[Tutor] getting results from encoded data i sent to website

[Prasad, Ramit]

> I'm trying to learn encoding, and I've had a bit of success. I managed to
> input something to the text box on Python's home page and I got the result I
> expected. But I can't figure out why this program I wrote isn't working; I
> think I did everything right.
> I'm inputting the isbn of Cat in the Hat and trying to get the prices for it
> on half.com, the Ebay site for books.
> Here's my code:
> 
> ### This program tries to check the prices for "The Cat in the Hat" on
> http://half.com
> 
> #import modules
> import urllib
> import urllib2
> 
> #make variables
> action="http://sell.half.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?HalfInstantSaleHub&action=s
> earch"
> name="isbnupcnumbers"
> cat_in_hat_isbn="039480001X"
> 
> #get stuff encoded
> data={name:cat_in_hat_isbn}
> encoded_data=urllib.urlencode(data)
> 
> #send encoded stuff to website
> content=urllib2.urlopen(action, encoded_data)
> 
> #look at results
> print content.readlines()
> 
> #next I'll parse out the data I want; that I already know how to do.
> 
> The program seems to be working until "content" is printed. Then it's a lot of
> strange mumbo-jumbo, quite different from the results I get if I put in the
> isbn manually.

What do you mean by "mumbo-jumbo"? Can you provide a small sample?
How do you "put in the isbn manually"?

> Do you know where I went wrong?

I ran the program and printed the first 5-10 lines. It seemed like 
valid HTML code as I skimmed it. What output did you expect?


Ramit
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