Well... the newbie is back. I'm using strict now, and surprise, surprise, it has generated numerous errors.
1. I'm trying to test if the user has hit the submit button yet, so, when the page first loads the value for if ($query->param('Action') eq 'Submit') is undefined. However, i get an uninitialized variable error. The code for this section:
my $query = new CGI;

$query->param('Action') = "nothing yet";

#PRINT HEADER
print $query->header;
print $query->start_html(
    -title=>'Add to the Cancer Genomics Online Library');
#    -script=>$JSCRIPT);

#PRINT TITLE
&print_title;

#PRINT FORM
print "<h2>Cancer Genomics Online Library Addition Form</h2>\n";
if ($query->param('Action') eq 'Submit') 
{
       # we have some data
   print "<h2>Entry Results</h2>\n";

       # check data
   if (&check_entry($query) == 0) 
    {
        &print_success($query);
        &make_entry($query);
   }
   else 
    {
        print "<HR><H2>Errors Found</H2>\n";
        print "<P>Please correct the errors above on the form below.\n
+";
        &print_form($query);
   }
}
else 
{
    &print_intro;
    &print_form($query);
}

&print_tail;
print $query->end_html;

#End of Program

[download]
How can I set $query->param('Action') to something?
2. This is really dumb, but I can't seem to create a file, open it, and then write into it. I keep getting ...print on closed filehandle main::PUBFILE ... 
sub make_entry 
{
    my($query) = @_;
    my $PUBFILE = "temp.html";
        
    open PUBFILE, ">$PUBFILE";
        
    select STDOUT;
    my $pubtitle    = $query->param('pubtitle');
    my $pubauthor   = $query->param('pubauthor');
    my $pubdate     = $query->param('pubdate');
    my $pubjournal  = $query->param('pubjournal');
    my $pubcategory = $query->param('pubcategory');
    my $puburl      = $query->param('puburl');
    my $pubkey1     = $query->param('pubkey1');
    my $pubkey2     = $query->param('pubkey2');
    my $pubkey3     = $query->param('pubkey3');
    my $pubkey4     = $query->param('pubkey4');
    my $pubcomments = $query->param('pubcomments');
    #my $pubupload
    my $yourname    = $query->param('yourname');
    my $youremail   = $query->param('youremail');
    my $yourphone   = $query->param('yourphone');
        
    print PUBFILE <<END;
        
    <!-- \n
    $pubtitle \n
    $pubauthor \n
    $pubcategory \n
    $pubkey1 &amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp $pubkey2 &amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp &amp
+;amp;amp;amp;pubkey3 &amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp \n
    -->
    \n
    <table>\n
        <tr><td>Title: </td><td>$pubtitle</td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>Author: </td><td>$pubauthor</td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>Publish Date: </td><td>$pubdate</td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>Journal: </td><td>$pubjournal</td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>Category: </td><td>$pubcategory</td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>URL: </td><td><a href="$puburl">$puburl</a></td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>Keywords: </td><td>$pubkey1 &nbsp $pubkey2 &nbsp $pubk
+ey3 &nbsp $pubkey4</td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>Comments: </td><td>$pubcomments</td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>Posted: </td><td></td><tr>\n
    </table>
    <table>
        <tr><td>Name of Poster: </td><td>$yourname</td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>Email of Poster: </td><td>$youremail</td><tr>\n
        <tr><td>Daytime Phone of Poster: </td>$yourphone<td></td><tr>\
+n
    </table>
        
END

close PUBFILE;
}

[download]
Any ideas why?
Thanks... thanks for all of you guys who are answering and putting up with my dumb questions. It's saving my sanity!

In reply to using strict; lots more errors by newatperl

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