PHP script that displays another page partial content

[lucavilla@cashette.com]

If you go to http://europe.nokia.com/A4305060, fill the "Enter your
product code:" field with the value "0523183" and press "Go" (the
ending page URL varies because there's a variable session-ID in the
URL-link associated to "Go") you will obtain this string:

"Version: RM43_V1.10.030"

Is it possible to have a string.php page that just display this string?
how can I do it?

[Myron Turner]

Re: PHP script that displays another page partial content

lucavilla@cashe tte.com wrote:

If you go to http://europe.nokia.com/A4305060, fill the "Enter your
product code:" field with the value "0523183" and press "Go" (the
ending page URL varies because there's a variable session-ID in the
URL-link associated to "Go") you will obtain this string:
>
"Version: RM43_V1.10.030"
>
Is it possible to have a string.php page that just display this string?
how can I do it?
>

It's not clear what you want to do. Do you want to create a script
which outputs a page that accepts a product code and then returns a page
with the version result and nothing else? Or do you want to filter the
Nokia page through a script and output your own page in its place with
only the version string?

The former is a straight-forward, basic PHP or CGI task which--if you
unsure of how to do it--you can learn from any basic text on PHP. If
it's the latter, that involves 'screen-scraping', i.e. a script which
downloads the Nokia page, understands its HTML, and can pick out the
required information from the downloaded page. I've done a fair amount
of this in Perl, but at the request of the company whose pages I've
screen-scraped. I make this point because screen-scraping is not
considered ethical and many sites like e-bay have policies against it.

--

_______________ ______
Myron Turner

http://www.room535.org

http://www.bstatzero.org

http://www.mturner.org/XML_PullParser/

[lucavilla@cashette.com]

Re: PHP script that displays another page partial content

The second one ('screen-scraping'). I need it because I want to be
alerted when the are news/changes in that page and actually I have no
way to istruct my web-monitoring program to do it because the URL is
dynamic.

[Shannon Jacobs]

Tangential warning about Cashette and query about email alternatives

Sorry for the non-topical addition to the discussion, but since you are a
current user of Cashette, it is possible that we share motivations as
regards email. Also, there's the warning part...

Regarding the motivations part, I hate spam, but I would like to have an
email address that could be used in public without being flooded with spam.
Since spam is fundamentally an economic problem, only economic solutions can
be truly effective, so I was optimistic Cashette might offer a real
solution.

I used Cashette for several years, but I am convinced it is now a one-man
operation on the verge of disappearing into bankruptcy, so I would both like
to warn you and to ask if you know of a good alternative. Or perhaps some of
the other readers know of a truly good email system for use in the
newsgroups?

My own Cashette account has been destroyed or locked, so you can't reply via
email (since I haven't yet decided on a new public-use email system). I will
watch this thread using Google Groups to see if there are any public replies
to this branch.

However, I think it may be helpful to review Cashette's sad story. The main
feature of Cashette was an economic model of email. I think prepaid email
would be even better, but Cashette was using a kind of
challenge-and-response approach with penalty payments for spammers. (By the
way, Cashette still owes me some money, but I regard that as a minor
grievance at this point. Probably a dollar, or maybe a buck and a half. I
certainly hope you [the Cashette user] aren't hoping to make any money off
of it...) Cashette has always been kind of flaky, and I've reported a number
of problems over the years, some of which were fixed. I've also offered a
number of suggestions, though I don't recall that any of them were adopted.

The main problem I perceived with Cashette was that the system still
collected and displayed spam, though in a special folder. If it's there, I
feel obliged to scan the folder for false positives, and that basically
negated the main spam-free virtue of Cashette. I offered several suggestions
for enhancements to improve the value of Cashette. Actually, I should be
more precise and note that it actually became unrealistic even to scan for
false positives. As noted in the following email, the volume of spam became
very large.

At first, I was thanked for the suggestions, though as noted, I don't
believe any were adopted. Finally, the response was not thankful and polite,
but extremely rude, as shown below. I thought about it for a while. I asked
for an apology, and didn't get it. I conclude that Cashette is down to one
BOFH and is on the verge of going away. Hence I prepared this post for other
Cashette users.

(However, there already seem to be very few users of Cashette, so perhaps my
experiences are too typical and this warning is too late? I laugh to recall
that I once attempted to defend the reputation of Cashette. You seem to be
only the second Cashette-based poster I could find...)

