ok, here's a condensed version of the code. also the error message having a different host name to that in the script was just a typo. cheers, maisie x

 

#THE LOGIN PAGE ***********************
  
   #!/biol/programs/perl/bin/perl -w


   use strict;
   use DBI;
   use CGI qw(:standard);
   my $cgi = new CGI;
   use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser);

   print "Content-type:text/html\n\n";
   print <<EOF;
   <h2>database</h2><BR>
   <FORM METHOD="post" ACTION="http://myhost/~maisie/cgi-bin/database/
   +frontpage.cgi">
   <h3>Enter user name</h3>
   <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="username_box" SIZE="10">
   <h3>Enter password</h3><INPUT TYPE="password" NAME="password_box" S
+IZE
   +="10">   <INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" value="Log in">
   </FORM> </BODY></HTML>
   EOF
[download]

The next script connects to the database and searches it;

   #!/biol/programs/perl/bin/perl -w
   use strict;
   use DBI;
   use CGI qw(:standard);

   my $cgi = new CGI;
   my $username = $cgi->param('username_box');
   my $password = $cgi->param('password_box');
   my ($sth, $sth2);
   my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:host=myhost;database=my_db", "$us
+e
   +rname","$password", {PrintError =>0, RaiseError => 1}) || die "Dat
+aba
   +se connection not made";

   my $plate = $cgi->param("plate");

   print $cgi->start_form (-method => "POST");
   print $cgi->textfield (-name => "plate", -value => $plate,-size => 
+40);
   print $cgi->submit (-name => "button", -value=>"search");
   print $cgi->end_form ();

   
print "Search results for keyword: $plate \n",
$cgi->escapeHTML;

         $sth2 = $dbh->prepare (qq{
                                 SELECT * FROM plate WHERE plate_id LI
+KE 
   +? });

  $sth2->execute("%" . $plate . "%" );
   my $sql = qq{select * from plate};

   $sth = $dbh->prepare ($sql);
   $sth->execute();

   while (my $row = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref)     {
         print join ("\t", @$row), "<P>";
    }

   $dbh->disconnect();
   print $cgi->end_html ();
[download]