What are CGI scripts?
CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a standard for running external programs from a Web server. CGI allows the returned HTML page to be dynamic for example, with a CGI script you could access information in a database and format the results as part of an HTML page. Not surprisingly, CGI scripts are very popular and used extensively throughout the World Wide Web. Key points to bear in mind when using CGI scripts: • The pre installed scripts available through CPanel are the easiest to use, but if a certain script does not do exactly what you want, feel free to look for better scripts on the Web. You can usually find a script to do almost anything, especially if you are prepared to pay. • Read all available documentation on a particular script before using it. This will help avoid most problems. • CHMOD (Change Mode) means change the permissions on a particular file (usually the script itself). The File Manager allows you to quickly do this, as do most FTP tools. • Important after uploading
CGI stands for “Common Gateway Interface”. Basically, a CGI script is a routine that runs on the website host computer to perform a particular function on a website. Generally, you will install CGI scripts yourself (or you may hire one of our technicians to assist you). For customer convenience, we offer access to FormMail.pl, a very common script that allows you to very easily write forms that send you an e-mail message that includes the contents of the form. This is useful for a simple order form, request form, or “ask a question” form. • FormMail.pl – You must contact us to have your domain name added to the permission list for the script. Click for the author’s complete instructions on implementing FormMail. The following is a very basic sample of a form that will work on your website to send an e-mail to “test@dotcanuck.com”. Copy the code to your page, but remember to change the “recipient” to an address at your domain name, and note that the form posts to “http://www.dotcanuck.b
CGI scripts are executable programs that are referred to on your Web page but run on the server. The output of these programs can also be directed to a Web page. For example, let’s say that you wanted to make a guestbook on your Web page, where a form is used for people to fill in data. This data is to be then displayed on a guestbook page. Basically, you will need to create a CGI program that the server executes when somebody fills the form and hits the submit button. This program receives the data, and then displays them on the guestbook page as needed. The Penn State directory is an example of a CGI script. A user fills out a Web form and submits the data to a CGI program which queries the directory database and presents the output in HTML format.
