Hello once again !!!!

I am writing a web application using Perl CGI script.I am giving pp_branch,start_date,end_date and controller as a user input from the web page.I am handling a case when the end date text box is empty.I am writting a following code to convert user input to the hash references.

$user_input->{pp_branch} = param('pp_branch');
$user_input->{host_name} = param('host_name');
$user_input->{controller} = param('controller');
$user_input->{start_date} = param('start_date');
if (defined param('end_date')) {
  $user_input->{end_date} = param('end_date');
} else {
   $user_input->{end_date} = param('start_date');
}
[download]

Kindly tell me am I handling end_date text box empty in right way?? Because I am not getting the desired o/p.I am handling end_date text box empty case.

Thanks in advance !!!!