Simple post examples

[Jim Ault]

On Feb 1, 2010, at 5:47 PM, Devin Asay wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm planning to teach my students how to post data to web servers  
> and get back results in their stacks. I've got a couple of examples,  
> but I wonder if anyone could point me to some examples that would be  
> simple enough for beginners. I'm thinking of things like doing a  
> Google search from a stack, looking up a weather report, getting  
> local movie information, etc.

I don't have any examples handy since I post to my own data processing  
servers from Rev, but here is an idea.

Most web forms use the POST method and you can find out by looking at  
the source where it will specify either GET or POST.

The GET method, of course means the name=value pairs are added to the  
url.
        "http://www.google.com?q=desert+oasis&language=EN"

The POST method sends the name=value pairs in a data packet that is  
invisible.
The form uses the names of the input fields/buttons/ckboxes and their  
values to prepare the data packet.

So, find forms that use 'POST', note the field names, and make your  
own Rev post (name=value&name=value)
If a web page form is programmed for GET, then it likely will ignore  
incoming POST commands.

Hope this helps.

Jim Ault
Las Vegas