seaver has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear all

Im using HTTP::Request::Form to submit to a cgi link online.

Its going well, but I've come up against multiple checkboxes with the same name unfortunately: 

<div class="database_category">Citation Databases:</div>
 <div class="edition">
  <input type="checkbox" name="editions" checked value="D"> 
   <a href="" onClick="return show_help(
'http://wos4.isiknowledge.com:80/LinkOut.cgi?dest=help/h_database.htm%
+23sci&origin=http%3A//wos4.isiknowledge.com/CIW.cgi%3FSID%3DQVR5kArh@
+WcAAGvMDrs%26Func%3DGoBack');">
    <img class="binfo" src="Images/info.gif" name="Information"
         alt="Information" title="Information" />
   </a> 
   Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)--1955-present
 </div>
 <div class="edition">
  <input type="checkbox" name="editions" checked value="S">
   <a href="" onClick="return show_help('http://wos4.isiknowledge.com:
+80/LinkOut.cgi?dest=help/h_database.htm%23ssci&origin=http%3A//wos4.i
+siknowledge.com/CIW.cgi%3FSID%3DQVR5kArh@WcAAGvMDrs%26Func%3DGoBack')
+;">
    <img class="binfo" src="Images/info.gif" name="Information"
         alt="Information" title="Information" />
   </a>
  Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)--1956-present 
 </div>
 <div class="edition">
  <input type="checkbox" name="editions" checked value="H">
   <a href="" onClick="return show_help('http://wos4.isiknowledge.com:
+80/LinkOut.cgi?dest=help/h_database.htm%23ahci&origin=http%3A//wos4.i
+siknowledge.com/CIW.cgi%3FSID%3DQVR5kArh@WcAAGvMDrs%26Func%3DGoBack')
+;">
    <img class="binfo" src="Images/info.gif" name="Information" 
         alt="Information" title="Information" />
   </a>
   Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI)--1975-present
 </div>

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According to HTTP::Request::Form, the only value sent to the cgi link for 'editions' is the last one 'H' even if they were all checked. This is confirmed in a dump of the form: 
FIELD{input/checkbox} editions=H
FIELD{input/checkbox} editions=H
FIELD{input/checkbox} editions=H

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It was to my delight, that I realised that the checkboxes do have multiple values, much like radio buttons, but I can't access these different values via HTTP::Request::Form

So I want to fall back onto HTTP::Request::Common, which will enable me to submit any value to any field name, but my question is

What value should I send, if I wanted to indicate all the checkboxes were checked?
Should I just send 'DAH', and expect the cgi script to pasrse for all three values, or do I need a seperator?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks
Sam

Updated Steve_p - Edited code so it wasn't all on one line

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Checkboxes with the same name
by ikegami (Patriarch) on Sep 24, 2004 at 23:12 UTC

    I looked at the source of HTTP::Request::Form verified that it is indeed a bug in the module. It uses $fieldvals{$name} = $value; to set the value, clobbering any existing value for that name.

    HTTP::Request::Common uses the query_form method of URI, whose documentation gives the following example:

    $uri->query_form(foo => 1, foo => 2);
$uri->query_form(foo => [1, 2]);
$uri->query_form([ foo => 1, foo => 2 ]);
$uri->query_form([ foo => [1, 2] ]);
$uri->query_form({ foo => [1, 2] });

    [download]

    so:

    $ua->request(POST 'http://somewhere/foo', [
   editions    => [qw( D A H )],
   other_input => 'its value',
]);

    [download]

    should do the trick

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      ikegami

      Thanks for your reply, it was certainly what I was looking for

      However, I cant seem to get the right response. I used HTTP::Request::Form to print out the URL, with all the fields I knew I needed to fill, and used it as a guide.

      I've replaced all '&' with '\n' here for easier reading for the encoded URL string from HTTP::Request::Form: 

      Func=Search
Form=HomePage
SID=QVgragrh%40WcAAB5MdZ8
topic=Enter+a+topic
editions=H
editions=H
editions=H
Period=Year+Range
week_selection=LatestWeek
years=2004
start_year=1955
end_year=2004
General+Search.x=2
General+Search.y=2

      [download]
      And the code I'm using to try and replicate this, except for the editions, where Im following your example, is: 
      $res = $ua->request(POST 'http://wos4.isiknowledge.com/CIW.cgi',
            [Func => 'Search',
             Form => 'HomePage',
             SID => $sid,
             topic => 'Enter+a+topic',
             editions => qw[(D A H)],
             Period => 'Year Range',
             week_selection => 'LatestWeek',
             years => 2004,
             start_year => 1955,
             end_year => 2004,
             'General Search.x' => 2,
             'General Search.y' => 2]);

      [download]
      However, this is not producing the right response, and the HTTP::Request::Form method actually produced a better response, something is wrong with my attempt at using HTTP::Request::Common, but I dont know what it is that I'm doing wrong?

      Thanks for any help
      Sam </code>

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[select]

        I'm confused as to why you're talking about HTTP::Request::Form again, since we established there was a bug in it.

        I ran a few tests:

        use URI;

my $uri = URI->new("http://www.domain.com/");

$uri->query_form(
   editions => [qw( D A H )],
);

print($uri->as_string(), "\n");
# http://www.domain.com/?editions=D&editions=A&editions=H

        [download]

        so far so good

        use LWP;
use HTTP::Request::Common;

$request = POST 'http://www.domain.com/', [
   editions => [qw( D A H )],
];

print($request->as_string(), "\n");
# POST http://www.domain.com/
# Content-Length: 54
# Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
#
# editions=D&editions=A&editions=H

        [download]

        Working great!

        >perl -MURI -le "print $URI::VERSION"
1.19

>perl -MLWP -le "print $LWP::VERSION"
5.64

        [download]

        I'm not sure what you're trying to do. WWW::Mechanize might be of interest to you.

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