NAME¶
"CGI::Formalware" - Convert an XML file into a suite of CGI forms.
SYNOPSIS¶
In your browser, type: localhost/cgi-bin/x.pl
where x.pl contains nothing more than:
#!perl -w
use strict;
use lib 'C:/Perl';
use lib 'C:/Perl/Scripts/General'; # Ie $PERL5LIB.
use CGI::Formalware;
my($form) = CGI::Formalware -> new({form2file => 1, debug => 1});
$form -> process();
exit(0);
Upon starting, "CGI::Formalware" asks for the name of your XML file,
which is assumed to be in cgi-bin/.
DESCRIPTION¶
To provide a type of repository for frequently used scripts, which can then be
executed locally or remotely (via Net::Telnet), by just entering a password
(for remote scripts), and clicking.
INSTALLATION¶
You install "CGI::Formalware", as you would install any perl module
library, by running these commands:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
If you want to install a private copy of "CGI::Formalware" in your
home directory, then you should try to produce the initial Makefile with
something like this command:
perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/perl
or
perl Makefile.PL LIB=C:/Perl/Site/Lib
If, like me, you don't have permission to write man pages into unix system
directories, use:
make pure_install
instead of make install. This option is secreted in the middle of p 414 of the
second edition of the dromedary book.
AUDIENCE¶
Webmasters.
SECURITY¶
None. Even worse, "CGI::Formalware" is designed to circumvent a web
server's concept of what Apache calls DocumentRoot.
CONSTRUCTOR new¶
new takes either no parameters, or an anonymous hash. See the example above.
Keys and values recognized are:
- •
- debug => 1 means turn on debugging. At the moment this
opens and closes the file CGI-Formalware.log, but does not write anything
to it
- •
- form2file => 1 means output each form to a file, using
the name given by the form's formFileName attribute. The forms are written
to cgi-bin/. If the form has no such attribute, this option is ignored.
See example below
- •
- timeScripts => 1 means report elapsed time at the end of
each script's output
HIGHLIGHTS¶
- •
- Read an XML file, whose format is fixed, and generate a
suite of CGI forms
- •
- A cascading style sheet can be specified for each form
individually
- •
- A Table of Contents may appear on each form
- •
- Each form is more-or-less assumed to contain a list of
scripts
- •
- Tokens in the XML correspond to a few functions available
in Lincoln Stein's CGI.pm. Available tokens are:
- •
- fileField
<fileField
name = 'fileName'
prompt = 'Filename: '
size = '60'
override = '0'
/>
- •
- horizontalRule
<horizontalRule />
- •
- paragraph
<paragraph />
<paragraph text = 'Output a comment' />
- •
- radioGroup
<radioGroup
name = 'serverName'
prompt = 'Server name: '
value = 'Example⎪Simple⎪Test'
columns = '1' # Optional. Defaults to '1'. Use a string, not a digit
/>
- •
- textField
<textField
name = 'username'
prompt = 'Username: '
value = ''
size = '15'
override = '0'
/>
Over time, more functions will be added.
- •
- A textField with the name 'password' is treated as a
password field. Also, the entity 'script' defines a Unix- or DOS-type
batch file
- •
- These entities produce on-screen fields, or, in the case of
the scripts, a vertical array of radio buttons
- •
- So, to run a script you fill in whatever fields the script
uses and then select that script
- •
- Macros in the scripts, eg %fileName% are expanded with the
current value of the field whose name appears between the % signs
- •
- A script whose last line is 'ftp -n -v' is
recognized and handled specially. Your form must contain textFields called
'host', 'username' and 'password' and 'fileName'. A binary 'get' is
performed. This will be made more flexible one day
- •
- Scripts have an attribute 'type', which can be 'local' or
'remote'.
Remote scripts are passed to Net::Telnet, on the assumption that you know
what you are doing. Your form must contain textFields called 'host',
'username' and 'password'
NAVIGATION¶
Forms are linked with 'Previous form', 'Next form' buttons.
Any previously-entered textFields, except those whose name is 'password', are
remembered when you return to a form. This is very convenient.
The password values are zapped by CGI.pm, not by me. This is a security feature.
It means you can walk away from your system and not have someone gain
automatic access to a remote system.
