Practical limits of GET and POST

[thedaver]

I'm going to ask this badly, but here's a try.

We are contemplating building a "web service" (via HTTPS) where clients can use a GET/POST with some credentials and some content fields.

(i.e. ?user=fred&pass=pass&file=text.txt&data=fkajglkajghg)

The last parameter that we're hoping to pass would the actual content of a file which we'd plan to store in a SQL database as a BLOB or other large content item.

Contraining factor is that we want to have this client-to-server interaction be done in one "sending" pass without parsing and as a scripted/automated event. Thus, we do not have the luxury of logging in and then using more conventional file-upload approaches.

Q: Is there a literal or practical limit to the size of a GET or POST string? Obviously we're doing something potentially unconventional with moving data in such a manner, but we're trying to be technically agnostic to support all sorts of clients who would support a BASIC HTTP/HTML transmission.

Of course, if someone has a "smarter" way of solving this, I'm all ears. Much appreciated! Dave.

D.E.R. Management - IT Project Management Consulting

http://www.dermanagement.com/

 

[sleipnir214]

There are limits to a GET-method input.

First, a URL can only be so long. This is browser-specific.

Second, GET-method data is presented to the script by the web server in environment variables. Environment variables can only be so long, and this maximum length varies by operating system.

There are limits to POST, too. But those limits are much larger.

Why not use a POST-method form which has a place for login, userid and a file upload?


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