Submitting input-form data to server

Pei Y. Wei (wei@sting.berkeley.edu)
Sat, 4 Sep 93 19:31:48 -0700

Hi--

Following up on the input forms discussion at W5, we need to define a
standard way for browsers to transmit input forms data to a server.

* What syntax do we choose for marking up a property list? SGML or MIME?

* What information do we return in the property list? Complete text
(form document + input values), or only the essential user-input values?

Consider this

<FORM HREF="http://pizza.com/service/order">
<P>Your address:
<INPUT name="address">
<P>Sizes:
<UL>
<LI><INPUT name="size" type="radio" value="large">Large
<LI><INPUT name="size" type="radio" value="medium">Medium
<LI><INPUT name="size" type="radio" value="small" checked>Small
</UL>
<P>Toppings:
<UL>
<LI><INPUT name="toppings" type="check" value="artichoke">Artichoke
<LI><INPUT name="toppings" type="check" value="mushroom">Mushroom
<LI><INPUT name="toppings" type="check" value="olive">Olive
<LI><INPUT name="toppings" type="check" value="pastrami">Pastrami
</UL>
</FORM>

In what format should the input results be transmitted back to a server?
Would it be agreeable to return only those inputs with different value
than the initial, and only one value

=========================
FORM /service/order
<INPUTS>
<NAME>address
<VALUE>147 Nearby st.

<NAME>size
<VALUE>medium

<NAME>toppings
<VALUE>artichoke

<NAME>toppings
<VALUE>olive

<NAME>toppings
<VALUE>pastrami

</INPUTS>
=========================

Or be more verbose about it. Return all input items, like this:

=========================
FORM /service/order
<INPUTS>
<NAME>address
<VALUE>147 Nearby st.

<NAME>size
<VALUE>large
<UNCHECKED>

<NAME>size
<VALUE>medium
<CHECKED>

<NAME>size
<VALUE>small
<UNCHECKED>

<NAME>toppings
<VALUE>artichoke
<CHECKED>

<NAME>toppings
<VALUE>mushroom
<UNCHECKED>

<NAME>toppings
<VALUE>olive
<CHECKED>

<NAME>toppings
<VALUE>pastrami
<CHECKED>

</INPUTS>
=========================

Or what?

Perhaps MIME would be a better wrapper instead of SGML tags? Fur example,
it should be easier for MIME to handle the case where the user enters
"<VALUE>" for an input. Instead of escaping the content, MIME delimiters
are variable.

What do you think? I have input forms implemented in violaWWW, but it
lacks a standard way of transmitting the input results back to a server.

-Pei