - what are they, which are most common, which should be a concern? - (2011-09-11)
[3623] Some TestWise examples - helping use Ruby code to check your web site operation - (2012-02-24)
[3773] Ruby on the web - a simple example using CGI - (2012-06-22)
[4003] Web and console - same principle, same code - Ruby example - (2013-02-14)
[4502] Reading and parsing a JSON object in Ruby - (2015-06-01)
R110 - Ruby - Special Variables and Pseudo-Variables [990] Ruby - Totally Topical - (2006-12-16)
[1586] Variable types in Ruby - (2008-03-21)
[1587] Some Ruby programming examples from our course - (2008-03-21)
[2296] Variable scope - what is it, and how does it Ruby? - (2009-07-18)
[2613] Constants in Ruby - (2010-02-01)
[2623] Object Oriented Ruby - new examples - (2010-02-03)
[3757] Ruby - a teaching example showing many of the language features in short but useful program - (2012-06-09)
[4682] One line scripts - Awk, Perl and Ruby - (2016-05-20)
R109 - Ruby - Strings and Regular Expressions [970] String duplication - x in Perl, * in Python and Ruby - (2006-12-07)
[986] puts - opposite of chomp in Ruby - (2006-12-15)
[987] Ruby v Perl - interpollating variables - (2006-12-15)
[1195] Regular Express Primer - (2007-05-20)
[1305] Regular expressions made easy - building from components - (2007-08-16)
[1588] String interpretation in Ruby - (2008-03-21)
[1875] What are exceptions - Python based answer - (2008-11-08)
[1887] Ruby Programming Course - Saturday and Sunday - (2008-11-16)
[2293] Regular Expressions in Ruby - (2009-07-16)
[2295] The dog is not in trouble - (2009-07-17)
[2608] Search and replace in Ruby - Ruby Regular Expressions - (2010-01-31)
[2614] Neatly formatting results into a table - (2010-02-01)
[2621] Ruby collections and strings - some new examples - (2010-02-03)
[2980] Ruby - examples of regular expressions, inheritance and polymorphism - (2010-10-02)
[3424] Divide 10000 by 17. Do you get 588.235294117647, 588.24 or 588? - Ruby and PHP - (2011-09-08)
[3621] Matching regular expressions, and substitutions, in Ruby - (2012-02-23)
[3758] Ruby - standard operators are overloaded. Perl - they are not - (2012-06-09)
[4388] Global Regular Expression matching in Ruby (using scan) - (2015-01-08)
[4505] Regular Expressions for the petrified - in Ruby - (2015-06-03)
[4549] Clarrissa-Marybelle - too long to really fit? - (2015-10-23)
R104 - Ruby - Control Structures [960] 1st, 2nd, 3rd revisited in Ruby - (2006-12-02)
[962] Breaking a loop - Ruby and other languages - (2006-12-03)
[985] Equality in Ruby - == eql? and equal? - (2006-12-14)
[995] Ruby's case - no break - (2006-12-17)
[1163] A better alternative to cutting and pasting code - (2007-04-26)
[1220] for loop - how it works (Perl, PHP, Java, C, etc) - (2007-06-06)
[1582] Ruby, C, Java and more - getting out of loops - (2008-03-19)
[1696] Saying NOT in Perl, PHP, Python, Lua ... - (2008-07-04)
[1738] Clean code, jump free (Example in Lua) - (2008-08-06)
[1870] What to do with a huge crop of apples - (2008-11-04)
[1904] Ruby, Perl, Linux, MySQL - some training notes - (2008-11-23)
[2287] Learning to program in Ruby - examples of the programming basics - (2009-07-15)
[2471] A short form of if ... then ... else - (2009-10-23)
[2619] Passing code to procedures and yield in Ruby - (2010-02-02)
[2711] For loop - checked once, or evety time? Ruby v Perl comparison and contrast - (2010-04-07)
[2892] Alternative loops and conditionals in Ruby and Perl - (2010-07-28)
[2975] Why do I need brackets in Ruby ... or Perl, Python, C or Java - (2010-09-29)
[3156] Splitting data reading code from data processing code - Ruby - (2011-02-04)
[3158] Ruby training - some fresh examples for string handling applications - (2011-02-05)
[3159] Returning multiple values from a function call in various languages - a comparison - (2011-02-06)
[3200] How a for loop works Java, Perl and other languages - (2011-03-12)
[3253] Is this number between? Does this list include? - Ruby - (2011-04-18)
[3254] Multiple inputs, multiple out, ruby functions - (2011-04-19)
[3397] Does a for loop evaluate its end condition once, or on every iteration? - (2011-08-18)
[3422] Assigning values to variables within other statements - Ruby - (2011-09-07)
[3619] Ruby v Perl - a comparison example - (2012-02-21)
[3620] Finding the total, average, minimum and maximum in a program - (2012-02-22)
[3769] Muttable v immutable and implications - Ruby - (2012-06-20)
[4322] Learning to Program - the conditional statement (if) - (2014-11-21)
[4323] Learning to program - Loop statements such as while - (2014-11-22)
[4370] Conditionals, loops and methods in Ruby - a primer with simple examples - (2014-12-29)
[4402] Finding sum, minimum, maximum and average in Python (and Ruby) - (2015-01-19)
[4503] Separating your code for easier testing, understanding and re-use; example in Ruby - (2015-06-02)
[4504] Where does Ruby load modules from, and how to load from current directory - (2015-06-03)
[4674] Alternating valuses / flip-flop / toggle - example in Ruby - (2016-05-17)
Some other Articles
Comparison - with and without flashShopping in MelkshamSome Linux and Unix tipsMelksham Chamber of Commerce and IndustryRuby to access web servicesMySQL database from Ruby - an exampleRuby mixins, modules, require and includeFind the linkKeys to friendless churches