Thanks Maverick, it is becoming more clear to me now ;). To prove the point, here's an excerpt from an app I'm now building:

File: main.cgi 
#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use HTML::Template;

###################################
## includes
###################################
use XCGI;
require "config.pl";

###################################
## MAIN
###################################
my $cgi = new XCGI; # my version of CGI (with a few subs added/redefin
+ed).
print $cgi->header();

my $template = new HTML::Template(filename => "$CONFIG::template_root/
+main.tmpl",
                                  die_on_bad_params => 0);
$template->param(
                 select_box_datasource =>
                 $cgi->select_list(-name=>'s_dns',
                                   -values=>[keys(%CONFIG::ds_info)],
                                   -labels=>{sh=>\%CONFIG::ds_info, so
+urce_key=>'info'},
                                   -default=>['webdb'],
                                   -size=>1),
                 );

print $template->output();

[download]

File: templates/main.tmpl 
<html>
<title>Automation Tool</title>
<body>

<form>
        <table border=1 >
        <tr>
        <td>
        Select Datasource: <TMPL_VAR NAME="select_box_datasource">
        <br>
        </td>
        </table>
</form>

</body>
</html>

[download]
Note that select_box_datasource variable will hold a piece of custom built html similar to this: 
<SELECT NAME="s_dns" SIZE=1>
<OPTION  VALUE="foo">Production
<OPTION SELECTED VALUE="foobar">Development
<OPTION  VALUE="bar">Development 1
</SELECT>

[download]

the select_list() subroutine is implemented (overwritten) inside XCGI module which serves as my (custom) extension to standard CGI. Although, CGI has a similar subroutine, it didn't fit the needs of my application (as seen from the code...).


"There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." -- Confession of Faith

In reply to Re: Q / A and HTML::Template techniques... by vladb
in thread Q / A and HTML::Template techniques... by maverick

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