Hope this helps

Probably not up to merlyn's standards (lack of use strict for example), but her's something that works.

First time you run it as a cgi, it gives you a form to fill in. After you fill in and and submit, it comes back with "Your cookie is". If you look at your browser's cookies at this point, you'll see it. The third time you run it, it prints as above, but this time because it saw the cookie come back, the value you originally entered shows up.

#!/usr/bin/perl -Tw

use CGI;
use CGI::Cookie;

my $q = CGI->new();

if ( $q->cookie('id') ) # cookie sent back by browser
{
    print     $q->header(-cookie=>$q->cookie('id')), 
            $q->start_html, $q->h1('your cookie is ' . $q->cookie('id'
+)),
            $q->end_html;
}
elsif ( $q->param('name') ) # form filled in by user
{
    $c = CGI::Cookie->new(-name=>'id', -value=>$q->param('name') );
    print $q->header(-cookie=>$c), 
        $q->start_html, $q->h1('your cookie is ' . $q->cookie('id')),
        $q->end_html;
}
else # no cookie, nor form filled in
{
    print     $q->header(), $q->start_html, $q->start_form, 
            "What's your name? ", $q->textfield('name'), $q->submit, $
+q->end_form,
            $q->end_html;
}
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I'm prepared for any downvoting for a request like this but at this point

What kind of community places views asking for an example of something as negative?

Can someone show me a very basic snippet for checking to see if a cookie exists, if it doesn't print a form and use whatever data they present from the form as the cookie?

Certainly, assuming you know how to print out HTML documents, Using CGI.pm you would do the following:

use CGI;

my $q      = new CGI;
my $cookie = $q->cookie(-name=>'form_info') || '';

if ($cookie) {
    # you have the cookie, validate the info or whatever now
} elsif ($q->param('form_info')) {
    # you've received the form info
    # now set the cookie
    my $cookie_to_send = $q->cookie(-name=>'form_info');
    # print out header
    print $q->header(-cookie=>$cookie);
    # print out HTML header, then html document
} else {
    # no cookie or form params received
    # print out HTML form
}
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Hope that helps :)

Thank you! This is the closest I've been to getting anything to work. I can get to the 2nd loop (elsif) but for some reason it won't set the cookie and it won't process the if($cookie). I do a test print on $cookie to see what it contains and it never contains anything, why would that be?

I got confused when you assigned $cookie_to_send to the cookie but printed to header the cookie instead of $cookie_to_send so I tried using both variations; neither errored and neither stored anything in the cookie. Any ideas why?

Thanks so much!

my $code = param('name');
my $cookie = cookie(-name=>'test') || '';


if ($cookie) {

} elsif ($code) {

    my $cookie_to_send = cookie(-name=>'test'
                                -value=>"$code",
                                -expiration=>'+1h');
    # print out header
    print header(-cookie=>$cookie_to_send);
    print "You had a cookie!<br>";
    print "Code: $code<br>";
    print "Cookie: $cookie";
  
  
} else {
print header, start_html;
print "You have no cookie";
print start_form( -action => '' ),
  table(
    Tr( td("Name:"),     td( textfield( -name => 'name',  -size => '15
+' ) ) ),
    Tr( td("Email:"),    td( textfield( -name => 'email', -size => '15
+' ) ) ),
    Tr( td( submit('send') ), ),
    end_form,
  );
}
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"Age is nothing more than an inaccurate number bestowed upon us at birth as just another means for others to judge and classify us"

sulfericacid

i think your problem is here:

} elsif ($code) {

    my $cookie_to_send = cookie(-name=>'test'
                                -value=>"$code",
                                -expiration=>'+1h');
    # print out header
    print header(-cookie=>$cookie_to_send);
    print "You had a cookie!<br>";
    print "Code: $code<br>";
    print "Cookie: $cookie";
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"You had a cookie!" is false. they didn't have a cookie. that's why you just set one. you can't read the cookie you set until they visit the page (or another that checks for the cookie) again.

anders pearson

Kid tested. Mother approved.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use CGI qw/header cookie start_html end_html url param/;
use Digest::MD5 qw(md5_hex);

my %login = (
test => 'test'
);

# this is just for demo
$login{$_} = md5_hex($login{$_}) foreach (keys %login);

sub checkSessionID {
  my $check = shift;
  my ($user,$pass) = split /:/,$check,2;
  return $login{$user} eq $pass ? 1:0;
}

sub checkUserPass {
  my $user = shift;
  my $pass = md5_hex(+shift);
  return $login{$user} eq $pass ? 1:0;
}

sub makeCookieValue {
  my $user = shift;
  my $pass = md5_hex(+shift);
  return "$user:$pass";
}

my %options;
my $cookie;

# yes, dirty and disgusting...but...oh well
if (param('clearCookie')) {
  $options{"-cookie"} = cookie(-name    => 'sessionID',
                   -value   => 'bye',
                   -expires => '-6M' # just in case
                  );
}
elsif (cookie('sessionID') && checkSessionID(cookie('sessionID'))) {
  $cookie = cookie(-name    => 'sessionID',
                   -value   => cookie('sessionID'),
                   -expires => '+1h'
                  );
}
elsif (param('username') && param('password') && checkUserPass(param('
+username'),param('password'))) {
  $cookie = cookie(-name    => 'sessionID',
                   -value   => makeCookieValue(param('username'),param
+('password')),
                   -expires => '+1h'
                  );
}

$options{"-cookie"} = $cookie if $cookie;
# if you wish, you can put more header options in %options
# if you wish to put more cookies, do: 
# $options{'-cookie'} = [ $options{'-cookie'} ];
# push @$options{'-cookie'}, $_ foreach (@more_cookies);
print header(%options),start_html;

# $cookie acts as our switch
if ($cookie) {
  print "Logged in and working! Cookie: ",cookie('sessionID') ? cookie
+('sessionID'):"You just logged in!";
  print "<br /><form action='",url(-absolute=>1),"' method='post'><inp
+ut type='hidden' name='clearCookie' value='1'>
         <input type='Submit'></form>";
}
else {
  print "<form action='",url(-absolute=>1),"' method='post'>
  Login <input type='text' name='username' value='test'><br />
  Pass <input type='text' name='password' value='test'><br />
  <input type='Submit'></form>";
}
print end_html;
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Sorry for sending you on a wild goose chase.

Hope this helps.

antirice    
The first rule of Perl club is - use Perl
The ith rule of Perl club is - follow rule i - 1 for i > 1

#/usr/bin/perl -w

use CGI;
my $out = new CGI;
my $user = $out->cookie( "user" ) || "No Cookie!";

print     $out->header( 'text/html' );
print    $out->start_html( -title=>"Cookie show" );
print<<HTML;
<BODY>
$user
</BODY>
</HTML>
HTML
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