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"Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)" <[log in to unmask]>
X-To:
"Robert C. Leif, Ph.D." <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 4 Dec 1999 21:57:43 -0500
Reply-To:
"Richard L. Conn" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:
From:
"Richard L. Conn" <[log in to unmask]>
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Robert,

A Server can be on another computer or the same
computer as the client.  It works either way ...
the URL simply changes.  That is true for either
GET or POST.  So this does solve your problem and
you can reuse my work.  Just give it a try ... it's
easy (at least, I've been doing it for so long that
I THINK it's easy ;-).

As I mentioned earlier, I'm using the Microsoft Personal
Web Server for situations where the server is on the
same machine as the client.

----------------------------------
Richard Conn, ASE and PAL Manager
http://xenadu.home.mindspring.com/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Robert C. Leif, Ph.D.
> Sent: Saturday, December 04, 1999 9:16 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Rational A.5 Command Line and HTML
>
>
> From: Bob Leif
> To: Richard Conn et al.
>
> There is no web site! Your slide number 4 shows a client and a server. The
> browser on the PC must transfer information to a LOCAL program that is on
> the SAME PC. How do you use HTML as a screen generator for a
> local program?
> Everything takes place on a single processor. The requirement is
> to have an
> HTML Form transfer data into a local program. Both are on the same CPU
> running under the same operating system.
>
> My argument is that it make no sense to employ different front-ends for
> client-server and single processor systems.
>
> I would like nothing better than to reuse your work. However, the
> problem is
> to get the data from the HTML to the Ada *.Exe. I used Get
> because it could
> send data to a local file.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Richard L. Conn
> Sent: Saturday, December 04, 1999 5:11 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Rational A.5 Command Line and HTML
>
>
> But why use the GET method as opposed to POST?
> The HTML/Ada interface demo on my website uses the
> POST method, which sends the enctype date into the
> program via stdin, and this eliminates the command
> line problem entirely.
>
> See:
>   http://unicoi.kennesaw.edu/~rconn/index.html
>
> POST is what I use for all of my websites.  The O'Reilly
> books even say that it is preferred.
>
> ----------------------------------
> Richard Conn, ASE and PAL Manager
> http://xenadu.home.mindspring.com/
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Robert C. Leif, Ph.D.
> > Sent: Saturday, December 04, 1999 5:58 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Rational A.5 Command Line and HTML
> >
> >
> > From: Bob Leif
> > To: Readers of Comp.Lang.Ada and Team-Ada
> >
> > Disclaimer: Although, I had this problem with an ObjectAda
> compiler, it is
> > neither a bug or a design error. It is an Ada problem and
> > therefore relevant
> > to these forums.
> >
> > There is now obvious interest in XML-HTML. In fact, concerning
> > the presently
> > popular subject, "What the competition looks like". There will
> > and probably
> > are now more individuals conversant with HTML-XML than any of
> the present
> > programming languages. The tools to build web-pages will have a
> very large
> > market compared to any programming language development system.
> >
> > One major impediment to interfacing with HTML is in the package
> > Ada.Command_Line. The HTML statement,
> > <FORM method="Get" action="file:///C:\Ada_Work/com_line.exe"> is a
> > reasonable key to this problem. It produces a Command_Line
> string and does
> > invoke the com_line program shown below. Unfortunately,
> > Command_Line.Argument_Count does not work with the Command_Line string.
> > The Get method concatenates a '?' directly after the program name.
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > HTML 4.01 Specification
> > W3C Proposed Recommendation
> > This version:
> > http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/PR-html40-19990824
> > (plain text [786Kb], gzip’ed tar archive of HTML files [367Kb], a .zip
> > archive of
> > HTML files [400Kb], gzip’ed Postscript file [740Kb, 387 pages],
> a PDF file
> > [3Mb])
> > 17.13.3 Processing form data, Page 247
> >
> > "However, HTML 4.01 user agents must support
> > the established conventions in the following cases:
> > If the method is "get" and the action is an HTTP URI, the user
> agent takes
> > the value of action, appends a ‘?’ to it, then appends the form data set
> > [p.246] ,encoded using the "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
> > content type
> > [p.247] .The user agent then traverses the link to this URI. In this
> > scenario, form data are restricted to ASCII codes."
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > I have included a very simple HTML Form (Com_Line_Small) below.
> > It produces
> > the equivalent of "C:\Ada_Work\com_line.exe?TEST=Hello".
> > I proved under Windows that this did not work with a Com_line.Bat batch
> > program with the line above as its only text. However, the simple
> > insertion
> > of a space between the program and the '?' works.
> > C:\Ada_Work\com_line.exe ?TEST=Hello
> >
> > The output of my com_line_small.Bat is as follows:
> >
> > C:\Ada_Work\com_line_Small.exe?TEST=Hello
> > The DOS Window shows: Bad command or file name
> >
> > However, the program does run when actuated through the HTML
> > form; with the
> > number of arguments equal to 0.
> > C:\Ada_Work\com_line.exe equals the Command_Line
