Basic HTML version of Foils prepared October 2 98

Foil 36 Common Gateway Interface (CGI) - an introduction

From Introduction to Architecture of World Wide Web CPS406/606 -- Fall Semester 98. by Nancy J. McCracken


1 CGI is an interface for running programs on the server at the request of the client.
2 When the user clicks on a CGI link, the server calls the corresponding process and returns its output, not the data/file/code associated with the process.
3 Typical Applications
  • Support for dynamic generation of HTML documents, such as on-the-fly conversions from other formats.
  • Interface to and integration with Forms/GUI area of HTML - submitted forms are handled by suitable CGI processes.
  • Interfacing with other (non-HTTP) remote services such as databases, video-on-demand, simulations, etc.
    • This is current area of major development of the web.
4 Look at a simple example of an HTML form with its CGI Perl program.

in Table To:


© Northeast Parallel Architectures Center, Syracuse University, npac@npac.syr.edu

If you have any comments about this server, send e-mail to webmaster@npac.syr.edu.

Page produced by wwwfoil on Sat Nov 28 1998