[Tfug] Poor man's GUI

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Matt,

On 3/10/2014 11:42 PM, Matt Jacob wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 10, 2014, at 23:13, Bexley Hall wrote:
>> But I *think* I don't even need that!  I.e., if "Save" (or "Save As")
>> saves a copy of the web page/form *with* the controls in their
>> modified states, then a local executable can examine it instead of
>> having to "submit" it back to an active "server".  I.e., treat
>> the file system as the "server" (with the caveat that the file
>> system BY ITSELF can't act on the data)
>
> I doubt you're going to find that browsers behave as you're
> hoping---honestly, the thought has never even crossed my mind before, so
> I have no idea---but maybe there's a Firefox or Chrome extension that
> can support the behavior you're after.

So, you think that any "control/widget manipulations" made by the
user are ignored when the page is saved?

As an unscientific test, I turned off scripting and opened a page to
google.com (hey, it's a crude "form"  :> ).  Typed something nonsensical
into the text box in which you normally specify ypur "search terms"
(I used "figglehopper" -- something pretty unlikely to randomly
encounter in the source for google's main page).  Then, before
"submitting" it (I.e., screen still shows google's "empty" main
page plus "figglehopper" in the text box), I saved it as a local file.

To avoid the browser having cached what I was about to submit, I
opened the file in a hex editor and went hunting for "figglehopper".
And, found it as the "value" of that text widget.

Of course, I need to verify this behavior with every control/widget that
I would like to use.  And, then with every browser.  But, it *looks*
like I can do what I want to do.  I.e., that google page could
just as well have contained some body text saying "enter the name of
the file you would like the application to index:"

If this does, in fact, work, it looks like an excellent way to
sidestep the bloat of things like Qt!  (for static UI's).

I'll try to make some time to explore it more thoroughly in the
next few days (already have other obligations on my plate)

--don