• guestbook.cgi calls the file cgi-lib.pl
• cgi-lib.pl Reads the input from the form and puts the info into Associstive Arrays.
  • Associative arrays are Weirdo Perl constructs in which and array has a "Key" and a "Value" instead of an "Index" and a "Value" that We're used to.
    For example:
    input{key} = value
input{name} = Dinsdale;
print "input{name}\n";
    Prints out "Dinsdale" to the console.
    or
    print "input{Dinsdale}\n";
    Prints out "name" to the console.
    

Now we can print out data based on what "names" we used for out forms.

To return to the earlier forms:

Name

The code for this line is
Name<br> <TEXTAREA name="name" ROWS = 1 COLS = 60></TEXTAREA>

Anything that goes into the part that says "name" becomes the "key." In this case the segment "name="name"" creates a key called name and will be assigned a value of what ever you type in this box. So we get this information in our code with this:
print "input{name}\n";

Most of the rest of the program is formating and sending me a note.