Unable to download some HTML files

Hello.

I am trying to download individual HTML pages useing a program called WGET
on a Linux machine. The WGET fetches typed in URL and stores as source
code into a directory. This works ok for older, unintelligent HTML pages,
but I am having trouble with a newer version.
The URL LINK is as follows.
<a class="dropDown"
href="http://www.foosite.com/foo?action=go_types&class_id=2">

I send & as hex.
I know all after ? is/are Query String , but am not sure what that means .
ARE they sent as is or are they manipulated by browser software
beforehand?
WGET is sending every thing between second quotes.
I have found no reference in HTML literature to the item in LINK of
class="dropDown"
and would appreciate a point in the right direction.

Thanks in anticipation.
Barry.
Replies to peterxxx (AT) uko2 (DOT) com

xxx=pan

BAZZER wrote:

Hello.

I am trying to download individual HTML pages useing a program called WGET
on a Linux machine. The WGET fetches typed in URL and stores as source
code into a directory. This works ok for older, unintelligent HTML pages,
but I am having trouble with a newer version.
The URL LINK is as follows.
a class="dropDown"
href="http://www.foosite.com/foo?action=go_types&class_id=2"

I send & as hex.
I know all after ? is/are Query String , but am not sure what that means .
ARE they sent as is or are they manipulated by browser software
beforehand?
WGET is sending every thing between second quotes.
I have found no reference in HTML literature to the item in LINK of
class="dropDown"
and would appreciate a point in the right direction.

Thanks in anticipation.
Barry.
Replies to peterxxx (AT) uko2 (DOT) com

xxx=pan

The query string is just a bunch of variables that the page being loaded
can utilise; they ARE important to the content.

An 'intelligent' (as you call it) page, such as .php .asp .pl etc.. are
processed FIRST by the server on thier computer. Consider:

http://www.buysomefoo.com/productdis...foo&userid=366

When you load that page, first the server looks at the URL that you
request, then chuggs a bit, and *generates* some HTML to send you.

In this case, some HTML will be generated from a template with the
specifics for some_foo loaded from the remote database.

The HTML made is then sent to your browser, which makes it viewable.

So, no; your browser doesn't need to interpret it any more than a normal
HTML page.

However, the problem with WGET could be that it doesn't request the page
in the same way a browser does, so HTML is not generated and sent.

I am not familiar with that program, so I'm sorry I can't say more. Try
telneting to the site on port 80? I am not sure if that would work, but
is worth a try.

Apologies if I was too technical or patronising, wasn't sure about how
much you knew.

-Will