Official Guide to Programming with CGI.pm (Paperback)

by Lincoln Stein (Author) "Welcome to CGI.pm!..." (more)
Key Phrases: named argument form, guestbook file, self url, Advanced Tricks, Internet Explorer, John Wiley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
CGI.pm, a Perl library for writing CGI scripts, delivers elegant solutions for using and updating Web forms. The author, Lincoln Stein, realized the need for a clean and simple way to manage forms and--as a columnist for the Perl Journal, a scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and a Web-based software author--created that solution. He's (refreshingly) humble about this creative process, explaining that it took him a few steps until he realized the key to this HTML/Perl hybrid: simplicity.

The CGI.pm standard allows the site manager to separate data from its HTML markup for use in CGI forms. For example, all the elements in a short drop-down menu of vegetables can be placed in one array, changing this:

peas

broccoli

cabbage

to this:

li(['peas','broccoli,'cabbage'])

to be used later throughout a Perl script.

The Official Guide to Programming with CGI.pm is geared toward a reader who is familar enough with Perl to have used modules and knowledgeable about HTML and Web-site design. Stein uses CGI.pm for tables, drop-down menus, guest books, single-page or multipart forms, image maps, and cookies. The author of both the book and Perl library function, Stein provides ample discussion of all of these areas, along with strong code examples. The book ends with a verbose reference guide detailing all of CGI.pm's functions and features, grouped both alphabetically and by topic.

The use of CGI.pm requires a mind shift for Web site managers, but it's one worth making. Instead of tags for 'input' and 'select', CGI.pm uses statements such as "checkbox ()" and "textfield ()," allowing documents to be read easily and updated quickly. --Jennifer Buckendorff

Product Description
A complete guide to creating interactive Web pages using the Perl CGI.pm library from its creator.

Official Guide to Programming with CGI.pm contains all the information about CGI.pm found in Perl's online manual, but in a completely reorganized and greatly expanded format. It also includes valuable labor-saving tips and hints you won't find anywhere else. Featuring step-by-step instructions and complete source code, it shows you how to:
* Download, install, and configure CGI.pm
* Generate HTML documents on the fly
* Process fill-out forms and create multipage documents
* Perform script debugging and state maintenance
* Design interactive clickable image maps
* Store and process cookies
* Attach JavaScript and cascading style sheets to your documents
* Write state-maintaining scripts
* Modify and extend CGI.pm
* Tap the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN).
On the Web site you'll find:
* The most recent and all future revisions to the CGI.pm module
* All the source code examples from the book
* Online documentation for CGI.pm
* Links to CPAN and other Web-related software written by the author.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471247448
• ISBN-13: 978-0471247449
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #338,592 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great for learning; dismal for reference; rotten visually, November 29, 1999

By	Andy Lester (McHenry, IL) - See all my reviews

The first half of the book is a great tutorial on using the CGI.pm module. There are all sorts of tricks, and Lincoln's explanations are very good. If you want a tutorial, this is it.

However, the reference section is a mess. It's not clear how the various functions are grouped, and there are no guides in page headings to tell you where you are as you thumb through. If you're looking for a desktop reference, you're probably better off using the CGI section of "Perl In A Nutshell".

Finally, the book looks like it was thrown together in Word, with no real thought about how it would look. Chapter titles are in grey: Why?

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Necessary documentation for an excellent (FREE) product., February 24, 2000

By	Ken Hoppe (Carson City, NV) - See all my reviews

I rated this book as 5 stars, not because I can't see how it could be improved, but because the product it documents is so valuable, and the book is necessary to get full value from CGI.pm.

While the book's content mostly duplicates information which can be found at the CGI.pm web site, and/or in the CGI.pm source code, it does present it in a much more convenient manner, and seems to contain additional, valuable information.

I've used this book for a couple of months now, and wish to refute some of the criticism by other reviewers.

The example font is much less bold than the text, but I use reading glasses, and wouldn't even have noticed the lighter font, if it hadn't been pointed out to me in other reviews. Perhaps it doesn't photocopy well?

The reference section is a little confusing since it contains some subsections which, in turn, contain alphabetic organization, rather than being strictly alphabetic throughout. The book has a decent index, however, so this isn't a real problem. Besides the organization is beginning to make sense.

The book is not quite up-to-date with the product it documents, but publishing a book does have some turn around time after all. My boss and I could use another copy, we'll probably get one as soon as the next edition is available.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Information is invaluable but organization needs work, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

This is an invaluable book for using an invaluable library module (if you do CGI coding). There is absolutely no substitute for CGI.pm. However, this book is very frustrating to use because the Reference Guide section is organized into different weird categories instead of just listing all the functions in CGI.pm in alphabetical order (like in Perl books, for example). Therefore the reader has to try to figure out what category a function in the module belongs in in order to look it up. Very very aggravating! In fact I trained a group of developers in using CGI.pm and many of them avoided using it because it takes so long to find what you're looking for in the reference section of the book. I am hoping for a new edition of the book SOON with this problem corrected. The material is invaluable, but I have to give three stars because of poor organization.