[Python-bugs-list] [ python-Feature Requests-498855 ] add POST support to webbrowser module

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Feature Requests item #498855, was opened at 2002-01-02 22:58
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Category: None
Group: None
Status: Open
Priority: 5
Submitted By: Kevin Altis (kasplat)
Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: add POST support to webbrowser module

Initial Comment:
This is certainly possible with Internet Explorer 
under Windows, but I'm not sure about all the other 
browsers and platforms. With IE the POST data must 
be "packed".

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>Comment By: Guido van Rossum (gvanrossum)
Date: 2002-01-05 19:45

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I'm still waiting for an *actual situation* where this need
has arisen.

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Comment By: Kevin Altis (kasplat)
Date: 2002-01-05 19:33

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If you want to direct a user's browser to a web page that 
is the result of a POST. As I stated earlier, it is not 
always possible to get to the same page using GET.

If this isn't possible on other browsers on other platforms 
then it might be best to just note this feature request in 
the webbrowser docs so that the issue isn't raised again. 
As mentioned earlier, a Windows script can always drive IE 
via COM or DDE if needed.

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Comment By: Guido van Rossum (gvanrossum)
Date: 2002-01-03 11:08

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I still don't understand why you would need to do this.

urllib supports POST.

But the webbrowser module directs the user's browser to a
website. Can you give an *example* of when you need this?
Otherwise I'll just reject it -- I don't think this is
possible anyway for most browsers except IE.

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Comment By: Kevin Altis (kasplat)
Date: 2002-01-03 10:58

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If POST is not supported, there is a limit to the size of 
data that you can send; the limit will be different 
depending on each browser, but will always be less than 4K 
URL length limit.

Many sites don't accept GET instead of POST for form data. 
Unfortunately, it is often difficult to tell whether a site 
accepts GET without changing the form manually and 
attempting a GET. Sometimes the reason that GET isn't 
accepted is do to lazy programming, but since a user can't 
do anything about that they still end up needing POST.

Other times it is specifically because a site doesn't want 
the POST data to be cached. Any GET request will end up 
getting cached in proxies, show up in server logs, and also 
cached on the local client. All of these are bad from a 
security standpoint. POST data is never cached.

This is not a critical addition to the webbrowser module, 
it simply makes it more complete. It is still possible to 
do POST another way and Windows programs can always drive 
Internet Explorer via COM or DDE, but I think POST in 
webbrowser would make a nice addition for the future.

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Comment By: Guido van Rossum (gvanrossum)
Date: 2002-01-03 05:44

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Why would you need this? I find it hard to imagine a
situation where I'd need this. Almost any forms that I would
want to reach through webbrowser support GET anyway.

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