At 07:19 AM 6/27/99 -0500, Mike Buraczewski wrote:
>Hello to all
>
>I was just reading Kathleen Ely's reply about Frontpage 2000, and it occured
>to me that I really need to learn abit more.  In particular, can some
>explain to me the basics of using a CGI script?
>
>1.  Do CGI scripts reside on a server where everyone that writes pages can
>get access to them, or do you need to create your own scripts?
>

Server. The scripts themselves can be written in a variety of languages on
your own system to debug & test, them uploaded to a space on your web host
(CGI-BIN, or CGI-LOCAL being the most common). Perl is one of the easiest,
and most common CGI languages. I've got a bunch of stuff on perl at my web
page. Go to http://www.christopherzguris.com/links , then click on Perl to
get a list of them.

>2.  If you need to create your own, what are the basics?
>

The easiest way I found was using Perl - Under Win 98 - was to get the
ActivePerl, which runs in a DOS Window. What you do is write your program
(using notepad or wordpad), save it then run it w/perl. To do this, I open
a DOS window, move to the perl/bin directory, then enter perl <filename>.pl
where <filename> is the name of the perl script. Doing this checks for
errors, which are easier to debug on your system. When I get a Perl script
working, I upload it to my website. Check with your host to see if they
support CGI and if they have any support doc's online.

>3.  When using Frontpage, or any other developers tool, what is the HTML
>code that references a CGI script?
>

For me - it's something like
http://www.christopherzguris.com/cgi-local/linkgen.pl?perl . This executes
the perl (.pl) file linkgen from the cgi-local directory of my site. CGI
references are made just like any other hyperlink.

>4. Any recommended reference materials, particularly on line?
>

I found the online stuff a PITA, I found it easier to get a couple books
and start playing with a few perl scripts on my system. I suppose the
biggest online reference is: http://language.perl.com/index.html . Some of
coverage of Windows is a bit weak, but it basically comes down to
downloading and installing ActivePerl for Windows (available from
http://www.activestate.com/).


Christopher Zguris

[log in to unmask] / http://www.christopherzguris.com

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