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Home::Robert Plank

Why Aren't You Using CGI

Author : Michael Southon

The very name CGI used to send chills up my spine. For years I
put it in the 'too-hard-basket'. But like most things in life,
CGI is not as scary as it seems. If you have a cgi directory on
your website and you know how to FTP files, chances are you can
have a CGI script up and running in less than 20 minutes.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is not a programming language but
a standard that allows visitors to interact with your website.
CGI scripts can be written in a number of different languages
but most are written in Perl (Practical Extraction and Reporting
Language).

This article gives you details of five free CGI scripts that
will do the following:

1. Mail out your Newsletter from your server 2. Track the number
of times your free E-Book is downloaded 3. Rotate banners on
your website 4. Create your own auto responders 5. Allow
visitors to recommend your website to friends

At the end of this article are details of where to download
these 5 free scripts. But first, here are some basic guidelines
on how to configure and install CGI scripts:

1. CGI programs usually come in a zip file. Unzip the file and
open the README file. This document will give you instructions
for configuring the program file.

2. Open the program file using a text editor such as NOTEPAD
(the program file will usually have the file extension .cgi but
may have other extensions such as .pl).

In most CGI programs you will have to configure the following 4
items:

(a) the path to perl

This is where the perl program resides on your server. The path
will usually be:

#!/usr/bin/perl

but could be:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl

If you're unsure what your 'path to perl' is, check your web
host's online 'manual' or FAQs. If you can't find it there,
simply ask your web host.

(b) the path to sendmail

Most CGI programs notify you when your visitors have completed a
particular action, and for that, the program needs to know where
the 'sendmail' program resides on your server. The path to your
UNIX sendmail program will usually be: /usr/sbin/sendmail

But it could also be something like this: /usr/lib/sendmail

Again, check the documentation on your web host's website, or
simply ask your web host.

(c) the absolute path to your CGI directory

The absolute path tells the CGI program exactly where to find
the file (or files) that it needs to open. Unfortunately, the
absolute path to your CGI directory is not something you will be
able to guess or deduce - it is completely arbitrary and depends
entirely on how the system administrator at your web host has
partitioned your host's hard drive.

The easiest way to find out your absolute path is to ask your
web host. Another way is by using telnet - just type in pwd
(print working directory) and that should give you your absolute
path.

(d) Your email address

This is the address that the CGI program will use to notify you
when an action has been completed.

3. Uploading

Upload the program files to your cgi-bin (or a directory off
your cgi-bin) using ASCII mode. Never use BINARY mode, as this
will play havoc with the line-breaks in the script.

4. Set the File Permissions using CHMOD

CHMOD (changing mode) is the term for setting security
permissions on files. The README file will usually tell you the
permissions that you need to set for each file. The script file
will need to be set to 755. This allows the file's owner to
read, write, and execute the file; anyone else can only read and
execute it.

You can set the permissions using telnet, but the easiest way is
to use the built-in option in your FTP program.

5. Calling the Script

Now that you've configured the script, uploaded it and set the
permissions, it's time to try it out! You do this by 'calling
the script' using a URL in an HTML document. This is what the
URL for calling your script will normally look like:

http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/script.cgi

Again, the README file should have specific instructions on how
to call the script. In addition, most CGI programs are
accompanied by a web page that contains the form your visitors
would use to call the script.

And now here are the details of the 5 free CGI scripts I
mentioned earlier:

----------------------- Subscribe Me Lite
-----------------------

Subscribe Me Lite is a program that allows prospects/customers
to automatically subscribe and/or unsubscribe themselves from
your mailing list. It has a built-in mass mailing form for
sending out your newsletter or updates.

More Information:
http://www.cgiscriptcenter.com/subscribe/index2.html

----------------------- Rob's File Tracker
-----------------------

Rob's File Tracker is a perl script that counts file downloads
or click-thrus to any file. Very useful if you want to know how
many people are downloading your free E-Book.

More Information: http://www.robplanet.com/cgi racker/

----------------------- AdRotate Pro -----------------------

AdRotate Pro is an ad rotation program that's easy to setup and
easy to use. Features include unlimited rotations, expiry by
date, views or clicks, default ads for when all ads are expired,
and customer reports.

More Information: http://www.vanbrunt.com/adrotate/

----------------------- MasterRecommend -----------------------

This script allows visitors to recommend your website to a
friend by sending an email, without leaving your website. The
program will also send you a copy of your visitor's message
(nice to know what your visitors think about your website).

More Information:
http://www.willmaster.com/master/recommend/MasterRecommendmanual.
html

----------------------- Master Auto-Responder
-----------------------

This is a standard auto-responder program. The script allows you
to set the "From:" and "Subject:" lines for your
auto-response.You can also choose to receive a copy of each
email that the auto-responder receives.

More Information:
http://mastercgi.com/howtoinfo/howautoresponderswork.shtml

If you need more help installing your CGI scripts, here are two
excellent free tutorials:

http://spider-food.net/install-a-cgi-script.html
http://www.stefan-pettersson.nu/scripts utorials/installcgi.html

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