使用XMLHttpRequest的AJAX请求返回本地Python文件的内容，而不是执行它

Question

Web page and Python script are both local in a Raspberry Pi (no internet connection).

The Python script runs fine when called from the command line.

JavaScript in the web page uses AJAX to call the Python script:

    var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();     
    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function() {
        alert('readyState: '+ xmlhttp.readyState)     // Returns: 4
        alert('status: '+ xmlhttp.status)             // Returns: 0
        alert('statusText: '+ xmlhttp.statusText)     // Returns: (Blank)
        alert('responseText: '+ xmlhttp.responseText) // Returns contents of script
    }
    xmlhttp.open("POST", "myscript.py", true);
    xmlhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
    xmlhttp.send('test');   

I also tried "GET" with the same results:

    var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();     
    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function() {
        alert('readyState: '+ xmlhttp.readyState)     // Returns: 4
        alert('status: '+ xmlhttp.status)             // Returns: 0
        alert('statusText: '+ xmlhttp.statusText)     // Returns: (Blank)
        alert('responseText: '+ xmlhttp.responseText) // Returns contents of script
    }
    xmlhttp.open("GET", "myscript.py", true);
    xmlhttp.send();     

The script is not executed ( I can tell from the log).

Am I misunderstanding what AJAX can do? Can it not run local scripts?

My ultimate goal: to pass a user entry from the web page to the script, to configure the Raspberry Pi.

EDIT: Again, everything is local: no server, no internet, no HTTP.

If the answer is "no, you can't do that without a server" that's all I need to hear, and I'll look at using a port 80 instead to achieve what I want.

Answer 1

Python (in response to HTTP requests) is executed by a web server.

If you fetch from file:// URLs, you will either get an error or raw content, depending on your browser.

You can run any HTTP server that can call Python scripts (using Python, or a CGI variant) on any port.