X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=pod%2Fperlfaq9.pod;h=ce0cf072419da3f6825e798bfbb9c5a9a7bfb935;hb=9d6c7f2eccef26a6d6eb46a8192949a88c6aaf8f;hp=2609c4482e9e9552637a3a3e03d7c5cd1e0fce9c;hpb=6a0af2f17bcde4767b90a72eff7083c5effff21d;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git diff --git a/pod/perlfaq9.pod b/pod/perlfaq9.pod index 2609c44..ce0cf07 100644 --- a/pod/perlfaq9.pod +++ b/pod/perlfaq9.pod @@ -1,45 +1,69 @@ =head1 NAME -perlfaq9 - Networking ($Revision: 1.26 $, $Date: 1999/05/23 16:08:30 $) +perlfaq9 - Networking =head1 DESCRIPTION This section deals with questions related to networking, the internet, and a few on the web. -=head2 My CGI script runs from the command line but not the browser. (500 Server Error) +=head2 What is the correct form of response from a CGI script? -If you can demonstrate that you've read the following FAQs and that -your problem isn't something simple that can be easily answered, you'll -probably receive a courteous and useful reply to your question if you -post it on comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi (if it's something to do -with HTTP, HTML, or the CGI protocols). Questions that appear to be Perl -questions but are really CGI ones that are posted to comp.lang.perl.misc -may not be so well received. +(Alan Flavell answers...) + +The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) specifies a software interface between +a program ("CGI script") and a web server (HTTPD). It is not specific +to Perl, and has its own FAQs and tutorials, and usenet group, +comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi + +The CGI specification is outlined in an informational RFC: +http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3875 -The useful FAQs and related documents are: +Other relevant documentation listed in: http://www.perl.org/CGI_MetaFAQ.html - CGI FAQ - http://www.webthing.com/tutorials/cgifaq.html +These Perl FAQs very selectively cover some CGI issues. However, Perl +programmers are strongly advised to use the CGI.pm module, to take care +of the details for them. - Web FAQ - http://www.boutell.com/faq/ +The similarity between CGI response headers (defined in the CGI +specification) and HTTP response headers (defined in the HTTP +specification, RFC2616) is intentional, but can sometimes be confusing. - WWW Security FAQ - http://www.w3.org/Security/Faq/ +The CGI specification defines two kinds of script: the "Parsed Header" +script, and the "Non Parsed Header" (NPH) script. Check your server +documentation to see what it supports. "Parsed Header" scripts are +simpler in various respects. The CGI specification allows any of the +usual newline representations in the CGI response (it's the server's +job to create an accurate HTTP response based on it). So "\n" written in +text mode is technically correct, and recommended. NPH scripts are more +tricky: they must put out a complete and accurate set of HTTP +transaction response headers; the HTTP specification calls for records +to be terminated with carriage-return and line-feed, i.e ASCII \015\012 +written in binary mode. - HTTP Spec - http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Protocols/HTTP/ +Using CGI.pm gives excellent platform independence, including EBCDIC +systems. CGI.pm selects an appropriate newline representation +($CGI::CRLF) and sets binmode as appropriate. - HTML Spec - http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/ - http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/MarkUp/ +=head2 My CGI script runs from the command line but not the browser. (500 Server Error) + +Several things could be wrong. You can go through the "Troubleshooting +Perl CGI scripts" guide at - CGI Spec - http://www.w3.org/CGI/ + http://www.perl.org/troubleshooting_CGI.html + +If, after that, you can demonstrate that you've read the FAQs and that +your problem isn't something simple that can be easily answered, you'll +probably receive a courteous and useful reply to your question if you +post it on comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi (if it's something to do +with HTTP or the CGI protocols). Questions that appear to be Perl +questions but are really CGI ones that are posted to comp.lang.perl.misc +are not so well received. - CGI Security FAQ - http://www.go2net.com/people/paulp/cgi-security/safe-cgi.txt +The useful FAQs, related documents, and troubleshooting guides are +listed in the CGI Meta FAQ: + + http://www.perl.org/CGI_MetaFAQ.html =head2 How can I get better error messages from a CGI program? @@ -48,25 +72,25 @@ normal Carp modules C, C, and C functions with more verbose and safer versions. It still sends them to the normal server error log. - use CGI::Carp; - warn "This is a complaint"; - die "But this one is serious"; + use CGI::Carp; + warn "This is a complaint"; + die "But this one is serious"; The following use of CGI::Carp also redirects errors to a file of your choice, placed in a BEGIN block to catch compile-time warnings as well: - BEGIN { - use CGI::Carp qw(carpout); - open(LOG, ">>/var/local/cgi-logs/mycgi-log") - or die "Unable to append to mycgi-log: $!