Local tests reveal no syntax error but...

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

Online I get: Software error: Execution of menu.pl aborted due to compilation errors. The code was working until I added

my $pass = $q->param('pass');
   if ($pass ne "jerry"){
       print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
        print "<HTML> \n";
        print "The menu for tonight is \n";
        print $words;
        print ". \n";
        print "Hey bub, stop messin' with my menu!";
        die;
        }
[download]

Here is the rest of the code does anyone see what is causing the error?
TIA
jg

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

use CGI qw/:standard/;

use CGI::Carp qw/fatalsToBrowser /;

my $q = CGI->new();

# Parse Form Search Information
# if it's a single form value, map the value as a scalar, other wise, 
+the value is
# and arrayref
my %FORM = map { $_, @{[ param($_) ]} > 1 ? [ param($_) ] : param($_) 
} param();

my $pass = $q->param('pass');
   if ($pass ne "jerry"){
       print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
        print "<HTML> \n";
        print "The menu for tonight is \n";
        print $words;
        print ". \n";
        print "Hey bub, stop messin' with my menu!";
        die;
        } 

my $words = $q->param('words');   
   if ($words eq ""){
    $words = "no specials today";
   }
open (TEXTFILE,"+>/home/nolaflash/www/menu.txt") || die "where's the d
+amn file? : $!";
print TEXTFILE  "words=";
print TEXTFILE  $words;
close (TEXTFILE) || die "close damn you : $!";
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "<HTML> \n";
print "The menu has been updated for you. \n";
print "The menu for tonight is \n";
print "$words. \n";
[download]

Comment on Local tests reveal no syntax error but... Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Local tests reveal no syntax error but... by thraxil (Prior) on Sep 14, 2001 at 23:55 UTC
try running your script from the command line to see what error the parser is finding. in your case, it's that the chunk you added uses $words before you declare it with my(): `Global symbol "$words" requires explicit package name at jerry.pl line + 21.` [download] anders pearson	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: Local tests reveal no syntax error but... by jerrygarciuh (Curate) on Sep 14, 2001 at 23:57 UTC
Yeah, I know about that part it does that when it is working too, I thought using my took care of the prob, especially since the script was working online with strict before I added the password block. jg	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Local tests reveal no syntax error but... by thraxil (Prior) on Sep 15, 2001 at 00:01 UTC
you have to declare the variable with my() before you use it. right: `my $foo; $foo = "bar";` [download] wrong: `$foo = "bar"; my $foo;` [download] anders pearson	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Re: Re: Local tests reveal no syntax error but... by herveus (Prior) on Sep 15, 2001 at 00:23 UTC
Howdy! nononono... The snippet you added refers to "$word" before you get to the line that says "my $word". That first reference is using the global $word. Try inserting "my $word;" before the snippet you added. yours, Michael	[reply]
Re: Local tests reveal no syntax error but... by lemming (Priest) on Sep 15, 2001 at 00:06 UTC
Try placing your new code after: `my $words = $q->param('words');` [download] instead of before since you want to use $words inside the if statement.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Local tests reveal no syntax error but... by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Sep 14, 2001 at 23:49 UTC
This is going to sound stupid, but does it work if you comment out everything you think you added? Oftentimes, we'll change "just one thing from A to B and they're obviously identical", and forget we did. I run into that a lot. frowns ------ We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age. Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.	[reply]
Re: Re: Local tests reveal no syntax error but... by jerrygarciuh (Curate) on Sep 14, 2001 at 23:54 UTC
Well, it works when I cut the part I mentioned out so that should have same effect as commenting it out right? jg	[reply]
Re: Local tests reveal no syntax error but... by Dr. Mu (Hermit) on Sep 16, 2001 at 00:00 UTC
Are you sure you want it to die when it's finished? I know you said "compilation errors", but it may still be worthwhile replacing die with exit, i.e. doing a normal termination instead of an abnormal one.	[reply]