Sending data from a page on one server, to another remote server. Language not dependant.

Question

I'll try to keep this short and simple. I haven't begun writing the code for this project yet, but I'm trying to work out the pre-coding logistics as of right now.

What I am looking to do, is create a method of sending data from one/any site, to another remote server, which would generate a response for the user requesting the data be sent.

Specifically, a web designer should be able to take a snippet of code I would have available on my website, implement it into their own page(s), and when a user browses their page(s), my service would be available.

A specific example, a web designer with a website (helloworld.com) could implement my code into their page (helloworld.com/index.html). When a user is viewing the page (/index.html), the user hovers the mouse over a text word (lemonade) for a couple seconds, a small dialog box pops up beside it, providing the user with some options specific to the text (example of an option would be "Define 'lemonade' at Dictionary.com") that if selected, would be processed at, and a response would be returned from my remote server (myremoteserver.com)

Obviously, I would want the code that designers would be using to be as lightweight and standalone as possible. Any ideas as to how I could execute this? Resources I should study, and methods I could implement?

Answer 1

I think you are talking about a hyperlink.

The part that has you confused is the level of interactivity you want on the client site. Whatever sort of neat UI interface you want to wrap around the link will probably be done in javascript and need to be supplied to that site. The core of what you're asking for

text ... that if selected, would be processed at, and a response would be returned from my remote server (myremoteserver.com)

is just a hyperlink.

There's probably more to it than that though. Explain and we'll try to help.

Answer 2

Please do not create another one of those services that annoyingly double-underlines words in web site content and then pops up a ugly, slow-to-load ad over the content if I accidentally mouse over the word. Because that sounds like what you're doing.

If you're going to do it anyway, then what the "remote server" will be will probably actually be a bit of client-side JavaScript, in which case JSON is probably your best bet. XML could also work, but even when JavaScript isn't on the other side, I rather like JSON as a serialization technique due to its compactness and readability.

Answer 3

I'll elaborate and furthermore explain that I am not making one of those 'annoying' webservices that turns resourceful information into a clunky billboard. I intend on making a low graphic (16x16 icons at most per menu option) resource linking tool that can be used to connect resources on the local server to other resources, whether local or remote.

This data would be accessed by sending a request to my webserver and returning a response in a popup box (this response would be based on the query of course) The response would be displayed in a brief menu of options, for example Wikipedia entries, links to torrent searches on popular engines, etc.

It won't be inhibitive of selecting, scrolling, clicking predefined hyperlinks, or anything, as you would need to hover the text for a few seconds.

I'm just looking for resources that would be helpful in designing such a service.