sub write_guestbook {
    unless (TieLock($GUESTBOOKFILE, 1)) {
        print strong('Sorry, an error occurred: unable to open ' . $GUESTBOOKFILE),p();
        return;
        }

   ## increment the sequencer.
    $HoA{sequence} = 0 unless exists $HoA{sequence};
    my $i = ++$HoA{sequence};

    my $date = strftime('%d-%b-%Y %R',localtime);
    $HoA{$i} = join(">", ($date), map {escape(param($_)) ." } (@FIELDS) );

    unTieLock($GUESTBOOKFILE);
    return( "Thank you <b>". param('First_Name')
                     ."</b>, for signing the guestbook.");
}

sub view_guestbook {
    my $guestbook;
    my @rows;

    unless (TieLock($GUESTBOOKFILE, 0)) {
        print strong('Sorry, an error occurred: unable to open ' . $GUESTBOOKFILE),p();
        return;
        }

    for my $addr (sort keys %HoA) {
        next if $addr eq "sequence";
        my @data =  map {unescape($_)} split( ">", $HoA{$addr} );
        unshift @rows, td(\@data);
        }

    unshift @rows, th(['Entry Date',@FIELDS]);
    $guestbook .= p(
            table({-border=>'1', -hspace=>'5',
                   -cellspacing=>'1', -cellpadding=>'4'},
                  TR(\@rows)));
    unTieLock($GUESTBOOKFILE);
    return ($guestbook);
}