CUSTOM CGI SCRIPTING WITH PERL
Kevin Hanegan
Welcome
This is the companion Web site for Custom
CGI Scripting with Perl. Here you will find all the source code, links
to related CGI and Perl information, links to any software you may need,
as well as updates to the material in the book. You can use this site to
find necessary information, link to many CGI script repositories, and get
the latest news on Perl. This site will also include a Bulletin Board so
developers can post questions they may have. If you're interested purchasing
the book, visit one of the following Web sites: Amazon,
Barnes and Noble, or John
Wiley & Sons.
Part I: Getting Started
1. Overview of CGI
2. The CGI Framework
3. Installing a CGI Script
Part II: Perl Building Blocks
4. Introduction to Perl
5. Using the Print Statement
6. Using Variables
7. Statements and Conditionals
8. Subroutines
9. Pattern Matching
10. File Input and Output
11. Working with HTML Forms
12. Using Databases
13. Interacting with your Operating System
Part III: Advanced Perl Techniques
14. Error Handling
15. Debugging Your Perl script
16. Securing Your Perl script
Part IV: Putting It All Together
17. Planning Your Perl script
18. Email Response Form
19. Guestbook
20. Flat-file Database
Appendices
A. Request and Response Headers
B. Server Status Codes
C. Basic Unix Commands
D. Environment Variables
E. Perl Special Variables
F. Perl Built-in Functions
G. SQL Commands
H. Perl Quick Reference
Applications Mentioned in the Book
WS
FTP LE - WS-FTP LE is a great application that allows remote file
edits, chmods on UNIX boxes and file moves.
Dos2Unix Application - Windows and Unix
systems use different methods to identify end-of-line information in text
files. Windows uses a carriage return/linefeed pair (CR/LF) and Unix only
uses the LF character. DOS2UNIX.EXE is a small utility that converts MS-DOS
text files to Unix format, by stripping any CR or end-of-file (Ctrl-Z)
characters from the data.
Free Web Servers
Savant Web
Server - Savant is a freeware web server that runs on Windows
95, 98, NT, and 2000, turning any desktop computer into a powerful web
server. Designed to be fast, secure, and efficient, Savant is the choice
of thousands of professional and amateur webmasters worldwide.
Tiny Web Server -
TinyWeb is intended to be a simple Win32 daemon for regular (TCP/http)
and secure (SSL/https) web servers that will allow you to test your CGI
scripts on your desktop. TinyWeb is extremely small (executable file size
is 49K), simple (no any configuration except command line) and fast (consumes
as little system memory and CPU resources as possible). TinyWeb installs
in minutes and maintains a low-memory profile.
WebReflex Web
Server Facilities - Another free Web server that will allow you
to test your Perl scripts locally.
Additional CGI Tools
Perl Scripting
Tool - was originally intended as a replacement for Windows' Notepad,
which until now has been the editor of choice for Win32 PERL Programmers.
While Notepad is usually sufficient there has long been the need for something
with 'just a little more'. Features include: the ability to right click
on your script and get a menu of the most useful functions; the ability
to find matching brackets and go to line numbers; a built-In HTM2PERL
utility; the ability to parse HTML; a subroutine library; an optional
auto tab/indent; definable color syntax checking; an enhanced dual clipboard;
a syntax checker; the ability to script quickly with the code wizard;
user defined shortcut keys; and a scratch pad.
CGI Script Editor
(free) - A program that is designed to help you create cgi-scripts. It
is essentially a simple text editor, with quite a few enhancements to
make it easier for you to make powerful and error-free scripts. It is
better that using a simple text editor.
Visual Perl Editor
($29) - Helps create CGI scripts in Perl, offline in Windows, visually.
The program has two panels, one to edit the script and another that previews
the CGI in an internal web browser. Also integrated testing for errors
or running normally. It supports code-templates to add to your script,
a Query editor to easily create Querys for a GET method, HTML Editor,
URL encoder, bookmarks, FTP uploader, unlimited sized scripts. Also directions
on how to run CGI Perl scripts in windows offline.
Website Explorer 1.5
($19.95) - Website Explorer is a graphical website tool that allows you
to remotely Explore, View, Edit, Delete, Chmode, test CGI Scripts and
Upload files to your website. Right from your own browser.
Perl modules - CPAN contains
the collected wisdom of the entire Perl community: hundreds of Perl utilities,
several books' worth of documentation, and the entire Perl distribution.
If it's written in Perl, and it's helpful and free, it's in CPAN.
Perl
interpreter - This site will allow you to download the latest
Perl interpreter for a variety of operating systems.
Code from the Book
Chapter 3
3.1 - Displaying Environment Variables
Chapter 5
5.1 - Return a Web page that
says Hello World using print
5.2 - Return a Web page that says Hello
World using print and contains \n characters at the end of each line
5.3 - Return a Web page that says Hello
World using print and contains \n and
characters at the end of each line
5.4 - Return a Web page that says Hello
World using print escaping some special characters
5.5 - Return a Web page that says Hello
World using print escaping some special characters used in a table
5.6 - Return a Web page using the here printing
method to return a table
5.7 - Return a Web page using qq to return
a table
Chapter 6
6.1 - Return a Web page with
the current time stored as a variable
Chapter 7
7.1 - Return a Web page to loop
through ten years and print the amount in a given account each year
Chapter 9
9.1 - Retrieves a string from
an HTML form and removes any digits from it
Chapter 18
18.1 - EmailResponse.pl
18.2 - Form for EmailResponse.pl
Chapter 19
19.1 - Guestbook.pl
19.2 - Form for Guestbook.pl
19.3 - Guestbook.pl (Advanced)
19.4 - Guestbook.html
Chapter 20
20.1 - Addentry.html
20.2 - Addentry.pl
20.3 - SeacrhDB.html
20.4 - SeacrhDB.pl
20.5 - DeleteDB.pl
Resources
CGI - Common Gateway
Interface - Contains links to specs and documentation, discussion
groups, and next-generation APIs.
CGI Specification at NCSA
- From introduction to in-depth details.
CGI
Programming FAQ - The author updates this FAQ as new questions are
submitted. It covers quite a wide range of topics from basics to HTTP
and troubleshooting scripts.
CGI Script FAQ
- A practical rather than an academic list of questions and answers.
Perl
FAQ - Frequently asked questions about PERL.
CGI Programming 101 -
Free online course written by Jacqueline Hamilton. Five lessons already
exists and more will eventually be posted.
Perl Tutorial
-Self-paced tutorial on the basics of Perl. The reader learns by writing
a script called mailform.
CGI Resources - Excellent
source for tutorials, scripts archives and demonstrations.
Perl
for CGI Quick Reference
This document lists all the basic syntax and commands needed to write
basic CGI scripts using forms. Each section is explained with the use
of an example.
The CGI Resource Index - An
outstanding collection of resources, links, tutorials, and scripts, from
the author of Matt's Script Archive.
The WDVL: CGI
- More resources on CGI.
Yahoo�s
CGI Index - A continually updated collection of links related to CGI
programming.
The Perl Language Home Page -
Overview, software and more excellent resources.
Matt�s Script Archive
The Scripts Home
Jeff�s Script Archive
Mike�s Scripts
Selena Sol�s CGI Script
Archive
|
|
ISBN 0471395978
352 pages
January 2000
Wiley
Computer Publishing
Timely. Practical. Reliable.
|