Bowlslaw has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello, I am trying to make it so that a user can choose which question they want to answer, and, using a textarea, answer that question. I'm having trouble figuring out how I can differentiate which question the user wants to answer. I've tried copying the html code for the textarea form into a variable, and then printing it foreach keys %hash, but I just wind up with syntax errors all over the place. My perl code takes each question in a separate .txt file and stores them into a hash in the form of question/answer pairs. If a question doesn't have an answer, the value is undef., I believe. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm not asking for a direct answer, but rather some guidance from more experienced or insightful programmers. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks! Here is the most important code:

 my @qa_list = ($pagev->listFile($anslist), $pagev->listFile($unanslis
+t));
my %questions = map { split(/\t/, $_, 2) } @qa_list;
my $answer = $cgi->param('answer');

print STDERR "$_ => $questions{$_}\n" foreach %questions;

my $questionslist = join("<br>", @qa_list);
my $aselect = $cgi->param('select');

[download]

Here is the assoicated HTML:

<html>
    <body>
        View and Answer Questions!<br>
        List of questions and answers:<br><br>
        ~questionslist~
        <br><br>
        Which question would you like to answer? (1, 2, etc.)
        <form action="/home/megaoff/www/viewquestions.dhtml" method="p
+ost">
            Question #:
            <input type="text" name="select"/>
            <input type="submit" value="submit"/>
            <br><br>

        <form action="/home/megaoff/www/viewquestions.dhtml" method="p
+ost">
            Add an Answer: <br>
            <textarea rows="1" cols="50" name="answer">
            Add an answer here
            </textarea>
            <input type="submit" value="submit"/>
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

[download]
It's a little scattered right now, mostly because I'm still experimenting with things. But I hope the gist is there: Suggestions for differentiating which question the user wants to answer.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Executing perl script with html textarea
by space_monk (Chaplain) on May 21, 2013 at 17:08 UTC

    I think most of the answer to this question is HTML not Perl, but I'll answer it anyway.

    The easy way of selecting a question would be an HTML select list. 

    <form method="post" action="http://myserver/perl_script">
<p>Which question do you want to answer?
<select name="question">
  <option value="1">Question 1</option>
  <option value="2">Question 2</option>
  <option value="3">Question 3</option>
  <option value="4">Question 4</option>
</select>
</p>
<p>Answer your question in the textbox:<br />
<textarea name="answer" rows="20" cols="70"></textarea>

<input type="submit" value="submit"/>
</form>

    [download]
    The Perl script to read the answers would be something like 
    #!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI;

my $cgi = CGI->new;

my $question= $cgi->param("question");
my $answer = $cgi->param("answer");

    [download]
    If you spot any bugs in my solutions, it's because I've deliberately left them in as an exercise for the reader! :-)
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[d/l]
[select]
Re: Executing perl script with html textarea
by Anonymous Monk on May 21, 2013 at 22:30 UTC
[reply]
Re: Executing perl script with html textarea
by Anonymous Monk on May 22, 2013 at 22:39 UTC

    Thanks guys, I will look into it.

[reply]
Re: Executing perl script with html textarea
by Anonymous Monk on May 22, 2013 at 02:42 UTC

    Hi,

    Have a look at Radio Buttons.

    Each question the text to a Radio Button, one Textarea for the answer.

    Or some such.

    J.C.

[reply]

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