I've never done *anything* like this before. I have a vague understanding that I need to use some kind of API to access usps.com and have registered with them. Apparently I'm supposed to send them a string via get or post and they send me back some XML containing the desired information.
Sounds great! But I have a "minor" problem... I'm an HTML coder pretending to be a real programmer and I have no idea what I'm talking about.
The code sample the USPS provides is all full of JavaScript, which I'd like to avoid, and various other things that don't work well outside of IE. I'd like to do this all server-side.
I guess my first question is: Can I send the request to the USPS server without specifically using the submit button to do that? If so, how?
And my second question is: Then what? How do I a) get the information back from them and b) do something with it?
Thank you for any assistance and tips.