what does it mean by putting ? mark at the end of URL

[jazy smith]

Hi,

I am wondering what does it mean by putting '?' at the end of URL. when I tried something like this ' http:// .... /applicaion_name ' it displayed a page... but when I put ? after end of it, ' http://..../application_name? ' it displayed xml page... what is that xml page and why did it come when I put ?

Sorry if it's simple question for you guys, but i don't know ...

thanks

[Bear Bibeault]

The ? separates the query string from the rest of the URL. An empty query string is perfectly valid with or without the ?.

[jazy smith]

hi Bear,
thanks for the prompt reply. the empty query string is valid i.e. if you just put ? after URL and nothing after ? it's valid. but doing so what are we exactly saying to server ? I mean server will consider it as what ?

Hope you got what I mean to say.

[jazy smith]

hey bear .. are you there ?

[Bear Bibeault]

The server could care less.