Re: Method for A?

At 9:32a -0800 09/25/97, Mike Meyer wrote:
 >
 > The METHOD attribute of the FORM tag allows the author to select which
 > of the two HTTP method to use to request the target, allowing the
 > author to select the most appropriate set of semantics.
 >
 > The A tag has no such attribute, nor any other method to let the
 > author select which of the two HTTP methods should be used.  When an
 > author wishes the UA behavior or rendering of the A tag, but the
 > application at the server has the semantics of the POST method, the
 > author is stuck.

I don't understand why you would need this. Why not just use a FORM?

 > Give the A tag a METHOD attribute, identical to that attribute of the
 > POST tag. This allows the author to specify which of the two (or more,
 > if they should appear in later versions of HTTP) HTTP methods to use,
 > and thereby inform the UA which set of semantics the server will have
 > for this object.
 >
 >
 > Compatability:
         ^---------"i": Compatibility :-)

 > User agents that predate this change should ignore the METHOD
 > attribute and use the GET method. This may mean that the UA and the
 > server don't agree on the semantics of the requested object.  While
 > this is undesirable, it's also the only current option when when the A
 > tags UA behavior/rendering is desired for a hyperlink source whose
 > destination has POST semantics.

What sort of destination would that be?

And here's the killer question: Where do you put the post *data*? Do you
create a new attribute for A to hold the data value? It is most definitely
not part of the URL.

__________________________________________________________________________
  Walter Ian Kaye <boo_at_best*com>    Programmer - Excel, AppleScript,
          Mountain View, CA                         ProTERM, FoxPro, HTML
 http://www.natural-innovations.com/     Musician - Guitarist, Songwriter

Received on Thursday, 25 September 1997 13:45:35 UTC