getting html from a webpage that requires you to login first.

Ok, I'm clueless on how this works right now, I don't know where to begin reading up or what this stuff is call so I can search the area. I'm a novice level programer. Basically, I'm trying to open a webpage that is normally only accessible after you login. From there is want to read the html of that page so that I can find work with for the rest of my program. However I have no idea what to do. I have tried so url connection and readings, but they can't access the password protected page. Please help me point me in the right places, so I can start learning about how to approach this problem. Thanks

The HtmlUnit library is great for programmatic web access. Don't be put off that it's labeled as a unit testing tool; it works just as well for other purposes.