URLs

Accessing Files Using a URL:
- Files may be accessed by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
```
original: nM> plot http://nextmidas.com/nm/nxm/sys/dat/apenny.prm (currently unavailable)
alternative: nM> plot /opt/midas/nxmlatest/nm/nxm/sys/dat/apenny.prm
(where /opt/midas/nxmlatest is a softlink to your local nxm installation)

<Plots the apenny.prm file off of a web server>
```
- URLs are a WWW standard and as such are a very portable way to access files.
- Requires that a web server is running on the remote system.
- Warning: It is usually not a good idea to include a URL directory on your read AUX list.
  - If a URL directory is on the read AUX NeXtMidas will try to search it whenever looking for files.
  - Searching for files via a URL is usually problematic since it requires special configuration on the web server.
  - Searching for files via a URL can be slow compared to searching local directories.
- Note: A few slides back it was pointed out that Blue files can be specified without an extension. This is where it causes major problems.
  - Requires multiple transactions with the web server to handle the fact that the file extension could be either .prm or .tmp.
  - It is very common for resources on servers to point to Perl scripts that may or may not have a file name extension.

Don't Make This Mistake:
Do not expect to find files in AUXes defined as URLs. The corresponding web server needs special configuration in order for this to work right.