Let me repeat my main query: Can you recommend a good email system that can
be used in public places such as the newsgroups without being inundated with
spam?

Now for your entertainment and amusement, and certainly not to help the
reputation of Cashette, here is my recent correspondence with the BOFH of
Cashette. Sorry about the layout problems, but that's just another one of
the bugs in Cashette.

From: Cashette Support <support@cashet te.com>
To: Shannon Jacobs <shanen@cashett e.com>
Sent: Tue Nov 28 21:17:37 PST 2006
Subject: Re: Currently 2,390 blocked messages

You're a bitch. Go fuck yourself and then go to hell. Have a nice day.
>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shannon Jacobs" <shanen@cashett e.com>
To: "Cashette Support" <support@cashet te.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 11:21 AM
Subject: Re: Currently 2,390 blocked messages
>
>

First, a new bug report. The "Check Spelling" buttons do nothing. Now to

the main topic:

Your reply to my previous suggestion was completely irrelevant and

non-responsive.

I write very clearly. I am actually a professional editor for a very
large

international corporation. I mostly work on technical papers and corporate
documents. I earn my living by helping other people write clearly. If you
have any problem understanding what I am writing, please feel free to ask
for clarification.

I was not asking for a way to flush the spam crap more quickly. I was

making a suggestion that would significantly increase the value of your
email service. I am suggesting that you offer auto-flush options, or
perhaps
an option to make the "Blocked" folder invisible. (That's actually a new
suggestion, but might be an elegant pseudo-solution (since you'd still be
wasting disk space).) I am suggesting that those options would not only
serve many of your users better, but they would also conserve your own
resources. *YOU* are paying for the storage of unneeded garbage and for
wasted bandwidth to dispose of the garbage.

My status on your system has actually 'improved' since I sent that
suggestion. Currently there are only 1,356 spam messages in my "Blocked"
folder. Those spam messages are just wasting your resources and annoying
me
by their very existence. They would actually waste even more of your
resources if I downloaded the subjects just to delete them. *YOU* are
paying
for storage and for bandwidth that serves *NO* purpose at all.

I am not going to waste my time (my most precious resource) looking at
any

of them. I am not even going to scan the headers to check for false
positives. I have even given up reporting stock scam spam to the SEC,
since
those reports clearly serve no purpose. I don't want or need to be
reminded
that the spammers still exist.

I am not saying you have to force *ANY* of the users of your email
service

to use the auto-flush feature I recommended. I am only suggesting that if
you provide that option, I will certainly use it. However, I do believe
that
many of your users would select to use that option, and it would save you
a
large amount of resources and encourage many new people to use your
service.

Now I am offering a new suggestion. I am suggesting that if you want to

reply to a comment, then you should reply in a way that is pertinent and
responsive. Irrelevant and non-responsive replies are downright insulting
and damage your reputation. Are you claiming that I'm too stupid to write
clearly? Or are you claiming that you're too stupid to understand what I
wrote?

--- Cashette Support <support@cashet te.comwrote:

Dear Shannon,
>
Thank you for contacting Cashette Support. You can delete up to 200

blocked

messages at a time by just clicking in the top box on the page (in the
header bar) and clicking delete.
>
Regards,
>
Cashette Support
>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shannon Jacobs" <shanen@cashett e.com>
To: "Cashette Support" <support@cashet te.com>
Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 4:25 PM
Subject: Currently 2,390 blocked messages
>
>
For two weeks that's way over 100 per day. I don't want them. I'm
not
going to scan them. Why are you wasting your resources on them?

You should have an option to toss all blocked email immediately. I
understand that you have to hold it temporarily to allow the blockee
an
option to register for Cashette, but there's no reason for me to see
it
while you're waiting. Or maybe you could include that as an another

option?

I think you're sort of close to having a good system here, but it's
still sort of recommendable.

--
The truth alone will not make you free. However, it is one of the
prerequisites. Unless you know the truths underlying your options, you
cannot choose in freedom, whether you're buying shaving cream or a war.
Busheviks are simply slaves to BushCo's lies.

[diego.sala@gmail.com]

Re: Tangential warning about Cashette and query about email alternatives

Shannon,

Write me a private message in my email so we talk about Cashette.