From mschaff at bu.edu  Wed Jul 19 17:30:50 2006
From: mschaff at bu.edu (Mike Schaffer)
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2006 11:30:50 -0400
Subject: [Rd] Post CGI forms with built-in R function?
Message-ID: <AA5F2F09-B65C-47C5-B7DD-541FCA4956B5@bu.edu>

I wrote a package that requires downloading data from an external  
server based on parameters specified by the user.

I have used RMySQL or Rcurl to accomplish this, but in the interest  
of simplicity for users of this package, I'd like this communication  
to not require installing other packages and their dependencies (e.g.  
RMySQL, Rcurl, etc.).  These dependencies are sometimes a deterrent  
to using my package.

I set up a CGI script on the server to handle data requests.  Now, is  
there a *built-in* R function that could be adapted to post forms or  
otherwise allows long URLs to be passed to this script to retrieve  
the data requested.  I tried using just "scan", but it fails with  
long URLs (sometimes a long list of parameters is required).  I think  
my only option is to use POST, but it doesn't appear it is possible  
without Rcurl.

Can anyone help or suggest a "native" solution to the problem?

Thanks.



[Rd] Post CGI forms with built-in R function?
Mike Schaffer