Re: Query Parameters in POST method

On Wed, Nov 20, 2002 at 08:25:57PM +0530, Diwakar Shetty wrote:
> In case the method in a URL is a POST method,
> then is that the query parameters are ignored.
> 
> e.g:
> POST /www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF
> 
> Will this result in the the query parameters "hl=en&ie=UTF" to be ignored as per HTTP standards ??

Actually, the HTTP standard doesn't say anything about GET query
parameters, or how they relate to POST entities. As far as HTTP is
concerned, "/search?hl=en&ie=UTF" is the entire URL.

In fact, HTTP doesn't even know anything about "parameters" as such. The
standard for encoding form variables in "name=value&name2=value2" format
is defined in the HTML specifications. All that HTTP sees is URLs and
data attached to POST requests. It is up to the server to decide what to
do with the URL it receives in the request, as well as with the attached
POST entity.

If a query parameter is specified both as part of the URL and in POST
data, some applications (such as PHP) will only take one instance --
which one depends on the server configuration. In other applications,
such as a CGI, the program will have access to both parameters.


So, while some people have already replied to your query with "no" or "I
can read both", the answer is really 'it depends'. The HTTP standard
doesn't say to ignore any data that comes in, but the data that you will
have access to depends on the server-side applications you run.


Hope this helps,

Ian Clelland
<ian@veryfresh.com>

Received on Thursday, 21 November 2002 13:10:36 UTC