> > This Program is Com_Line
> >
> > The number of arguments =  0
> > -----------------------------------------------
> >
> > C:\Ada_Work>C:\Ada_Work\com_line.exe ?TEST=Hello
> > The DOS Window shows that the program has executed
> >
> > C:\ADA_WORK\COM_LINE.EXE equals the Command_Line
> > The number of arguments =  1
> > Argument  1 is ?TEST=Hello
> >
> > I do not believe this is the fault of the ObjectAda compiler.
> > The Ada 95 LRM really does not define what a command line is. The
> > Rationale
> > on page A-32 states:
> > A:5 Command Line
> > "The package Ada.Command_Line provides an Ada program with a
> > simple means of
> > accessing any arguments of the command which invoked it. The
> package also
> > enables the program to set a return status. Clearly the
> interpretation of
> > these facilities depends very much on the underlying operating system."
> >
> > The question is which operating system, Windows or HTTP? The
> above problem
> > is neither a bug nor a design mistake. It is correct for its
> intended use,
> > Windows. However, it does not work with HTTP. I do believe in
> > hindsight that
> > a function that returns the entire command_line including the
> program name
> > should be added. In view of the significance of HTML-XML, I
> > believe that it
> > would be worthwhile to modify the Aonix Command_Line or any other Ada
> > compiler to work with the output of HTML Get.
> >
> > Can any of the Ada compilers read and process a command_line
> that does NOT
> > have a space after the name of the executable? If you wish to test this,
> > please feel fee to use the Ada program and HTML page below.
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------
> > --Robert C. Leif, Ph.D & Ada_Med
> >
> > --2 Dec. 1999
> > --Last update 3 Dec. 1999
> >
> > --File name Com_Line_Small.Adb
> >
> > --e-mail [log in to unmask]
> >
> > with Ada.Text_Io;
> > with Ada.Exceptions;
> > with Ada.Command_Line;
> > with Interfaces.C.Strings;
> > procedure Com_Line_Small is
> >   Prog_Location : constant String := "Com_Line_Small";
> >   package T_Io renames Ada.Text_Io;
> >   package Command_Line renames Ada.Command_Line;
> >   Num_Args : Natural := 1;
> >   --Com_Line_Var : String    := Command_Line.Command_Name;
> >   Exit_Char : Character := 'x';
> >   ------------------------------------------------------------------
> >   --sugested by Randy Brukardt
> >   function Get_Command_Line return Interfaces.C.Strings.Chars_Ptr;
> >   pragma Import (
> >     Convention    => Win32,
> >     Entity        => Get_Command_Line,
> >     External_Name => "GetCommandLineA");
> >   ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > begin --Com_Line_Small
> >   --then Call:
> >   T_Io.Put_Line("Windows way (Randy Brukardt) to get the
> Command_Line:");
> >   T_Io.Put_Line(Interfaces.C.Strings.Value(Get_Command_Line));
> >   --returns a string
> >
> >   Num_Args := Command_Line.Argument_Count;
> >   T_Io.Put_Line("");
> >   T_Io.Put_Line("Ada way to get the Command_Line:");
> >   T_Io.Put_Line(Command_Line.Command_Name);
> >   T_Io.Put_Line("This Program is " & Prog_Location);
> >   T_Io.Put_Line("");
> >   T_Io.Put_Line("The number of arguments = "
> >     & Natural'Image(Num_Args));
> >
> >   if Num_Args >= 1 then
> >     for I in 1..Num_Args loop
> >       T_Io.Put_Line("Argument "  & Natural'Image(I) & " is "
> >         & Command_Line.Argument (Number => I));
> >     end loop;
> >   end if;
> >   T_Io.Put_Line("Ending Com_Line_Small Test program");
> >   T_Io.Put_Line("Ending " & Prog_Location);
> >   T_Io.Get(Exit_Char);
> > exception
> >   when O: others  =>
> >     T_Io.Put_Line(Ada.Exceptions.Exception_Information (O));
> >     T_Io.Put_Line(Ada.Exceptions.Exception_Message (O));
> >
> > end Com_Line_Small;
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > Output:
> >
> > Windows way (Randy Brukardt) to get the Command_Line:
> > "C:\Ada_Work\com_line_small.exe"
> >
> > Ada way to get the Command_Line:
> > C:\Ada_Work\com_line_small.exe
> > This Program is Com_Line_Small
> >
> > The number of arguments =  0
> > Ending Com_Line_Small Test program
> > Ending Com_Line_Small
> > ---------------------------------------------------
> > <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
> > <HTML>
> >         <HEAD>
> >                 <TITLE>
> >                         Com_Line_Small Test
> >                 </TITLE>
> >                 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
> >                 charset=Latin1">
> >
> >                 <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
> >
> >                 <base  href="C:\Ada_Work">
> >         </HEAD>
> >         <BODY aLink=#ff0000 background="" bgColor=#ffffff link=#0000ff
> >                 text=#000000 vLink=#800080>
> >
> >                 <!--How do I get the string named test into the-->
> >                 <!--command line of HTML_Ada?-->
> >                 <OBJECT classid="File:///C:\Ada_Work\com_line_Small.exe"
> >                         height=40 width=40 title=Com_Line>
> >                         <PARAM NAME="TEST" VALUE="Hello">
> >                 </OBJECT>
> >
> >                 <FORM method="Get"
> >                         action="file:///C:\Ada_Work/com_line_Small.exe">
> >
> >                         <p>
> >                         <input TYPE="text" NAME="TEST" SIZE="10"
> > MAXLENGTH="15"
> >                         VALUE="Hello">
> >                         </p>
> >
> >
> >                         <INPUT type=submit value="Submit Form">
> >                         <INPUT name=Reset type=reset value="Reset Form">
> >
> >                 </FORM>
> >         </BODY>
> > </HTML>

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