Re: LYNX-DEV Post data

[Foteos Macrides]

address@hidden (Mark Mestern) wrote:
>Thank you for lynx. It is very useful for making commandline script to download
>info from web pages. However I am finding trouble with pages
>that require you to enter data in a form. 
>
>As an example at url http://www.hrm.uct.ac.za/cgi/cgi_sas.exe
>there is a form for entering a number to get a result. I'd like to do this
>in a script. Entering the data by hand and pressing "=" on the
>result page lynx gives the following info:
>
>  Linkname: UCT Final Results - Student Administration Systems:
>        URL: http://www.hrm.uct.ac.za/cgi/cgi_sas.exe
>   Post Data: entrypoint=step2&studentnumber=mstmad323
>   Post Content Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
>   Owner(s): None
>       size: 19 lines
>       mode: normal
>
>So I thought one could call up this page using 
>
>lynx 
>http://www.hrm.uct.ac.za/cgi/cgi_sas.exe?entrypoint=step2\&studentnumber=mstmad323
>
>Unfortunately although this method worked with many other forms I've
>tried this one doesn't work. 
>
>Can you tell me how to get lynx to go to a page like this from a command
>line address? It be very useful.

        By making the POST content a ?searchpart in the URL, you're
treating the request as a GET, and CGI scripts vary in whether they'll
handle POST and GET equivalently, plus you're giving it implied safety
to re-submit, which is OK in that case, but need not be for FORMs with
METHOD=POST.

        Investigate Lynx's -post_data switch, and do a search for lynx-dev
and that switch as queries, for previous discussions of how best to use
that switch from the command line or in scripts.

                                Fote

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 Foteos Macrides            Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
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