David Forslund wrote: >>Web browsers do not send data to servers by way of HTML. They generally do >>it via HTTP or FTP or SMTP. > >Of course, but the expression of the request on those pages generated by >Zope is an HTML form. >That is what I'm talking about. It is part of the HTML specification on the >W3C.
I don't know about anything specific to Zope, but the expression of the request in HTML could have been merely an artifiact of the way you were viewing/requesting it. The request that is actually sent from a browser to a server has nothing to do with HTML. That is HTTP. Furthermore, HTML is only one way of representing or initializing objects in a browser that can initiate HTTP requests. Browser objects can communicate with servers independent of any representation in HTML. >>Web servers communicate with web browsers and other client agents via the >>HTTP protocol. >>HTTPS is HTTP plus SSL encryption. That communication has nothing >>specifically to do with >>HTML. HTTP can be used to communicate any kind of digital content in >>either direction. >See above. >>HTML is a document format that includes, among other things, a >>representation of >>hyperlinks based on URL's and a representation of input forms that can be >>used to upload >>virtually any kind of data. HTML is not the only content-type handled by >>browsers. >>Plain-text, XML, JPEG, GIF, PNG, CSS, and Javascript are the most basic >>and commonly used. > >Certainly, but javascript is only used for communication within a browser, ??? This statement might be a pivotal point of misunderstanding. Javascript can be used to establish connections to servers and to upload and download information directly without any necessary representation in HTML. Some of the more interesting things to download using Javascript are data objects represented in Javascript or XML. >for example. Dcouments >can have almost anything in them. But this isn't what is used in the >API. Basically there >is a simple request/response in http and the various parameters are used to >convey what can be done. >The structure of the html in the page is used to marshall the various >arguments passed in an out >through the various parameters. HTTP requests and responses can be arbitrarily complex and large. I know very little specifically about Zope, but I would be surprised if Zope objects are limited to generating only HTML. >>Also, Javascript can be used in a browser to send and receive data at any >>time without >>direct representation in the user interface. Furthermore, the user >>interface for browser >>based applications can be directly manipulated via Javascript without the >>use of HTML. > >Of course. That is not what I'm talking about. Javascript typically >enables one to >effectively have dynamic html. It makes things easier to manage in the >browser (hopefully). Hmmm. We seem to be talking past each other. The user interface of a browser based application is not necessarily based on HTML. HTML is only one component type of many. User interface elements can be generated entirely from Javascript or from various XML document types. The user interface *is* based on browser objects that generally are reflected in Javascript and that may have a reflection in HTML. However, reflection in HTML is not necessary and any reflection in the user interface may be indirect and optional. For instance, data representing multiple attributes of clinicians, supplies, procedures, etc in a hospital can be downloaded as needed and used to inform complex user interactions including browser-local database queries and on-the-fly generation of popup lists and tables, etc. The point I am trying to make is that web applications are not "the same as html". There is a great deal more potential depth to them than your remarks would seem to allow. > >Dave > > >>David Forslund wrote: >> >> > What kind of arguments do the methods take. What about security? >> >> >> >>Whatever can be uploaded via http, https. Security is the same - can use >> >>username/password or PKI certificates. >> > >> >Basically then the client interface is the same as html, since that is the >> >only way to send data to the server through a browser. >> >>--------------------------------------- >>Jim Self >>Chief Systems Developer and Manager >>VMTH Computer Services, UC Davis >>(http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/us/jaself) > > --------------------------------------- Jim Self Chief Systems Developer and Manager VMTH Computer Services, UC Davis (http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/us/jaself)
