ETrade API unattended authentication

Question

Background
The ETrade authentication system has me creating a RequestToken, then executing an Authorization URL, which opens an ETrade page. The user logs in to authorize the activity on their account. They receive a pin, which they enter in my app. I call ExchangeRequestTokenForAccessToken with the RequestToken and the Pin. Then we are off and running.

Question
The problem is I'm creating a service that runs continuously in the background. There won't be any user to log in. Conversely, I won't be making any trades. Just crunching numbers, looking for stocks that meet certain criteria. I can't figure how to get this to work unattended.

Thanks, Brad.

Answer 1

Previously, I have used a series of WebRequests and manually added headers to simulate the authorization pages. This worked until about a year ago when ETrade complicated their headers with something that appears to be tracking information. I now use http://watin.org/ to log in, and to strip the Auth Code.

Sloppy code looks like this:

            using WatiN.Core; // IE Automation
...
            // verify current thread in STA.

            Settings.Instance.MakeNewIeInstanceVisible = false;

            var ieStaticInstanceHelper = new IEStaticInstanceHelper();
            Settings.AutoStartDialogWatcher = false;

            using (ieStaticInstanceHelper.IE = new IE())
            {
                string authCode = "";
                ieStaticInstanceHelper.IE.GoTo(GetAuthorizationLink());

                if (ieStaticInstanceHelper.IE.ContainsText("Scheduled System Maintenance"))
                {
                    throw new ApplicationException("eTrade down for maintenance.");
                }

                TextField user = ieStaticInstanceHelper.IE.TextField(Find.ByName("USER"));

                TextField pass = ieStaticInstanceHelper.IE.TextField(Find.ById("txtPassword"));

                TextField pass2 = ieStaticInstanceHelper.IE.TextField(Find.ByName("PASSWORD"));

                Button btn = ieStaticInstanceHelper.IE.Button(Find.ByClass("log-on-btn"));
                Button btnAccept = ieStaticInstanceHelper.IE.Button(Find.ByValue("Accept"));


                TextField authCodeBox = ieStaticInstanceHelper.IE.TextField(Find.First());

                if (user != null && pass != null && btn != null &&
                    user.Exists && pass2.Exists && btn.Exists)
                {
                    user.Value = username;
                    pass2.Value = password;
                    btn.Click();
                }

                btnAccept.WaitUntilExists(30);
                btnAccept.Click();

                authCodeBox.WaitUntilExists(30);
                authCode = authCodeBox.Value;

                SavePin(authCode);
            }