Hi all,
I have a website which shows the distribution of surnames for various nations. Here's an example -
http://baz.perlmonk.org/surnames.cgi

The distributions are stored in a mysql table, and the maps are generated on the fly when a name is selected.

I was thinking about adding a form to this page to allow clients to add surnames which are not already included. To to do this, I could supply a text box form, and the user could enter their surname via this. The form would at this point hand over to a script, lets call it add_surname.cgi?surname=Griffin

Lets say this form has 2 parts. The first part acquires the data pertaining to this surname from an external source (for example, a CD containing electoral registrations), and fills a hash with this data, something like -

Name - Area - Number
Griffin - Dublin - 101
Griffin - Cork - 51
Griffin - Kerry - 514
Griffin - Clare - 445
Griffin - Derry - 0 (no Griffins in Derry, therefore no entry added to database for Griffin - Derry)

The second part then adds the data stored in the hash to the mysql database. So for the case above - Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Clare are added, and the number associated with them. As you can see, I therefore need to ensure that once the script is executed, it executes to completion, otherwise some of the entries might not be added to the database. How might I do this? Any other pitfalls you can think off? Two people trying to add the same surname simultaneously is already handled because add_surname.cgi first checks if an entry already exists for the surname in question. If so, add_surname.cgi terminates without adding anything.
Thanks,
Barry.

In reply to Executing a Script to Completion by Baz

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