FORMs and GET

I know you've recently been asked about PUT. During that discussion it
arose that HTTP GET is deprecated in the specification. Does this mean
that XForms would be incompatible with an application like Google that
uses a form to generate a GET URL?

Even with POST there are circumstances where the URL to be posted is
calculated from the provided data. For instance based on a choice field
I might want to POST to the English or French portions of my site.

Based on my admittedly limited understanding, I would suggest that it be
possible to "construct" the URL to submit to, just as it is possible to
construct the XML that is posted. Probably every useful detail of the
HTTP message should be under the form creator's control. (e.g. extra
headers)

Furthermore, rather than deprecating GET, its limitations should be
spelled out so that developers and form creators could make an informed
choice about when to use GET versus POST versus other methods. If GET
has serious limitations (e.g. relating to i18n) then those need to be
solved, not worked around. HTTP GET is one of the most important parts
of the Web infrastructure.

 Paul Prescod

Received on Wednesday, 16 January 2002 19:52:49 UTC