Frequently Asked Questions about CGI

Q	What are CGI scripts?
A	CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface. CGI allows you to connect a web page with a program that runs on the web server.  This means that, while a normal web page is static, a CGI program is executed in real-time when someone visits it. CGI programs can be written in almost any programming or scripting language.  They are commonly used for processing data from HTML forms on web pages, for managing dynamic content on web pages, for search engines, and for web applications such as electronic postcards, message boards and guest books. For more detailed information see     The CGI Introduction at NCSA Yahoo! search for "CGI Programming" Related books at Amazon.com
Q	What scripts are available from Internet Alaska?
A	Unix CGI CGI Wrap Clocks Counters Form Mail Image Maps NT Scripts Internet Alaska only supports the default Front Page 2000 installed components
Q	Can we write our own CGI scripts?
A	Yes, customers can write their own CGI scripts, as long as they run through cgiwrap.
Q	Does anyone at Internet Alaska, Inc. need to review my CGI scripts?
A	No, cgiwrap allows you to run your own scripts without review. The script runs under the auspices of your own user ID, inheriting the same permissions that you have, so review for root-exploit security problems is not required.
Q	Can I use Perl for my CGI scripts?
A	Yes, the path to the Perl that runs on our web servers is /share/bin/perl
Q	I uploaded my script from a Windows box, and it uses the same Perl path that you specify, but I'm still having problems running the script.
A	There are a number of ways that a script can fail to run. See the cgiwrap page for a useful troubleshooting checklist. You may need to convert the script from DOS end-of-line markers (CRLF) to Unix end-of-line makers for the script to be properly processed. A number of word processing and text editing programs are capable of this. If you have access to our shell server, you can use the Unix "dos2unix" utility to make the conversion. You might also find it helpful to use some of the following tips when using Perl to write CGI scripts. See the Perl and CPAN documentation available on the web for more information. use the -w and -T switches to perl use strict; use CGI qw(:standard :html3); use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser);