WWW: Beyond the Basics

12. Common Gateway Interface

by J. Patrick Van Metre

ABSTRACT

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) applications are server-executed programs used to dynamically create HTML documents. Many World Wide Web sites use CGI applications for dynamic web page creation, for parsing forms, and for providing a web-based interface to other applications, such as databases. There are many issues that one must consider when using the CGI to expand a World Wide Web site, including: the language used to create the CGI applications, as well as whether or not the applications should be compiled or interpreted; the performance of the CGI applications and how it will affect the server; and the portability of the applications, should a new server or operating system be chosen for the site. I will discuss these issues, explain the process of creating CGI applications, and present some examples in this chapter.

CHAPTER CONTENT

  1. Introduction
  2. Creating CGI Applications
    1. Header Output
    2. Body
    3. Handling Input
    4. Side Effects
    5. Making CGI Applications Accessible
  3. Issues
    1. Security
    2. Language
    3. Performance
  4. Examples
References

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Copyright © 1996 J. Patrick Van Metre, All Rights Reserved

J. Patrick Van Metre <vanmetre@csgrad.cs.vt.edu>
Last modified: Sat Oct 26 13:31:43 1996