From: Niklas Backlund <backlund@...>
Date: 2001-11-16T07:14:22+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:25343] CGI beginner's trouble

Hi,

I'm failing with CGI on such a basic level, it's almost scary! So
please, if you're sensitive, stop reading now... =)

I've been working on a new web page using mod_ruby and eRuby for Apache.
The eRuby stuff I've done has been working perfectly, so no complaints
there!

The thing is that I want to be able to submit data to my webpage when
I'm travelling, and I thought the easiest way to accomplish this would
be to have a "backdoor page" with a CGI form where I could enter the
text I want to submit. Later, I would include functions to preview my
entry before submitting and editing previous entries.

However, the problems start already during the first step... Being the
novice I am, I used the examples in "Programming Ruby" as a starting
point. Here's my first primitive program:


require 'cgi'

cgi = CGI.new("html3")

cgi.out {	
  cgi.html {	
    cgi.head{ cgi.title{"Submit news..."} } +
    cgi.body{ "\n" +	
      cgi.form{ "\n" +
        cgi.textarea("get_text") + "\n" +
        cgi.br +
        cgi.submit("Submit")
      }
    }
  }
}
if cgi["get_text"] != nil
 print "Previous result: " + cgi["get_text"].to_s
end


It works as I expected to: I enter some text, hit 'Submit' and I get the
same page again, this time with the result printed below the form (just
for testing).

But I want to save the text I entered to a text file (or whatever) and
send back some confirmation text -- I don't want the form to appear
again. If I try to acheive this with some test ( if cgi["get_text"] ==
nil cgi.out{...} ) I will get stuck in the "presentation mode", because
when trying to reload the page, I have to repost the form data, which
will prevent me from getting the form back again... How do I make it
"forget" my previous entry?

Or did I get it all wrong somehow...?

I was unable to try things out in 'irb' (as I usually do when I'm
experimenting) as I also get the following dilemma:

   irb(main):001:0> require 'cgi'
   true
   irb(main):002:0> cgi = CGI.new("html3")
   (offline mode: enter name=value pairs on standard input)

from which there seems to be no escape other than breaking out of
'irb'...


/Niklas