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Making Your Web Page Interactive with CGI

Making Your Web Page Interactive with CGI. TLN Technology Committee February 16, 1999. What is CGI?. “A method used by www pages to communicate with programs run on the web server.” Glossary of Internet Terms. Finding Scripts. Matt’s Script Archive worldwidemart.com/scripts

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Making Your Web Page Interactive with CGI

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  1. Making Your Web Page Interactive with CGI TLN Technology Committee February 16, 1999

  2. What is CGI? “A method used by www pages to communicate with programs run on the web server.” Glossary of Internet Terms

  3. Finding Scripts • Matt’s Script Archive • worldwidemart.com/scripts • CGI Resource Index • www.cgi-resources.com • Web Scripts • awsd.com/scripts/

  4. Downloading • Once you’ve found the script you want, download it and all the associated readme and html files. • Be sure to download in ascii text mode. • If available, save individual files instead of .zip file. This is the easiest way to ensure that the files are saved in ascii format. • If you must use the .zip file, open files in word after unzipping them to save them in ascii format.

  5. Recognizing Ascii Format

  6. Customizing Scripts

  7. Customizing Scripts • The first line of the .pl script must read: • #!/usr/bin/perl • NOT #!/usr/local/bin/perl • Change script name to “name.cgi” • The .pl tag is not recognized on the server. • Only scripts with the .cgi tag will run properly.

  8. Customizing Scripts • The absolute path should be structured as follows: • /mnt/web/guide/worldwidemart/scripts/ • /home/lvcc/lvcc/www/cgi-bin/ • The url path to the designated file is the full path: • http://tln.lib.mi.us/~lvcc/cgi-bin/scriptname.cgi • http://tln.lib.mi.us/~lvcc/relatedwebpage.htm

  9. Uploading Files

  10. Creating the CGI Directory and Uploading Files • The CGI-BIN Directory • Working in your FTP software: • Open your www directory • Create a new folder at the host within the www directory. • Name the folder cgi-bin • Uploading Files • Working in your FTP software: • Upload .cgi files to cgi-bin directory • Upload .htm files to the regular www directory

  11. Setting Permissions CHMOD

  12. Changing Read/Write/Execute Access for CGI Files • Permission settings for each associated file depends upon the action of the script. • The readme file will usually tell you which permissions to assign to each file.

  13. Chmod in Linux/Unix • Www Long List of Directory drwxr-xr-x 2 lvcc users 1024 Jan 15 10:02 cgi-bin -rw-r--r-- 1 lvcc users 1213 Jul 17 1996 momdad.htm -rw-r--r-- 1 lvcc users 6520 Jul 2 1998 money.jpg -rw-rw-rw- 1 lvcc users 2968 Jan 7 19:15 mypet.htm -rw-r--r-- 1 lvcc users 1942 Jun 22 1998 mypetadd.htm • Cgi-bin Long List of Directory -rw-r--r-- 1 lvcc users 394 Aug 5 09:54 folks02.gif -rwxr-xr-x 1 lvcc users 24292 May 11 1998 formmail.cgi -rwxr-xr-x 1 lvcc users 11340 Jun 22 1998 mypet.cgi -rwxr-xr-x 1 lvcc users 11380 Jan 14 1998 pineknob.cgi

  14. Changing Read/Write/Execute Access for CGI Files chmod u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx form.cgi

  15. CHMOD by Numbers • Readme files will often use numbers to designate chmod • settings. • First digit = u • Second digit = g • Third digit = o • 4 (r) + 2 (w) + 1 (x) = 7 • 4 (r) + 1 (x) = 5 chmod u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx form.cgi and chmod 755 form.cgi result in the same action.

  16. Running The Script

  17. Testing and Troubleshooting • Scripts must be uploaded and permissions changed before they can be tested. • Usually, a minor adjustment will correct script error messages. • Incorrect directory information or a misplaced slash will prevent a script from running.

  18. Common Error Messages

  19. The Form Mail Script In Action

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