LYNX-DEV Re: Using Lynx -post_data option

[Foteos Macrides]

Louis Mandelstam <address@hidden> wrote to me instead of lynx-dev:
>I'm having a hard time getting a certain form page to work with Lynx's
>-post_data facility.
>
>I hope you'll be able and willing to help me, as I don't seem to be having
>much luck with what I'm trying to do.
>
>If I send the input:  [mtn-sms-form.txt]
>
>NUM=0832290712
>&MESSAGE=Test
>&address@hidden
>---
>
>Using command:
>
>lynx -post_data www.mtn.co.za/cgi-bin/mtn/smssend.pl < mtn-sms-form.txt
>
>The form itself is at www.mtn.co.za/sms.html
>
>The output seems be the same as I get when submitting the form manually,
>(from eith Lynx or Netscape) but something still isn't right because the
>result never happens.
>
>Could I ask you to spare a minute and see what obvious thing I've missed?

        Please use the address@hidden list, not private email, for
questions and discussion about Lynx.  You need not be subscribed to
post messages, and you can read replies via its archive, accessible
via the online 'h'elp.  I'm CCing this to the list, and any further
discussion should be conducted there.

        That's a FORM with METHOD=POST which is returning 302
redirection but expecting it to be handled as 303 redirection, i.e,
as a GET without the POST content included in the redirected request.
You don't indicate which version of Lynx you are using, as you should
do when seeking help.  Lynx through v2.5 mishandled such redirections
as expected by that script, but v2.6 handles it properly, and thus
yields an error status from the target of the redirection.  The
Composite patch available via the Lynx Enhanced Pages, or my personal
mods available via  http://www.wfbr.edu/dir/lynx  prompt you for whether
to redirect the POST properly, or (mis)handle it as a GET, so you can
GET that to work.  If you are not using Lynx interactively, it simply
won't redirect a request with POST content.

        I presume those factors are involved in your problem.  The
real solution if either for the FORM to be changed to METHOD=GET,
or for it to return a (valid) 303 instead of (invalid) 302 redirection
status.

        This is now an FAQ, so check the archives for previous discussion
about it.
                                Fote

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 Foteos Macrides            Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
 address@hidden         222 Maple Avenue, Shrewsbury, MA 01545
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