Perl Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - v6.01, by Dr. Herong Yang
What Is Common Gateway Interface (CGI)?
This section describes what is CGI (Common Gateway Interface) - a protocol defines how a Web server program interacts with application programs.
Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a protocol that defines how a Web server program interacts with application programs. The interactions are illustrated in the following diagram:
Web Web CGI Appl. Browser Internet Server Protocol Program ------- -------- ------ -------- ------- HTTP Env. Var. request stdin Send --------------> Convert ----------> Process | HTTP | response stdout V Receive <----------- Convert <---------- Process
There are several basic rules with CGI:
Table of Contents
Data Types: Values and Variables
Expressions, Operations and Simple Statements
Name Spaces and Perl Module Files
Hard References - Addresses of Memory Objects
Objects (or References) and Classes (or Packages)
Typeglob and Importing Identifiers from Other Packages
String Built-in Functions and Performance
File Handles and Data Input/Output
Open Directories and Read File Names
File System Functions and Operations
Socket Communication Over the Internet
XML::Simple Module - XML Parser and Generator
SOAP::Lite - SOAP Server-Client Communication Module
Perl Programs as IIS Server CGI Scripts
►CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
►What Is Common Gateway Interface (CGI)?
QUERY_STRING - CGI Query String
Calculator.pl - CGI Application Example
XML-RPC - Remote Procedure Call with XML and HTTP
RPC::XML - Perl Implementation of XML-RPC
Integrating Perl with Apache Web Server
CGI.pm Module for Building Web Pages
LWP::UserAgent and Web Site Testing
Converting Perl Script to Executable Binary