retriving xml from password protected site.

hi,

this is my requirement;
1. i have to login to somesite which requires user authentication.
2. then i have to give some unique id like transaction id or req id and press search.
3. after getting result have to download the xml for the page and then compare it with predetermined values to check if the values are correct.

what i have done;
1. created and Internet explorer object
2. got the field names using some DOM inspector but the place where i put IDs, the input field name changes sometimes, so DOM fails sometimes.

now going by using IE object, its very cumbersome. it takes hell lot of time to find DOM value and then code it properly. If code errors the IE object is also not destroyed which then makes machine slow.
Is there a better way to code??
i was going thru execwb but couldnt figure it out.
any help/comments are welcome
TIA

Nope. They probably don't want anyone automating searches. Lots of site won't let you even use SPEECH to TEXT programs, as it types words too fast. (50ms delay works at places)

thanks dglienna.
one more help please, can you tell me the name of freeware DOM inspector?

Used to be built into Firefox, now optional https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...&cat=1%2C4

Fiddler2 works with Internet Explorer

thanks dglienna for all the help.