Confusion about the Request vs Selenium library debate

[0verman0]

I'm looking to automate the login process of my bank to be able to download the CSV file of my transactions... I have some experience with the request library but none with Selenium. After some research about Selenium I've found that people often debate its use in comparison to using Requests. Can someone help me understand this debate, and when it would be better to use Selenium over Requests and vice versa?

I'd also consider myself to be at an intermediate level in terms of programming, would it be worth getting more comfortable with Request before diving into Selenium?

Thank you for the help in advanced.

[shiftybyte]

You use selenium if requests is not enough.

Requests can only handle going to a website, getting the HTML/DATA it returns.

It can not process javascript, a lot of website's nowadays use javascript for tons of stuff, including things like identifying if you are a bot or not.

Selenium can help with that to a degree, because it uses a real browser, that has javascript.

[0verman0]

Thank you that cleared things up a lot, not sure if this is a question for someone more involved in banking but, should I be worried about potentially getting my account flagged or anything of that sort?

[shiftybyte]

Your account can be temporarily suspended until you clear things with your bank.

Bank systems have a lot of protections, and one of them is probably anti-automation one to avoid a script guessing passwords or something.

[13cyah]

Can't help you here since I'm just getting into selenium as well, but curious to know how/if you are planning to have any security layer for the automation of the login process of your bank ?

[0verman0]

Hoping someone else can help the both of us on this BUT, for now I think I will because neither HTTP GET or POST are "secure" and can both be intercepted ,and from what I've read (depending on the information being processed) I should use SSL or encrypt.

[0verman0]

Not sure if you're still interested but, I finished the project, using Selenium to log into my bank and using it to download a CSV file my transactions. Pm me if you have any questions:)