Interfacing with, and getting return values from, a webpage

[David Walker]

Hi
I have a program which I need to interface with a webpage - the webpage will
accept an input (probably a 'post' string from the program) and then will
process it and needs to return a value. Is there an easy way to interface
the program to do this? I have two questions:
How can I call a webpage as simply as possible in c / c++ (preferably not
using MFC etc) and pass a 'post' string to the page?
How can I retrieve an array of values output by the webpage? I can output
them in any format I like since i'm writing the webpage too - I was thinking
just write the output page as a list of variables, basically as dynamically
generated comma separated values data, but i'm not sure whether theres an
easier or quicker way of doing it. Any ideas?
As an added point, I don't want to actually open the webpage so that it is
visible - it should remain hidden, so the user of the program is not aware
of it being there.

Thanks a lot

David

 

[Morris Dovey]

I have a program which I need to interface with a webpage - the webpage will
accept an input (probably a 'post' string from the program) and then will
process it and needs to return a value. Is there an easy way to interface
the program to do this? I have two questions:

How can I call a webpage as simply as possible in c / c++ (preferably not
using MFC etc) and pass a 'post' string to the page?

[Posting from comp.lang.c]

You can't do this in standard C - so this discussion is off-topic
here. You need to ask this question in a newsgroup specific to
your platform and ask about interfacing your client to the
network. I don't think there's anything special that needs to be
done on the server side other than to make sure that there's an
HTML (or possibly plain text) file to retrieve.

How can I retrieve an array of values output by the webpage? I can output
them in any format I like since i'm writing the webpage too - I was thinking
just write the output page as a list of variables, basically as dynamically
generated comma separated values data, but i'm not sure whether theres an
easier or quicker way of doing it. Any ideas?

Just issue an HTTP request using that mechanism provided by your
platform. It's easy in a POSIX environment - but may or may not
be in Windows (I don't know).

As an added point, I don't want to actually open the webpage so that it is
visible - it should remain hidden, so the user of the program is not aware
of it being there.

This should make the job easy. Good luck. Please remember to drop
comp.lang.c from further discussion.

 

[Corey Murtagh]

[follow-ups set to comp.programming since this isn't a language question]

Hi
I have a program which I need to interface with a webpage - the webpage will
accept an input (probably a 'post' string from the program) and then will
process it and needs to return a value. Is there an easy way to interface
the program to do this? I have two questions:
How can I call a webpage as simply as possible in c / c++ (preferably not
using MFC etc) and pass a 'post' string to the page?

There may be libraries around for making HTTP requests. If you can find
one that you like it'll save you a lot of time and effort doing it yourself.

Otherwise... read up on sockets and HTTP. There are a number of sockets
tutorials around, and the HTTP protocol is well documented in RFC2616.

The most often-quoted networking tutorial might help:

http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~beej/guide/net/html/index.html

How can I retrieve an array of values output by the webpage? I can output
them in any format I like since i'm writing the webpage too - I was thinking
just write the output page as a list of variables, basically as dynamically
generated comma separated values data, but i'm not sure whether theres an
easier or quicker way of doing it. Any ideas?

If the page is not designed to be viewed by a browser, then it doesn't
need to be a web page at all. An HTTP server is quite capable of
returning a text document, and if you're backing this with a CGI then
you can just pump whatever text you like out to the client. Your
program can then just process that text as you would any text file.

Alternately you could have a variable in the HTTP query string which
tells the CGI app to produce output in a specific format, with fallback
to displayable HTML if the variable is not present or invalid.

 

[CBFalconer]

I have a program which I need to interface with a webpage - the
webpage will accept an input (probably a 'post' string from the
program) and then will process it and needs to return a value.
Is there an easy way to interface the program to do this? [snip]

The following query and its returned value should explain why this
is OT on c.l.c. FUPs set.

[1] c:\c\malloc>grep -i -c webpage \stds\n869.txt
0

 

[David Walker]

I have a program which I need to interface with a webpage - the

webpage will accept an input (probably a 'post' string from the
program) and then will process it and needs to return a value.
Is there an easy way to interface the program to do this? [snip]

The following query and its returned value should explain why this
is OT on c.l.c. FUPs set.

So if its so off topic in a C group, how about suggesting somewhere where it
is on-topic then rather than just moaning. I have included
comp.programming, but that seems to be far too general to have a chance of
getting a good response.

David

 

[CBFalconer]

I have a program which I need to interface with a webpage - the
webpage will accept an input (probably a 'post' string from the
program) and then will process it and needs to return a value.
Is there an easy way to interface the program to do this? [snip]

The following query and its returned value should explain why this
is OT on c.l.c. FUPs set.

So if its so off topic in a C group, how about suggesting somewhere
where it is on-topic then rather than just moaning. I have included
comp.programming, but that seems to be far too general to have a
chance of getting a good response.

Your deliberate continuance of the off-topic posting will garner
very little other than a plonking, which in turn seriously impedes
your ability to get replies to future on-topic questions. Do you
enter all conversations with screeches to address your unconnected
concerns?

 

[Morris Dovey]

I have a program which I need to interface with a webpage
- the webpage will accept an input (probably a 'post'
string from the program) and then will process it and
needs to return a value. Is there an easy way to interface
the program to do this? [snip]

The following query and its returned value should explain
why this is OT on c.l.c. FUPs set.

So if its so off topic in a C group, how about suggesting
somewhere where it is on-topic then rather than just moaning.
I have included comp.programming, but that seems to be far too
general to have a chance of getting a good response.

