DaveQB

I am by no means an expert Python coder, or expert any language coder.
No my disclaimer is out of the way ....

I want to build a web app with Python as i use Python alot for offline apps.
My understanding to use it as a web app language is to use the CGImodule to access URL passed variables.

My look into web frameworks seems to have them all having their own mini web server; i want to use my current Apache server.




1 of my first needs in this app is a timer. I thought i could use Javascript to countdown but then to pass that the time has expired onto the Python backend app is where i get a little fuzzy.

Any help in this field would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

MBirchmeier

You could post the 'time expiration' by doing a submit a python module :

Something similar to the steps shown here: http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/WebForm...CSAppKS001.asp would probablly work but the timeout could simulate the form submit.

*I haven't tested this, and i'm pretty sure there would be a better way of doing this, but it's a place to start*

-MBirchmeier

Arevos

You can use mod_python with Apache, which is probably the best option. Running Python under CGI would remove any significant advantage using Apache would give you.

DaveQB

Thanx for the replies guys.

What a mess I made of that, my first post on these forums. Less: don't post while falling asleep.

The host that will running this app doesnt seem to have mod_python install on their apache install. So this rules out the frameworks it seems.

So I see I have 2 options

1) use CGI like URLs to pass variables

2) use PHP as a type of front end to calling python scripts to do all the work.

Any better suggestions ??

Arevos

Other than to get a different host?

Nope. I think those are all of your options. Without mod_python, or access to a Python-based server such as CherryPy, you're really just left with CGI.

Lich

1) Try to use POST and not GET variables so you don't throw things in the URL
2) Why would you use a backend code as a frontend to call a different backend?

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DaveQB

Ahh thanx for that. I was wondering how I could work around that.

Well what other options is there ?? I have used that before, used PHP to execute the script, passing it a var or 2 and using the result to determine what page to present and fill in the data. Simple stuff.
I guess I just want a way to use Python rather then PHP.

Game_Ender

You should check out one of the python web developement frameworks like Zope , Django, or TurboGears.

Arevos

DaveQB seems to be limited by his hosting company. If CherryPy and mod_python are out of the question, then Zope, Django and Turbogears certainly are.

lectricpharaoh

While I agree in general, in some cases, you might want the user-sibmitted data to be part of the URL, such as for search page results, as this allows the user to cut-and-paste the URL with ease, bookmark the page without the server needing to store a cookie, etc. I'm not saying this to start a debate, but rather to show the OP that there are cases where one method is more appropriate.

Obviously, with data that expires, or is sensitive, you want to use POST, as you suggest. POST is also necessary if the length of the extra data exceeds environment limits.

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