Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

hi, i want to be able to send a form to my linux/apache server and process it so another human can read it easily. i would also like to be able to send the form again and have it overwrite the older one. how should i start such a project? i'm completely new to Perl but i have managed to use a .pl script to send "dynamic images" (a counter) back to my browser as well as sending date/time using SSI. peter
  • Comment on Where to start to work with HTML forms?

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Re: Where to start to work with HTML forms?
by neshura (Chaplain) on Mar 03, 2000 at 03:02 UTC
    Start by reading some of the FAQs here. That should give you enough information to define your goals more clearly.

    e-mail neshura

Re: Where to start to work with HTML forms?
by btrott (Parson) on Mar 03, 2000 at 03:09 UTC
    Looks like you're going to want to investigate:

    Getting CGI parameters (look at the CGI.pm module);

    file permissions, locking, etc.;

    sending mail (possibly, if you want to send the form through mail) (look at Mail::Mailer, Mail::Sendmail, Net::SMTP).

    Look at the CGI reference section on perl.com. You may also want to look at The Idiot's Guide to Solving Perl CGI Problems.

    You need to decide how you want to store the form on the server. In a file? In a database? If the latter, take a look at DBI.

      I have d/l'd the CGI.pm module (with documentation) Not sure about "locking" No, I'm sending this to a server (no email) and into a database of some sort (ok, i see an O'Reilly on DBI but according to the preface I should be at a lower level (bought "Learning Perl", another O'Reilly). I will investigate The CGI reference section on perl.com and went through The Idiot's Guide to Solving Perl CGI Problems. Thanks Monk. Respectfully, Peter (aka Pumpkinhead) p.s. The submit button for this reply form is written "stumbit". Is that on purpose?