David,
On 5/3/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi All, We have recently run into a case where XMLHTTPRequest is being used to POST content, but the javascript author has failed to add the mandatory content-type header.
It's not mandatory from an HTTP POV. Certainly desirable, but not mandatory.
We were wondering what the default content type should be. We believe that it should be the same default as the default content type for a FORM post.
I don't think a default is desirable, unless it can be shown that effectively all existing apps which don't provide a Content-Type, use the same format. Otherwise, the HTTP message would be "lying" about its meaning, and that could break existing apps.
Oddly enough, the w3 draft spec for xmlhttprequest does not even state that you should provide a content-type when posting: http://www.w3.org/TR/XMLHttpRequest/#dfn-send whereas XULPlanet at least states one should be provided: http://www.xulplanet.com/references/objref/XMLHttpRequest.html#method_se nd "The MIME type of the stream should be specified by setting the Content- Type header via the setRequestHeader method before calling send." neither say what the default should be.
That sounds like good advice to me. Any objections? Mark.
