Cookies

[Ken Seehof]

That's true, if I am willing to make the user do stuff for me, my problem
is solved.  The whole idea is to minimize user interaction, but apparently
there is no way to leave the user out of the loop.  I think I'll just
display
a serial number for the user to type in when the python program asks for
it.  The users can use copy/paste if they want to.

Thanks,
- Ken

----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Jorgensen" <gregjor at yahoo.com>
To: "Ken Seehof" <kens at sightreader.com>
Cc: "python-list" <python-list at python.org>
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2001 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: Cookies


> What about copy/paste? Or tell the user to save the file on their disk,
then
> let your Python script dig the ID out of it later. The cookie thing could
be
> made to work but you are right about the OS and browser incompatibilities.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Greg Jorgensen
> gregj at pobox.com
>
>
> --- Ken Seehof <kens at sightreader.com> wrote:
> > Yeah, that's the closest I've come up with too, but the difficulty is
making
> > the system reliably support all browsers.  Unfortunately from the point
of
> > view of a standalone application, there is no standard for cookies.
Cookies
> > are standardized from the point of view of servers and javascript, but
that
> > doesn't help me with a standalone app.
> >
> > The best approach so far seems to be to have the server send back a page
> > with a 10 digit unique identifier in a large font.  The python app would
> > then ask the user to type in the number manually.  Seems kinda dumb that
I
> > need the users fingers as part of my protocol. :-)
> >
> > - Ken
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Greg Jorgensen" <gregj at pobox.com>
> > Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
> > To: <python-list at python.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 11:35 PM
> > Subject: Re: Cookies
> >
> >
> > > A cookie is just a text file stored in a special place where the
browser
> > can
> > > find it. Where exactly the cookies go depends on your OS and browser.
> > >
> > > Using a text file to store the key would seem the easiest solution,
but
> > > client-side Javascript can't create or write a file.
> > >
> > > I think you should generate unique IDs on the server, not on the
client.
> > > Here's one way to handle it:
> > >
> > > 1. Client browser sends form data to server.
> > > 2. Server processes form, generates a unique ID, stores the form data
> > keyed
> > > by the unique ID.
> > > 3. Server replies with a "thank you" or "database updated" page that
also
> > > writes a cookie.
> > > 4. Python program starts up and looks for the cookie. Depending on
your OS
> > > and browser the location and name of the cookie will vary, but with a
> > little
> > > experimenting you can easily find the most likely locations.
> > > 5. Python program reads the cookie. Open your cookie with a text
editor to
> > > see what's in there--it's just name: value pairs.
> > > 6. Python program sends HTTP request to server with unique ID it got
from
> > > the cookie.
> > >
> > > Obviously this won't work if the client has disabled cookies. With a
> > little
> > > more trouble you can detect this and perhaps put the unique ID on the
> > > response page and tell the user to save it or something. Or embed the
> > unique
> > > ID in the reply page and tell the user to save that page and give it a
> > > specific name, then have your Python program open that text file and
find
> > > the unique ID in there.
> > >
> > > Depending on your requirements and security concerns, you can either
have
> > > your database program generate the unique ID (my preference), use the
> > > Windows GUID functions (which are available to ASP on the server), or
> > > implement one of the GUID functions you can easily find on the web.
Many
> > > programmers have solved this in one way or another; send email to me
if
> > you
> > > want specific advice on generating unique IDs from your database
engine.
> > >
> > > Good luck.
> > >
> > > <<<
> > > "Ken Seehof" <kens at sightreader.com> wrote in message
> > > news:mailman.984707839.22839.python-list at python.org...
> > > Short version:
> > >
> > > Is it possible for a stand-alone python application to read a cookie
> > without
> > > the help of a browser?"
> > >
> > > Long version:
> > >
> > > I have a web page W and a client side python script P.  I want W to
> > generate
> > > a GUID (perhaps using javascript) which is then sent to a server S,
where
> > it
> > > is to be used as a key in a database.  Now I run P (on the client, and
not
> > > in a browser) and I want P to somehow find the value of the GUID, so
that
> > it
> > > can query the database on S.
> > >
> > > Alternate question:
> > >
> > > Is there a technique common to both javascript and python that will
obtain
> > a
> > > unique identifier for a computer (e.g. IP address).  It must not be
> > browser
> > > specific.
> > >
> > > Motivation:
> > >
> > > I need to write a record of data from an html form, keyed by some kind
of
> > > unique client id, to the server and then be able to query that record
from
> > a
> > > stand alone python script running on the client.  The missing link is
> > > getting the html form and the python script to agree on a value for
the
> > id;
> > > the rest is easy.
> > > >>>
> > >
> > > --
> > > Greg Jorgensen
> > > PDXperts
> > > Portland, Oregon, USA
> > > gregj at pobox.com
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
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