vqServer Using CGI scripts


This page explains how to use CGI scripts with vqServer and provides a simple example.

There is a more formal overview of vqServer's CGI script support on the main CGI page.

There are three main requirements for using CGI scripts with vqServer:

  1. An appropriate CGI script interpreter must be installed on the server computer. For example, to run PERL scripts a PERL interpreter must be installed on the server computer. The exception are native executables or batch or script files which can be interpreted directly by the server computer operating system, for example .exe files or .bat files on a Windows system. vqServer does not include any CGI script interpreters. Some operating systems (for example Linux) come with a number of CGI script interpreters. Others (for example Windows) do not and appropriate interpreters must be obtained from third parties.
  2. The action of a vqServer alias corresponding to a CGI script must be set to Run CGI script. In the default configuration that comes with vqServer this is most easily achieved by copying CGI scripts to the website/cgi/ directory (where website/ is the directory you originally extracted vqserver.zip to). For information on aliases and actions see the files and aliases page of the vqServer documentation.
  3. There must be a vqServer file type corresponding to the type of CGI script you want to run whose Interpeter setting is set to the location and name of the appropriate CGI script interpreter. For example to run PERL scripts whose extension is .pl there must be a vqServer file type pl whose interpreter setting points to the PERL interpreter on the server computer. The exceptions are native executables or batch or script files which can be interpreted directly by the server computer operating system, for example .exe files or .bat files on a Windows system, or CGI scripts on UNIX-like operating systems in which the appropriate interpreter is specified in the first line of the script. For information on file type see the file types page of the vqServer documentation.

Example

This example illustrates creation of a simple CGI script, the necessary vqServer configuration and invoking the script.

  1. Install vqServer and check that it is operating correctly. This example assumes that you have installed vqServer to a directory named website/.
  2. Obtain a PERL interpreter and install it on the server computer. This example assumes that you have installed a PERL package to a directory name c:\apps\perl\ and that the PERL interpreter is therefore c:\apps\perl\bin\perl.exe.
  3. Start the vqServer control centre Click on File types in the menu on the right of the page. Look for pl in the File extension column and click on the icon in the Edit column. If the pl file type isn't there
    1. click on New file type in the menu on the right of the page.
    2. type pl in the box next to File extension.

    Type c:/apps/perl/bin/perl.exe in the box next to Interpreter. Click the Ok button.

  4. Create a simple PERL script using a text editor, for example Windows Notepad. vqSoft suggests the following contents:
     print
       "Content-type: text/html
       Pragma: no-cache
    
       My first PERL CGI script!
       ";
    

    The blank line in the middle of that lot is important. Save the file as website/cgi/test.pl.

  5. Invoke the script by typing http://localhost/cgi/test.pl in the address box of your browser.


vqServer version 1.9. Copyright © 1997-2000 Steve Shering and vqSoft. Last updated 3 November 1999.
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