4/16/00
My, goodness! So many rapid responses!
First off, it was never my intention that replies should not be posted
publically; I was merely saying to commercial entities that it was "OK" to
contact me directly if so inclined. I have received so much good advice here
that I would feel guiltier than a Calvinist at an orgy were I to hoard
information of this nature.
While the commercial vendors offered some wonderful web sites, many with
prose nearly worthy of the often-flowery-tongued (-penned? -keyboarded?)
William J Kammerer, in spite of my college degree and the invaluable
experience I've acquired whilst writing and publishing more than twenty
technical articles, I could not find a simple "yes" or "no" answer to my
question, "Can I automate a web-site logon, entry of a user ID and password,
and 'click to download your file?'". I'm sure if I were a marketing
professional I could have understood what I read at those web sites. (For
those who care, the non-acronymn word-count winner was "seamless.")
But Yea, verily, hope springs eternal for the bytehead in me! Several
participants suggested 'ftp', and I did find (courtesy of the programming
newsgroups), modify and succesfully execute some code to dial up and
download a file from an anonymous ftp site. My concern, however, was with
security: I figured if I can specify a URL and download the file, why can't
my clients' competitors do the same?
The answer appears to have shown itself at the GetRight site in its FAQ
section:
apparently, there is a form of secure FTP in which the URL is specified as
ftp:[EMAIL PROTECTED], which will solve my security concerns
if only I can convince the client's customer to make the data available on
such an FTP site.
I really do like the 'get the VAN to do it' idea, though: being an
applications guy, messing with communications protocols is on my list of
least-favorite pastimes (ranking immediately behind proctoscopic
examination). If the FTP thing doesn't pan out, I may see if I can find
which of the client's two VANs "really" wants the business.
Now, I have noticed the "Dismay" thread spring to life - and grow. EDI has
nothing to do with the specific delivery mode - that is, the files exchanged
by partners may be what we think of as "traditional" EDI where sender and
receiver use a third party VAN. However, I think the only requirement we
might impose on "what we would call EDI" would be that it is possible to go
computer-to-computer without human intervention; and it "appears" this is
doable with maybe a little bit of flexibility by the "800 pound gorilla."
(Yes, I am trying out my FTP argument for the client's partner here, but
what the heck.)
Michael C. Mattias
Tal Systems
Racine WI
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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