\n"; - carpout(*LOG); - } + BEGIN { + use CGI::Carp qw(carpout); + open(LOG, ">>/var/local/cgi-logs/mycgi-log") + or die "Unable to append to mycgi-log: $!\n"; + carpout(*LOG); + } You can even arrange for fatal errors to go back to the client browser, which is nice for your own debugging, but might confuse the end user. - use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser); - die "Bad error here"; + use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser); + die "Bad error here"; Even if the error happens before you get the HTTP header out, the module will try to take care of this to avoid the dreaded server 500 errors. @@ -89,219 +113,257 @@ entities--like C<<> for example. Here's one "simple-minded" approach, that works for most files: - #!/usr/bin/perl -p0777 - s/<(?:[^>'"]*|(['"]).*?\1)*>//gs + #!/usr/bin/perl -p0777 + s/<(?:[^>'"]*|(['"]).*?\1)*>//gs If you want a more complete solution, see the 3-stage striphtml program in -http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/Tom_Christiansen/scripts/striphtml.gz +http://www.cpan.org/authors/Tom_Christiansen/scripts/striphtml.gz . Here are some tricky cases that you should think about when picking a solution: - A > B + A > B - A > B - + - + - <# Just data #> + <# Just data #> - >>>>>>>>>>> ]]> + >>>>>>>>>>> ]]> If HTML comments include other tags, those solutions would also break on text like this: - + =head2 How do I extract URLs? -A quick but imperfect approach is +You can easily extract all sorts of URLs from HTML with +C which handles anchors, images, objects, +frames, and many other tags that can contain a URL. If you need +anything more complex, you can create your own subclass of +C or C. You might even use +C as an example for something specifically +suited to your needs. + +You can use URI::Find to extract URLs from an arbitrary text document. + +Less complete solutions involving regular expressions can save +you a lot of processing time if you know that the input is simple. One +solution from Tom Christiansen runs 100 times faster than most +module based approaches but only extracts URLs from anchors where the first +attribute is HREF and there are no other attributes. + + #!/usr/bin/perl -n00 + # qxurl - tchrist@perl.com + print "$2\n" while m{ + < \s* + A \s+ HREF \s* = \s* (["']) (.*?) \1 + \s* > + }gsix; + +=head2 How do I download a file from the user's machine? How do I open a file on another machine? - #!/usr/bin/perl -n00 - # qxurl - tchrist@perl.com - print "$2\n" while m{ - < \s* - A \s+ HREF \s* = \s* (["']) (.*?) \1 - \s* > - }gsix; +In this case, download means to use the file upload feature of HTML +forms. You allow the web surfer to specify a file to send to your web +server. To you it looks like a download, and to the user it looks +like an upload. No matter what you call it, you do it with what's +known as B encoding. The CGI.pm module (which +comes with Perl as part of the Standard Library) supports this in the +start_multipart_form() method, which isn't the same as the startform() +method. -This version does not adjust relative URLs, understand alternate -bases, deal with HTML comments, deal with HREF and NAME attributes -in the same tag, understand extra qualifiers like TARGET, or accept -URLs themselves as arguments. It also runs about 100x faster than a -more "complete" solution using the LWP suite of modules, such as the -http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/Tom_Christiansen/scripts/xurl.gz program. +See the section in the CGI.pm documentation on file uploads for code +examples and details. -=head2 How do I download a file from the user's machine? How do I open a file on another machine? +=head2 How do I make an HTML pop-up menu with Perl? -In the context of an HTML form, you can use what's known as -B encoding. The CGI.pm module (available from -CPAN) supports this in the start_multipart_form() method, which isn't -the same as the startform() method. +(contributed by brian d foy) -=head2 How do I make a pop-up menu in HTML? +The CGI.pm module (which comes with Perl) has functions to create +the HTML form widgets. See the CGI.pm documentation for more +examples. -Use the B<<