VBScripting Solutions: The XmlHttpRequest Object

When you use a browser to navigate to a URL, your browser receives and displays an HTML page, which frequently contains much more information than you need. For example, suppose that you want to know the weather forecast for a certain city. You might point your browser to http://www.weather.com, enter a city or ZIP code, and wait for a new page to be posted. When the page appears, it contains a lot of graphics and advertising in addition to the eagerly awaited information.

With the proper string in the address bar, you can speed up the forecast-retrieval process and display just the forecast without the embellishments. Typically, the Web server obtains the target information by using a URL with trailing parameters that the server needs to accomplish its search. If you know how to build the parameterized URL, you can get the information you want more quickly. Another good example of using direct and parameterized URLs is the Nasdaq Web page that lets you specify quote symbols in the URL composition. . . .