[mod_python] POST/GET using PSP

On 7/18/06, Lukasz Szybalski <szybalski at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am trying to display folders using PSP
> [...code deleted...]
> Now i would like it to change folder when clicked on one.
> so let say we want to go to /etc. The easies way i see it is to use
> POST. Add variable /etc to address on top and then read it in when
> page is refreshed.
> How do i append "/etc" (http://localhost/index.psp?/etc ???) to the
> address and how do i read in the variable "/etc" from address bar
> using PSP

You probably want to use GET, not POST.  The difference is in
the semantics.  What you are doing is retrieving a directory
listing, you are not updating a resource.  And GET is going to
be a lot easier too.

Generally what you are doing is mapping a virtual URL
namespace into a filesystem namespace.  (Of course this is
what Apache itself is very good at doing, so you should have
a good reason to do it yourself...of which, "just experiementing"
may be a good reason).

Anyway the basic way you go about doing that is to first, generate
<a href="..."> links which have the "path" appended to the base
url.  Then you need a handler at the base url which always gets
invoked; which in turn pulls off the extra url path, and interprets it
directly.

Also, you may want to do a bit of research on the so-called
REST pattern.  Start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer

All that being said, one word of caution...it is very easy to
compromize your system security if you are not careful.  You
should not allow any mapping to result in an absolute URL, and
should trap against the use of directory components such as "..".
-- 
Deron Meranda