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

I am having trouble coding this cgi file, I have written up a full explanation on my webpage, if you would please have a look, I put up the sample data and what the table I am trying to get should look like. I will also include the html to my page but the you can't see the tables without going to my page, the site is: 
http://www.geocities.com/skyodyssey/

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>

Say I have this data:
<br>
I have more explanation at bottom of page
<br><br>
ACM Computing Surveys, InfoTrac, ExpAcd, Dec-96<br>
ACM Computing Surveys, PDQ, ABIGlobal, Mar-96<br>
ACM Computing Surveys, PDQ,PAbsII, Mar-96<br>
ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, InfoTrac, ExpAcd,Nov-96<br>
Communications of the ACM, InfoTrac, ExpAcd, Jan-89<br>
Communications of the ACM, InfoTrac, GBus, Jan-88<br>
Communications of the ACM, PDQ, ABIGlobal, Jan-92<br>
Communications of the ACM, PDQ, PAbsII, Jan-92<br>
<br>

</center><p><br><center><table BORDER CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 WIDT
+H="100%" >
<tr><td ALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR="#C0C0C0">Journal</center></td><td ALIGN=
+CENTER BGCOLOR="#C0C0C0">Resource</td><td ALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR="#C0C0
+C0">Database</td><td ALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR="#C0C0C0">Date</td></tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan=3  VALIGN=TOP>ACM Computing Surveys</td>
<td rowspan=1>InfoTrac</td>
<td>ExpAcd</td>
<td>Dec-96</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan=2 >PQD</td>
<td>ABIGlobal</td>
<td rowspan=2 >Mar-96</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PAbsII</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan=1  VALIGN=TOP>ACM Transactions on Computer Systems</td>
<td rowspan=1 >InfoTrac</td>
<td>ExpAcd</td>
<td>Nov-96</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan=4  VALIGN=TOP>Communications of the ACM</td>
<td rowspan=2 >InfoTrac</td>
<td>ExpAcd</td>
<td>Jan-89</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GBus</td>
<td>Jan-88</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan=2 >PQD</td>
<td>ABIGlobal</td>
<td rowspan=2 >Jan-92</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PAbsII</td>
</tr>
</table></center>

<br>
This is only a small portion of a large .csv file I will create.  What
+ I be doing is
searching the database I read in for a pattern given by the user
then i will put into an array all the lines that matched, then I will 
+sort them and
make a new array with all of the values split at the comma.  what i wa
+nt to do is
is create a table like above, but note what I do when there are duplic
+ate fields, I'm
first looking at the first field, then I combine multiple fields withi
+n that first field.
It's easier to look at the table to see what i am trying to do.  I har
+d coded this
table for the above sample data.  Remember that I will not have a fixe
+d amount of data.  I am
using a html page to send the keyword to my cgi, I have to use "use CG
+I" to be able to
get the parameters, problem is, I can't ever get "use HTML::Table" to 
+work, just includeing
it make it crash, when i type perl -v i get version 5.005_03 built for
+ sun4-solaris, also
i have to include this in my program <br>
#!/usr/bin/perl -wT<br>
print "Content-type:text/html\n\n";<br>
<br>
I hope this is enough info, I have been at this for days, and I can't 
+figure it out<br>
Thanks for looking, any and all help will be appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
+!!!!!!!!!!!!!
</body>
</html>

[download]
I have spent days at this, any help would be appreciated!!!! http://www.geocities.com/skyodyssey/

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
(jeffa) Re: printing a table in html using data read from a file
by jeffa (Bishop) on Jun 12, 2001 at 19:47 UTC
    You left out some pertinant info, so this may not be the EXACT answer you are looking for - but it works. I am only using CGI, i recommend using some CSV module for this, such as Text::CSV_XS or Text::xSV but since you are on another server and they obviously don't have the modules installed that you want, i present this to you: 
    use strict;
use CGI qw(:standard);

print header();
print "<table>\n";
while (<DATA>) {
    chomp;
    print "\t<tr>\n";
    print map { "\t\t<td>$_</td>\n"  } split(/,/,$_);
    print "\t</tr>\n";
}
print "</table>\n";


__DATA__
ACM Computing Surveys, InfoTrac, ExpAcd, Dec-96
ACM Computing Surveys, PDQ, ABIGlobal, Mar-96
ACM Computing Surveys, PDQ,PAbsII, Mar-96
ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, InfoTrac, ExpAcd,Nov-96
Communications of the ACM, InfoTrac, ExpAcd, Jan-89
Communications of the ACM, InfoTrac, GBus, Jan-88
Communications of the ACM, PDQ, ABIGlobal, Jan-92
Communications of the ACM, PDQ, PAbsII, Jan-92

    [download]
    You will need to modify this to meet your needs, but at least it's a start. Have fun :)

    Also, you can always install modules on your personal space and use 'use lib' to let Perl know where to find them: use lib "/path/to/your/installed/mods";

    Jeff 

    R-R-R--R-R-R--R-R-R--R-R-R--R-R-R--
L-L--L-L--L-L--L-L--L-L--L-L--L-L--
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
Re: printing a table in html using data read from a file
by bikeNomad (Priest) on Jun 12, 2001 at 19:51 UTC
    There was a lot of good discussion about creating tables in this node (was that node by you too?). What stands out for me is your statement:
    I can't ever get "use HTML::Table" to work, just includeing it make it crash

    You might want to test your system by doing something simple like:

    #!/usr/bin/perl -wT
use strict;
use CGI::Carp qw(warningsToBrowser fatalsToBrowser);
use CGI;
use HTML::Table;
print <<EOF
Content-type: text/html\r
\r
<html><body><h1>Looks OK to me...</h1></body></html>
EOF

    [download]
    Then you should at least see if you can include HTML::Table. Look at the generated HTML as well; warnings will appear as HTML comments.
[reply]
[d/l]
      This is what i get when I try your sample program I called it g.cgi: 
      Software error:
Can't continue after import errors at .../public_html/cgi-bin/g.cgi li
+ne 3 BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at .../public_html/cgi-bin/g.c
+gi line 3. 
For help, please send mail to this site's webmaster, giving this error
+ message and the time and date of the error.

      [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
        It looks like you're missing CGI::Carp and/or HTML::Table in your installed modules. Make sure that you have them installed. Try running g.cgi from a command prompt:
        perl g.cgi

        [download]
        .
[reply]
[d/l]

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