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

I am writing a lost and found program that runs on a website and calls a PERL program to process the information into a data base. My problem is that when I click submit the PERL program doesn't run. Before I reloaded my computer it use to run, but I had the wrong code so it didn't do what I wanted. Now I think I have the right code but it won't run. If I double click the .pl file it runs and creates a .txt file with new lines in it. So I know PERL runs on my computer. As I said I think I am asking in the wrong forums but I don't know who or what to ask to get the help I need.

Here is the HTML form tag

 <form id="found" name="found" action="lost.pl" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post">

Here is what I have so far for my PERL program code. I am not asking for help on the code for my program, as I am using this project to better learn PERL. I just need to know why it isn't running

#!/usr/bin/perl

# Get Form Variables

sub parse_form {

   read(STDIN, $buffer, $ENV{'CONTENT_LENGTH'});
   if (length($buffer) < 5) {
         $buffer = $ENV{QUERY_STRING};
    }
 
  @pairs = split(/&/, $buffer);
   foreach $pair (@pairs) {
      ($name, $value) = split(/=/, $pair);

      $value =~ tr/+/ /;
      $value =~ s/%([a-fA-F0-9][a-fA-F0-9])/pack("C", hex($1))/eg;

      $FORM{$name} = $value;
   }
} #end parse_form


&parse_form;

open (LOST, ">>lost.txt")or die "Cannot open lost.txt";

foreach $key (keys %FORM){

   print LOST "$key $FORM{$key}+";
}

  print LOST "\n";

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Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: I think this is the wrong forums but I am not sure where to ask
by linuxer (Curate) on Jul 19, 2010 at 14:41 UTC

    So you're running the program in CGI context? What does the error_log of the web server tell you?

    Some hints about your code:

    • use strict and warnings; they support you with your development
    • use the CGI module to obtain the given parameters.
    • print a valid html header and a short message to STDOUT at the end of the script to prevent "internal server error", because no data was sent.

    untested example

    #! /usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI;

my $lost_file = "/FULL/path/to/lost.txt";
my $cgi = CGI->new;

open LOST, '>>', $lostfile or die "open(>>) $lostfile failed: $!\n";

for my $param ( $cgi->param ) {
  print LOST "$param ", $cgi->param($param), "+";
}
print LOST "\n";

print $cgi->header('text/plain'),
  "job is done.\n";

    [download]

    updates

    • fixed typo in code: s/->new/->param/ in head of for-loop
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Re: I think this is the wrong forums but I am not sure where to ask
by ikegami (Patriarch) on Jul 19, 2010 at 14:50 UTC

    You're parsing the reply as if it was a application/x-www-form-urlencoded response, but it's a multipart/form-data response. Use the CGI module.

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Re: I think this is the wrong forums but I am not sure where to ask
by SuicideJunkie (Vicar) on Jul 19, 2010 at 14:46 UTC

    The first thing to learn about Perl is to always throw in 

    use strict;
use warnings;

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    at the top of your programs. It will save you a LOT of trouble.

    If the error messages aren't obvious to you, then add use diagnostics as well.

    Additionally, you should keep a "test.pl" file around so that you can try out any command you're not completely sure of in an isolated environment where you know there are no other errors.

    PS: oh, and if it seems like it just doesn't run, try running it from a command prompt window. That way, the window won't vanish before you can read the compile error messages. ;)

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Re: I think this is the wrong forums but I am not sure where to ask
by roboticus (Chancellor) on Jul 19, 2010 at 14:42 UTC

    pccenterllc:

    Since perl is running on your machine, you should visit the help forum for your web server software. It sounds like it could be a web server configuration issue.

    ...roboticus

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Re: I think this is the wrong forums but I am not sure where to ask
by Anonymous Monk on Jul 19, 2010 at 14:39 UTC
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Re: I think this is the wrong forums but I am not sure where to ask
by pccenterllc (Initiate) on Jul 19, 2010 at 16:40 UTC

    Thanks for all of the advice. I will remove the enctype from my form tag for now as I am just trying to create a flat file DB at this time.

    Once I understand the basics of what I am trying to do I will be changing things to use more efficient code. But if I can't even get the basics down there is no way I'll be able to use the more advanced stuff.

    As to my problem, I think you have answered it. I am using a windows XP system and writing the program on that. I do not believe it is set-up for webserver capabilities. I recently reinstalled XP after an infection and a hardware problem and am leery about what may make my system vulnerable. So now I have to see what I need for a webserver.

    Thank You

[reply]
      Thanks for all of the advice. I will remove the enctype from my form tag for now as I am just trying to create a flat file DB at this time.

      If you remove that attribute from your form tag, your form will default to application/x-www-form-urlencoded, according to the specs.

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