HTML Response

The HTML response creates a simple form when the user visits a URL with the .html extension. Using the form the user can select variables and regions of interests in the dataset, making it possible to download data from the server withouth a DAP client.

It's probably a good idea to always install this response. Just invoke easy_install:

$ easy_install dap.responses.html

The response uses a lightweight templating engine called templess, included in the module. It also relies on the Paste#httpexceptions middleware to redirect the user to the ASCII response after the form is submitted; the middleware is active by default in the standard deployment file.

If you install this response, you should also customize the directory listing template index.tmpl to send the user to the form when clicking on a file. Just change the default template to something like:

#for $file in $files:
    #set $filename = $file.split('/')[-1]
    <tr>
        <td><a href="${file}.html">$filename</a></td>
        <td><a href="${file}.dds">[<acronym title="Dataset Descriptor Structure">DDS</acronym>]</a></td>
        <td><a href="${file}.das">[<acronym title="Dataset Attribute Structure">DAS</acronym>]</a></td>
    </tr>
#end for

This is the default behaviour in the pydap test server.