[Again posting from comp.lang.c]

David...

I wrote: "You need to ask this question in a newsgroup specific
to your platform and ask about interfacing your client to the
network."

If you'd like really specific redirection, you'll need to tell us
what platform you're using for the client (Stratus/VOS,
Windows/??, MAC/OS, ...)

<MOAN>
I wasn't moaning. I was giving you the best answer your query
permits (and I /still/ haven't seen platform information.)
</MOAN>

 

[Joona I Palaste]

Morris Dovey <[email protected]> scribbled the following

I have a program which I need to interface with a webpage
- the webpage will accept an input (probably a 'post'
string from the program) and then will process it and
needs to return a value. Is there an easy way to interface
the program to do this? [snip]

The following query and its returned value should explain
why this is OT on c.l.c. FUPs set.

So if its so off topic in a C group, how about suggesting
somewhere where it is on-topic then rather than just moaning.
I have included comp.programming, but that seems to be far too
general to have a chance of getting a good response.

[Again posting from comp.lang.c]

David...

I wrote: "You need to ask this question in a newsgroup specific
to your platform and ask about interfacing your client to the
network."

If you'd like really specific redirection, you'll need to tell us
what platform you're using for the client (Stratus/VOS,
Windows/??, MAC/OS, ...)

<MOAN>
I wasn't moaning. I was giving you the best answer your query
permits (and I /still/ haven't seen platform information.)
</MOAN>

He said "preferably not using MFC". MFC stands for Microsoft Foundation
Classes. Now, you'll have to agree that *not* using MFC is pretty easy
on *any* platform you can think of, and on quite many that you can't,
but it is only relevant enough to mention if you happen to be using a
platform that supports MFC, namely Microsoft Windows.

--
/-- Joona Palaste ([email protected]) ---------------------------\
| Kingpriest of "The Flying Lemon Tree" G++ FR FW+ M- #108 D+ ADA N+++|
| http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste W++ B OP+ |
\----------------------------------------- Finland rules! ------------/
"The trouble with the French is they don't have a word for entrepreneur."
- George Bush

 

[Morris Dovey]

I have a program which I need to interface with a
webpage - the webpage will accept an input (probably a
'post' string from the program) and then will process
it and needs to return a value. Is there an easy way
to interface the program to do this? [snip]

The following query and its returned value should
explain why this is OT on c.l.c. FUPs set.

So if its so off topic in a C group, how about suggesting
somewhere where it is on-topic then rather than just
moaning. I have included comp.programming, but that seems
to be far too general to have a chance of getting a good
response.

[Again posting from comp.lang.c]

David...

I wrote: "You need to ask this question in a newsgroup
specific to your platform and ask about interfacing your
client to the network."

If you'd like really specific redirection, you'll need to
tell us what platform you're using for the client
(Stratus/VOS, Windows/??, MAC/OS, ...)

<MOAN> I wasn't moaning. I was giving you the best answer
your query permits (and I /still/ haven't seen platform
information.) </MOAN>

He said "preferably not using MFC". MFC stands for Microsoft
Foundation Classes. Now, you'll have to agree that *not* using
MFC is pretty easy on *any* platform you can think of, and on
quite many that you can't, but it is only relevant enough to
mention if you happen to be using a platform that supports
MFC, namely Microsoft Windows.

Joona...

Thanks for straightening me out. Come to think of it, I /have/
heard of Microsoft Foundation Classes (but have never studied or
used 'em in anything I've written.)

Then would (from Billy
Chambless' "Welcome to cmp.lang.c" message) be an appropriate
newsgroup for David to pursue his quest? Or are there better?

(I'm beginning to wish I'd just said: "Off topic. Go away!"

 

[Malcolm]

Thanks for straightening me out. Come to think of it, I /have/
heard of Microsoft Foundation Classes (but have never studied or
used 'em in anything I've written.)

MFC is formally a C++ library for writing Windows GUIs, but in fact it is a
point-and-click method of automatically generating code. It is quite
effective in getting complex interfaces up on screen in a short time, but an
MFC program is no longer a human-readable C++ program, and it is part of
Microsoft's wicked plot to destroy C++ and prevent any programs being ported
from Windows to other systems.

 

[Phlip]

MFC is formally a C++ library for writing Windows GUIs, but in fact it is a
point-and-click method of automatically generating code. It is quite
effective in getting complex interfaces up on screen in a short time, but an
MFC program is no longer a human-readable C++ program, and it is part of
Microsoft's wicked plot to destroy C++ and prevent any programs being ported
from Windows to other systems.

Call that "vendor lockin". It's why MS won't support WTL, an ultra-light MFC
replacement written in some MS engineer's spare time. WTL provides the same
core features as MFC, but without coupling everything together. You can
refactor a WTL program. Hence, MS won't make it an official part of their
VC++ suite.

 

[dg]

is but

ya forget mfc if you woant to write a win 32 app learn tha api (strangley
enuff its simplaer then mfc to me cores im writeing asm as well and you just
haf to)

 

[Mark McIntyre]

He said "preferably not using MFC". MFC stands for Microsoft Foundation
Classes.

No it doesn't - MFC is a class A psychedelic.

Now, you'll have to agree that *not* using MFC is pretty easy

ha, you can say that, then obviously you've never had MFC cold
turkey...


(my point being, MFC is well enough known to windows programmers, but
those of us from other backgrounds might not have a clue waht it is,
adn thus not be able to infer some implementation from it)