lynx-dev Re: is there a way? (to download from a *.nsf page ala MSIE)

[Michael Warner]

On or about 04 Apr, 2000, Henry Nelson
<address@hidden> wrote:

> > > Had to get new drivers for an old nic.  I was able to get as far as
> > > "http://twanina0.acer.com.tw/app/download.nsf/By+Model+No?OpenView&CollapseView&StartKey=ALN-201";,
> > > but I could not figure out any way to get the file I wanted: 
> > > "a201v320.zip."
> > > 
> > > Another problem with the same page is that Lynx seems to
> > > think there is "big5" in it, and gives me a prompt to either
> > > d)ownload or c)ancel.  How can I force Lynx to render it?

The trace shows the page is claiming "Content-Type:
text/html;Charset=BIG5", but it rendered fine for me.  Maybe
because I only compiled in iso-8859-1 and us-ascii?  The trace
also had a couple a couple entries like (from memory)
LYUseTransParam: iso-8859-1(0) to iso-8859-1(0).

> I appreciate you're looking at this.  Of course my interest is
> to eventually try to predict enough of the *.nsf format that I
> could pass it through a filter based on the mime.type/mailcap
> entry in order to formulate all links on a page to pass on to
> Lynx.

I'm not sure I know quite what you mean, but I think you oughta
consider forgetting it.  The actual download URL is:

http://twanina0.acer.com.tw/app/download.nsf/d30449498cdfcb5948256824000e8f8c/cb871f11f92acfe1482568
250013c287?OpenDocument

The intervening URL's were formatted more-or-less human-readably
along the lines of the start URL you gave above.  If you can
figure out a pattern to transform the one into the other, you're
a better man than I, Gunga Din.

        [...]

> Thanks.  I did get the file, but by using MSIE.  Did you get it
> with Lynx?  If so, could you give me some pointers on how to
> wade through that stuff to construct the necessary URLs?

I didn't try it with MSIE/NS, but I didn't have to do any URL
construction with lynx.  Method 1) Hit the "Expand" link at the
top of the page, use the "Next/Previous" links if and as needed
to get to the right place in the alphabetically arranged list,
follow the "Version 3.20" to a sort of info page, and hit the
"Content" link to download the file.  Method 2) Use the little
"+" signs to expand individually: "ALN-201", then "Driver", then
"General", then follow the version link as before.  Either way
can generate several page loads, ungood if the connection is really
slow.  This morning I was getting either good speeds or nothing
at all, mostly the former.

> The number of sites offering that kind of Windows9?
> auto-download seems to be on the rise.  I have a suspicion the
> sites are doing it so they don't have to have anonymous ftp on
> their systems.

I've seen Lotus Domino, etc., stuff vilified with enthusiasm
elsewhere.  Maybe with justification?

PS  Tried it with MSIE, works the same as lynx (s/[+-]/*.gif/).

-- 
Michael Warner
<address@hidden>