using cgi form via http and extracting results

[bmgx]

Ok it's done right..

import urllib
a = urllib.urlopen("http://www.suckerservice.com/convert.cgi", 
"Amount=1&From=EUR&To=USD")
b = a.readlines()
c = open("tempresult.html","w")

i = 0
d = "********* local copy ******\n\n"
while i < len(b):
     d = d + b[i]
     i = i + 1

c.write(d)
c.close()
a.close()

bmgx wrote:

> How would one "create" post data so that I can skip the html form and 
> access the submission script (in <form method="POST" action="SCRIPT">) 
> directly. This is simple if the script uses GET as mentioned, but 
> unfortunately this is not the case which is the very reason for my 
> dilemma..
> 
> Ben Finney wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 17:39:30 -0800, Tim Roberts wrote:
>>
>>> bmgx <bmgx_no_sp at mgleesonprop.co.za> wrote:
>>>
>>>> 1) Make an http connection to the remote script 
>>>> (http://server/script.cgi)
>>>> 2) Fill out the html form (1x TEXT and 2x SELECT input fields)
>>>> 3) Submit the form
>>>> 4) extract the actual returned result. (using regex or something..)
>>>
>>>
>>> You don't actually need steps 1 and 2 at all.
>>
>>
>>
>> True.
>>
>>
>>> HTTP transactions are all completely separate.
>>
>>
>>
>> True (ignoring cookies for now).
>>
>>
>>> The results of a form submission are just a URL.
>>
>>
>>
>> Usually false.
>>
>> The result of most form submissions is an HTTP POST request, which
>> contains the URL and form content as separate data.
>>
>>
>>> If the form has fields "FromCurrency", "ToCurrency", and "Amount", all
>>> you have to do is this:
>>>
>>> http://www.currencyservice.com?FromCurrency=dollars&ToCurrency=pounds&Amount=15 
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> This is only true if the form action is an HTTP GET request, which is a
>> rather insecure and ugly way to submit form data, and makes it
>> impossible to submit many kinds of data.  HTTP POST is the recommended
>> method for submitting data to a CGI script.
>>
>>
>>> You don't have to HAVE the form source in order to submit a request.
>>
>>
>>
>> True.  You just need to construct the HTTP POST request correctly.
>>
>