Re: [htdig3-dev] Use of & as CGI variable separator vs. HTML 4.0


Gilles Detillieux (grdetil@scrc.umanitoba.ca)
Thu, 15 Apr 1999 13:34:40 -0500 (CDT)


According to Torsten Neuer:
> According to Gilles Detillieux:
> >They also recommend using ";" as an alternate separator, so we should
> >also handle
> >
> >?x=1;y=2
> >and use this in Display::createURL(), if we're to follow their
> >recommendations. Does anyone see a problem with using a semicolon in
> >this manner?
>
> I disagree with that since AFAIK a semicolon does not necessarily need
> to be url-encoded.
> Could cause trouble if a semicolon is part of a parameter.

Yeah, if we support the semicolon as a separator, then we'd have to
url-encode any semicolons withing parameters as a special case. We could
do likewise with "|" if we chose it as a separator, but we know that it
may be used quite commonly, so it's best to avoid it.

What I'd like to know is how commonly a ";" appears in input parameters
to htsearch. If it's very rare, I think it would be worthwhile encoding
it when it does occur, and using ";" rather than "&" or "&" as a
variable separator in URLs generated by createURL().

-- 
Gilles R. Detillieux              E-mail: <grdetil@scrc.umanitoba.ca>
Spinal Cord Research Centre       WWW:    http://www.scrc.umanitoba.ca/~grdetil
Dept. Physiology, U. of Manitoba  Phone:  (204)789-3766
Winnipeg, MB  R3E 3J7  (Canada)   Fax:    (204)789-3930
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu Apr 15 1999 - 11:42:13 PDT