Excellent question. Personally, this is exactly what I use templating for. Though it can be done with HTML embedded in the Perl, this is not an optimal solution. I would recommend checking out Template Toolkit or HTML::Template. Either of these can be good choices.

Essentially, what's involved is creating a data structure that holds your data and pass it to the template for processing. You can read through the Template Toolkit docs and specifically read the dynamic content via CGI script section.

If you don't need the full power of Template Toolkit, you can read my short tutorial on using HTML::Template.

Cheers,
Ovid

Join the Perlmonks Setiathome Group or just click on the the link and check out our stats.

Thanks so much everyone - it was really helpful. And hey, I've already joined perlmonks - this website is a godsend.

@itemsarray = ('zero', 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five', 'six');

print "var items = new Array(";
for $i (0 .. $#itemsarray) {
    print qq('$itemsarray[$i]', '$i');
    print ", " unless $i == $#itemsarray;
}
print ");";
[download]

var items = new Array('zero', '0', 'one', '1', 'two', '2', 'three', '3
+', 'four', '4', 'five', '5', 'six', '6');
[download]

for(var i = 0; i < items.length; i += 2) {
    document.forms[0].selectbox.options[i/2] = new Option(items[i], it
+ems[i+1]);
}
[download]

just create javascript arrays from the Perl arrays and then write a JS function that will do the neccessary onChange stuff. I can't actually see the (Perl-related) problem. You'll get in trouble if users switch Javascript off.

//JS also supports multidimensional and associative arrays:
foobar = new Array();
foobar['opt1'] = new Array( 'values','of','the second','select','list'
+);
//...
[download]

ah, okay - i don't think i phrased the question very well.

the cgi script has to initialise the second list to empty values, so there's nothing to take from the second drop down menu. my question is really - how do i create a javascript array from a perl array?

thanks

That should be done like in the writeup of LTjake Re: passing variables from cgi to javascript with an additonal escaping of quotes.

my %hash = (
  opt1 => [qw/these are the options of the dynamic select 
      box when opt1 in the first is selected/],
   #...
);
my $js = 'var items = new Array();'.
  map {
    "items['$_'] = new Array('".
      join("','",map quotemeta => @{$hash{$_}}).
     "');"
   } keys %hash;
[download]

--
http://fruiture.de

Hello Mina,

You could always use javascript to capture the onChange of the first menu, and reload the page with the contents of the second menu.

I've seen it implimented on other websites, and this would allow users with javascript turned off (me, for example) to still use the lists (put a submit button in a noscript tag to replace the onChange in the second menu).

I'd also like to suggest picking up CGI Programming with Perl by Scott Guelich. It's a wonderful book that covers CGI, Perl, and javascript tricks.

Also, why don't you join the Monastery? It's worth it.

John J Reiser
newrisedesigns.com