previous |
start |
next
Submission Methods
The two ways in which form data can be returned to the server are
METHOD=GET and
METHOD=POST.
GET- This method is ()according to the original specification)
preferred if the submission of the form is not going to have a
lasting effect on the global state of the universe -- that is, it
does not have side effects. For example, it may query a database,
returning the result as HTML. A HTTP
GET
request is issued to the ACTION URL specified
in the <FORM> markup tag, with the
urlencoded form information appended after a separating
"?" character. This can generate
very long URLs.
POST- This method should be used where processing of the form is
intended to have side effects, eg, updating the contents of a
database. In this case, a HTTP
POST transaction
is performed. The "body" of the transaction contains the urlencoded
form data, as a single long line of text. The POST transaction is
directed at the URL specified in the ACTION
attribute of the <FORM> tag.
In "real life", GET and
POST methods are used pretty much
interchangeably, depending on the programmer's or system designer's
preference.
previous |
start |
next