CGI
Java Applications
Tips and Trouble Shooting see bottom of
page
Preconfigured
CGI Scripts We Provide:
Web Site
Manager
Upload and work on your site right through your browser, no FTP program
needed.
FormMail
A simple CGI used to capture the information of a form and send it to a
specified email address.
Guestbook
Guestbook creates a form that allows people to "sign" a digital
guestbook that grows with each addition.
Free-for-All
Links Page
Lets your visitors leave there links to there web site.
WWWBoard
WWWBoard is a web discussion board system. The script also provides you
with administrative utilities to delete and monitor discussions.
Simple
Site Search
Let your visitors search your site.
Anti-Spam
Stops the majorette of email capture spiders from get your email address
and sending you spam.
Hit
Logger
Keeps track of your hits and where they came from, can also keep track of
every page in your web site.
Calendar
Keep track of events or dates you add
Preconfigured
Java Scripts We Provide:
Chat
Touring
Allows you to have a JAVA enabled "Chat" room, uses frames.
Navigator
Ticker
Scroll headlines across your screen marquee style and allow users to click
on them to jump to different web pages.
Digital
Clock
Allows you to place a working digital clock on your home page.
Simple
Clock
A Java analog style simple clock
CGI Applications:
CGI stands for "Common Gateway Interface," a fancy name meaning
computer programs running on the web server that can be invoked from a www
page at the browser. The "bin" part alludes to the binary
executables that result from compiled or assembled programs. It is a bit
misleading because cgi's can also be Unix shell scripts or interpreted
languages like Perl.
Tips
and Trouble Shooting
There are three things which cause 99% of all problems with cgi scripts.
They are:
1.) Setting the proper "paths"
2.) Uploading the scripts in ascii format.
3.) Setting proper permissions.
If you find yourself having problems with any script, check double check and
check again the "paths" , "ascii format" and "the
permissions"!!!
Where to Put CGI Scripts
Put your cgi scripts in the subdirectory named "/cgi-bin".
Paths
You will see the list below of the most important paths that scripts require.
Some scripts are picky about the paths, a path might look like this to point
to your cgi bin: /cgi-bin or a script might need the full path and it would
look like this: /usr/local/etc/httpd/htdocs/user_name/cgi-bin
Paths to:
Date: /bin/date
Sendmail: /bin/sendmail
Perl: /usr/bin/perl
Perl5.003: /usr/bin/perl
Domain or root path: /usr/local/etc/httpd/htdocs/user_name
Cgi-bin path: /cgi-bin
ASCII Format
CGI scripts need to be saved in ASCII format and uploaded to your server's
cgi-bin in ASCII or text format. This is very important! Almost any text
editor will work for editing scripts.
Setting Permissions:
To change permissions for a file name (.cgi / .pl), you need to chmod the file
(change mode).
The following is a simple explanation of file permissions.
| PEOPLE |
PERMISSIONS |
| u = the file's user (you) |
r = read access |
| g = the file's group |
w = write access |
| o = others |
x = execute access
|
| a = the user, the group, and others |
|
When using the numeric system, the
code for permissions is as follows:
r = 4
w = 2
x = 1
rwx = 7
The first 7 of our chmod755 tells
Unix to change the user's permissions to rxw (because r=4 + w=2 + x=1 adds up
to 7.
The second number 5 applies to the group (4+1=5).
The last number 5, refers to others (4+1=5).
chmod 755
Remember: the first 3 apply to
user, the second 3 apply to group, and the third 3 apply to others.
Some FTP clients support changing
permissions in a more graphical way (see picture above). If you have Fetch for
the Mac, you have an easy way to change permissions. Go to the file you want
to change the permissions on, and highlight it. Under the Remote menu, select
Change Permissions. A window will pop up showing the current permissions for
the file you had highlighted, Click on the boxes to change permissions as
needed.
WS_FTP and Cute FTP accomplishes
the same task as above. Just highlight the file you want to check, and
right-click on it. A menu will pop up, then select CHMOD or "change file
permissions".
We do not provide free support for
CGI scripts which we did not install on your Web Site, although if we do have
time we will always try to help our customers!!
If you are not already familiar with CGI scripting, you may want to read a
book on the subject or find places on the Internet with CGI scripting
information.
There are many good resources for
CGI scripts found on the web.
On our Resources and
Links page we have a nice listing.
The scripts at Matt's Script Archive found at:
http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/
are very good. Many of our scripts come from there.
Another excellent resource is The CGI Resource Index found at:
http://www.cgi-perl.com/
If you are not an expert, look for
scripts that are very well documented and come with step-by-step instructions,
or contact us for help or installation.
If at any time you find your self
having problems please send support an e-mail.