title: accessing POST parameters
body: <p>When I add a new "product" using my scaffold create rails app, the following line properly adds a new product</p>
  
  <pre><code>@product = Product.new(params[:product])
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I try to add a new product using the following URL (trying to POST data up from a java program). </p>
  
  <pre><code>http://localhost:3000/products?serial=555&amp;value=111
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The product is not created, however I can access the "serial" and "value" values like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code> @product = Product.new
   @product.serial=params[:serial]
   @product.value=params[:value]
   @product.save
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>To further confuse me, if I use the rails app to add a new product, the <code>params[:serial]</code> and <code>params[:value]</code> variables are empty.</p>
  
  <p>Can someone please point me in the right direction.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>