CGI
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CGI
This article is about the
uses of cgi scripts and I hope you will find it
enlightening. - Candice
A common question asked
by beginning web designers is, What is a CGI script
and how does it work? The next statement is how to
use CGI scripts in web
design to build a
dynamic web site. Well, in this lesson in web
designing you'll find a few answers to using common
gateway interface as a web design tool.
CGI stands for "Common
Gateway Interface". It is the method of
communicating with the web server, using your web
browser. A plain html
document is the web file that doesn't change or is
static. CGI can output dynamic information to your
Web site. CGI is the protocol for running programs
on a www Server. CGI scripts are executables and
process the dynamic needs for your website. It
expands the capabilities of your website beyond
plain html.
CGI scripts can be used
to attract the visitors by handling useful elements
such as:
- Form
Processing
- Guest
Books
- Message
Boards
- Shopping
Carts
- Counters
- Site
Statistics
- Search
Engines
- Link
Pages
- Web
Based Emails
Any programming language (C,
C++, Perl, TCL, Basic and even shell scripts) can
be used for writing CGI applications. Perl is the
most popular choice for CGI applications, because
of its powerful text manipulation capabilities and
fantastic www support modules.
If you know computer
programming, then creating CGI applications are
straightforward. But you need to check certain
things, with your ISP or Web Hosting Company before
developing & running cgi scripts.
a) Is it
configured to run CGI scripts?
b) Which
language is supported?
c) Common
settings and paths for running CGI
scripts.
I recommend using Perl, since
it is cross platform, well tested and widely used
by developers.
There is vast collection of
CGI/Perl scripts on net. One can utilize these by
modifying certain parameters as per your web server
requirements. If your ISP doesn't provide support
for CGI use remotely hosted scripts to make your
website live. There are many websites offering free
CGI resources.
Resources for CGI/Perl
Applications
a) Matt Wright - himself
author of many popular CGI applications has a
website dedicated to this subject:
http://www.cgi-resources.com/
I am happy to recommend this
as a rich and well-organized collection, and
probably the best of its kind on the Web today. You
can also find documentation and tutorials related
to CGI programming at the above site.
b) Selena Sol's Public
Domain CGI Scripts
http://www.extropia.com/Scripts/
c) Matt Wright's Script
Archive
http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/
d) Dale Bewley has a much
longer list of script archives (along with his own
scripts) at
http://www.engr.iupui.edu/~dbewley/perl/
Free Web hosts offering
access to cgi-bin
a) Hypermart:
http://www.hypermart.net
b) Netfirms:
http://www.netfirms.com
Free Web hosts offering
formmail, message board or guest
books
a) Dencity :
http://www.dencity.com
b) Finitesite :
http://www.finitesite.com
c) Home Employment:
http://www.hemployment.com
All the Best, Lalit
Goklani
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Net Employment Ezine at http://www.hemployment.com
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