[Tutor] HTTP GET Request

Mon Oct 3 17:23:12 CEST 2005

I wanted to post a follow up to this thread.

I figured out what I needed and Python was it.

The plan was to not use a web server, but to write my own...which I did with
Python.

Basically all I did was put a listen() into a while loop. Once I got the
connection, I created a thread to read the socket. Once I could read the
socket, I read the data in, parsed it, and now I can use it for what I want.
In this case, MySQL calls.

All I had to do was import socket and threading modules to get the base of
it.
I was hoping for a module that had been written to make it nice and neat,
but turns out it was easy enough with out one.

I'm now a fan of Python.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

jerl

On 9/27/05, Kent Johnson <kent37 at tds.net> wrote:
>
> Jerl Simpson wrote:
> > The only piece I don't have going the Python route is actually
> > getting the GET
>
> Which pieces do you have so far? If it is just Python, then you don't have
> all the pieces yet. If you already have a server, which one are you using?
>
> > Sorry, accidentally sent the last one before I was finished.
> > I was saying, I just lack getting the GET URI into a variable, and then
> > finding out the best way to parse it into it's components using Python.
>
> The GET URI doesn't just magically appear - you need a webserver somewhere
> in the picture. If you have written a webserver in C you must know a bit
> about what is involved. It's not just getting a query parameter into a
> variable, somewhere you have to implement the HTTP protocol.
>
> There are many, many choices for how to do this in Python. Several have
> already been pointed out to you -
> Apache + Python CGI - simple way to get started
> Apache + mod_python - runs Python in the same process as Apache,
> industrial-strength and faster than CGI
> CherryPy - All-Python solution, fairly easy to get started with though for
> high-volume deployments it is recommended to run it behind Apache with
> mod_rewrite.
>
> Here is a long list of other possibilities:
> http://wiki.python.org/moin/WebProgramming
>
> Maybe you should ask your friend what server he recommends?
>
> Kent
> >
> > Thanks again,
> >
> > Jerl
> >
> > On 9/27/05, *Jerl Simpson* <jerl.simpso at gmail.com
> > <mailto:jerl.simpso at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> > I don't think I explained my situation clearly enough.
> >
> > Let me tell you what I'm doing.
> > First, I'm looking for an excuse to learn Python.
> >
> > Second, I'm running a server that takes request from a remote
> > server. This request is an HTTP GET request. I used to have (lost
> > the source) a C program I wrote that functions as a web server.
> > It takes the request on port 80, parses the GET. From the GET I
> > construct a MySQL query and spit the results back out.
> >
> > Now, the logical solution is to run Apache to handle the webserver
> > aspect, and have it hand off to a CGI to run the MySQL query and
> > spit the results back out to the requesting server. In this
> > situation, I could have thousands of requests per minute, and it
> > bogs the server down. To much overhead when Apache calls the CGI.
> > I've tried using several different setups with Apache, and C, Perl,
> > and PHP CGIs.
> >
> > I found it to be much faster if I wrote the webserver, and handle
> > the MySQL call within the same thread.
> >
> > I was told by a friend of mine that Python is good for creating
> > network servers. So I thought I'd give it a try...instead of
> > rewriting my C program I wanted to take the opportunity to learn a
> > bit of Python.
> >
> > The only piece I don't have going the Python route is actually
> > getting the GET
> >
> >
> > On 9/27/05, *paul brian* < paul1brian at gmail.com
> > <mailto:paul1brian at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> >> Basicall, what I need is a stand alone CGI. Instead of the
> > program passing
> >> the data off to a CGI, I want it to parse and handle the
> > request directly.
> >
> > instead of which program ?
> >
> > Http requests are served by a web server (ie Apache), which
> > depending
> > on the type of request passes the request to wherever.
> >
> > As such any HTTP request *must* be handled first by a web
> > server, and
> > cgi scripts traditionally lived in cgi-bin directory on the
> > server so
> > a URL would look like http://www.example.com/cgi-bin/myscript.py
> >
> > I think you have 3 options
> >
> > 1. use the cgi module in python to create scripts like the one
> > above.
> > They will not be fast but it gives you a lowlevel access to
> > the request
> > However cgi was out of date about 8 years ago - it has some
> > serious limitations mostly on speed/capacity.
> >
> > 2. use a system like mod_python. This is better than cgi for
> > lots of reasons,
> > mostly to do with speed. Here you also have access to the
> > request
> > objects, but there is a bit of a learning curve.
> >
> > 3. Zope - higher level than even mod_python and still more of a
> > learning curve
> >
> > (there is a multitude of python based cgi repalcements, Django,
> > webware and others spring to mind. But there is no clear "winner"
> > amoungst the community)
> >
> > I would recommend that you look at taking a weekend to install
> > apache,
> > and play with both the cgi module and mod_python. mod_python is
> > pretty good and fairly well documented, as well as being pretty low
> > level.
> >
> > I think there is a lot to do here - perhaps if you tell us exactly
> > what you need we can point you at a solution. Some web hosters
> > provide
> > mod_python or zope hosting and that might be a way to get up and
> > running faster.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 9/27/05, Jerl Simpson <jerl.simpso at gmail.com
> > <mailto:jerl.simpso at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> I have been looking through some of the HTTP projects and
> > haven't quite
> >> found what I'm looking for.
> >> Basicall, what I need is a stand alone CGI. Instead of the
> > program passing
> >> the data off to a CGI, I want it to parse and handle the
> > request directly.
> >>
> >> The part I'm having trouble with is actually getting the
> > request and parsing
> >> it.
> >>
> >> Let's say I have a URI that looks like:
> >> ?var1=val1&var2=val2&...varn=valn
> >>
> >> I'd like to find a way to get these into some datastructure so
> > I can use
> >> them to generate my output.
> >>
> >> It seems like a simple thing, but as I'm new to python, I
> > don't know where
> >> to start.
> >>
> >> Thank you for any help you can give.
> >>
> >>
> >> Jerl
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > --------------------------
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> > m. 07875 074 534
> > t. 0208 352 1741
> >
> >
> >
> >
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