Hi Pat,

Since I'm bumping my head against that multiple stuff as I type this,
I can offer a hearty "the sooner the better" vote on a more intuitive
interface.

Thanks,
Brian

On Thu, May 09, 2002 at 02:39:43PM +0900, Patrick May wrote:
> One thing that I don't like is the way cgi forces you to treat every
> param as if there were multiples, when most of the time you're dealing
> with single params.
> 
> I know you can do things like
> 
> multiple, = cgi["multiple"]
> 
> or
> 
> multiple = cgi["multiple"][0]
> 
> but these seem crufty.  Here's an idea I had:
> 
> 
> # query string =>  "multiple=something&key=value&multiple=somethingelse"
> cgi["multiple"]                  # <= "something"
> cgi["multiple"].multiple         # <= ["something", "somethingelse"]
> 
> cgi["key"]                       # <= "value"
> cgi["key"].multiple              # <= ["value"]
> 
> 
> This api would handle the most common case in a very intuitive way for
> the programmer.  It also allows the programmer to explicitly handle
> multiple params.
> 
> This is part of my work on a larger reorganization of CGI*.  However,
> if it seems like a good idea I'd be willing to implement this behavior
> in the current library.
> 
> What do you think? Would this be a nicer way of handling cgi params?
> Has this issue been handled in other ways?
> 
> ~ Patrick
> 
> * http://www.hexane.org/cgi-bin/hexane.cgi?page=TheNarfFramework --
> very much in gestation, though there is code (not vaporware!)

-- 
| Brian Wisti | brian / coolnamehere.com | http://www.coolnamehere.com/
|   "All you need in life is ignorance and confidence, then
|            success is sure." -- Mark Twain