CASCADING STYLE SHEETS¶
Each form entity may have a 'css' attribute, giving the name of the CSS file for
that form. These attribute values are like '/CGI-Formalware.css', which, under
Apache, means this value is prefixed with DocumentRoot. That is, the path to
the CSS is a URI, and will not be seen if in cgi-bin/.
The compulsory elements are: H1, H2 and P.TOC.
Herewith a sample:
H1
{
font-size: 20pt;
alignment: center;
color: teal;
}
H2
{
font-size: 16pt;
font-style: italic;
color: maroon;
}
P.TOC
{
font-size: 12pt;
color: white;
background-color: blue;
}
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶
None.
These checks are performed:
- •
- Each forms entity may have a 'tocEntry' attribute. If
present, and if the tocVisible attribute is 'true', then a Table of
Contents is put on each form, headed by this text. The default is
'Contents'
- •
- Each forms entity may have a 'tocVisible' attribute. If its
value is 'True', then a Table of Contents is put on each form, headed by
the value of 'tocEntry'. The default is 'True'
- •
- Each form entity must have 'heading' and 'tocEntry'
attributes
- •
- Each form entity must have a unique 'heading'
attribute
- •
- Each form entity may have a unique 'formFileName'
attribute. If present, then this file name is used to output the form to a
file if the constructor option new({form2file => 1}) is used
- •
- Each fileField entity must have 'name', 'prompt', 'value'
and 'size' attributes
- •
- Each textField entity must have 'name', 'prompt', 'value'
and 'size' attributes
- •
- Each scripts entity must have a 'heading' attribute
- •
- Each script entity must have 'heading', 'type' and 'line'
attributes
- •
- Each script entity must have a unique 'heading'
attribute
- •
- Each script entity's 'type' attribute must be 'local' or
'remote'
XML DTD¶
TBA.
Herewith a sample:
<forms
tocEntry = 'Forms'
tocVisible = 'True'
>
<form
heading = 'Unix Command Menu'
tocEntry = 'Unix menu'
css = '/CGI-Formalware.css'
formFileName = '1.html'
>
<horizontalRule />
<radioGroup
name = 'host'
prompt = 'Host: '
value = 'bigBox⎪littleBox'
/>
<paragraph />
<textField
name = 'username'
prompt = 'Username: '
value = ''
size = '15'
override = '0'
/>
<textField
name = 'password'
prompt = ' Password: '
value = ''
size = '15'
override = '0'
/>
<horizontalRule />
<scripts
heading = 'Unix Scripts'
numberScripts = 'Yes'
>
<script
heading = 'Files in home directory'
type = 'remote'
line1 = 'dir'
/>
<script
heading = 'Tags in repository'
type = 'remote'
line1 = 'cd $M'
line2 = 'getTags'
/>
</scripts>
</form>
<form
heading = 'DOS Command Menu'
tocEntry = 'DOS menu'
>
<horizontalRule />
<radioGroup
name = 'host'
prompt = 'Host: '
value = 'bigBox⎪littleBox'
/>
<paragraph text = 'Enter a username and a password.' />
<textField
name = 'username'
prompt = 'Username: '
value = ''
size = '15'
override = '0'
/>
<textField
name = 'password'
prompt = ' Password: '
value = ''
size = '15'
override = '0'
/>
<horizontalRule />
<fileField
name = 'fileName'
prompt = 'Filename: '
size = '60'
override = '0'
/>
<horizontalRule />
<scripts
heading = 'PC Scripts'
>
<script
heading = 'Files in root directory'
type = 'local'
line1 = 'cd \'
line2 = 'dir'
/>
<script
heading = 'FTP something somewhere'
type = 'local'
line1 = 'ftp -n -v'
/>
<script
heading = 'Untar a file'
type = 'local'
line1 = 'cd \'
line2 = 'tar mxvzf %fileName%'
/>
</scripts>
</form>
</forms>
Nope, I don't recognize them. Maybe one day...
REQUIRED MODULES¶
- •
- CGI
- •
- Net::Telnet
- •
- XML::DOM
AUTHOR¶
"CGI::Formalware" was written by Ron Savage
<ron@savage.net.au> in 1999.
Available from
http://savage.net.au/Perl.html.
LICENCE¶
Australian copyright (c) 1999 Ron Savage.
All Programs of mine are 'OSI Certified Open Source Software';
you can redistribute them and/or modify them under the terms of
The Artistic License, a copy of which is available at:
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/index.html
