From: Alex Gutteridge <alexg@...>
Date: 2013-01-18T02:03:18+09:00
Subject: Re: Adding file directory automatically

On 17.01.2013 15:31, Adam Kennedy wrote:
> EDIT:
>
> Complete working code for adding bid to a file:
>
> #!/media/Apache/ruby/bin/ruby
> #!/usr/local/bin/ruby
>
> #Adds information from david.txt to an array
>
> f = File.open("../logs/david.txt")
> a = f.readlines
>
> #Sets params for form data
> require 'cgi'
>
> cgi = CGI.new()
> bid = cgi.params['bid']
>
> a[2] = bid
>
> File.open('../logs/david.txt', 'w') { |f|
> f.puts a[0]
> f.puts a[1]
> f.puts a[2]
> f.puts a[3]
> }
>
> puts "Content-type: text/html\n\n"
>
> puts "<html>"
> puts "<head><meta http-equiv=\"REFRESH\"
> content=\"4;url=/cgi-bin/david.cgi\">"
> puts "<title>Thank you</title>"
> puts "</head>"
> puts "<body>"
> puts "<p>Thank you for your bid, it will now be logged and you will 
> be
> redirected now.</p>"
> puts "</body>"
> puts "</html>"

If I understand your question correctly (and I'm not 100% sure I do!), 
one simple way to achieve what you want with your existing code would be 
to have a hidden form element in the submit page that your second script 
reads and then determines which of your 12 files to edit. E.g: (*WARNING 
UNTESTED!*) Your first script looks like:

#Displaying information
#!/media/Apache/ruby/bin/ruby
#!/usr/local/bin/ruby
#encoding: utf-8
puts "Content-type: text/html\n\n"

#Adds information from david.txt to an array

f = File.open("../logs/david.txt")
a = f.readlines

puts "<html>"
puts "<head>"
puts "<title>David Quetta - Nothing But the Beat</title>"
puts "</head>"
puts "<body>"
puts "<p>Name :"
puts  a[0]
puts "</p>"
puts "<p>Description :"
puts  a[1]
puts "</p>"
puts "<p>Price :&#163;"
puts a[2]
puts "</p>"
puts "<p>Item Number :"
puts a[3]
puts "</p>"
puts "<form method='post' action='/cgi-bin/bid.cgi'>"
puts "Bid: &#163;<input type='text' name='bid'>"
puts "<input type="hidden" name="item" value="David">
puts "<input type='submit' value='Submit bid'>"
puts "<input type='reset' value='Reset bid'><br />"
puts "<small>Please enter in the format &#163;0.00</small>"
puts "</form>"
puts "</body>"
puts "</html>"

And your second script something like:

#!/media/Apache/ruby/bin/ruby
#!/usr/local/bin/ruby

files = {'David' => '../logs/david.txt'}

#Sets params for form data
require 'cgi'

cgi = CGI.new()
bid = cgi.params['bid']
item = cgi.params['item']

#Adds information from david.txt to an array
f = File.open(files[item])
a = f.readlines

a[2] = bid

File.open(files[item], 'w') { |f|
f.puts a[0]
f.puts a[1]
f.puts a[2]
f.puts a[3]
}

puts "Content-type: text/html\n\n"

puts "<html>"
puts "<head><meta http-equiv=\"REFRESH\"
content=\"4;url=/cgi-bin/david.cgi\">"
puts "<title>Thank you</title>"
puts "</head>"
puts "<body>"
puts "<p>Thank you for your bid, it will now be logged and you will be
redirected now.</p>"
puts "</body>"
puts "</html>"

I assume this is a learning exercise, but if not you probably want to 
start thinking about web frameworks and a database backend as this 
system doesn't really scale in any sensible way. And the puts "<html>" 
bits burn my eyes.

-- 
Alex Gutteridge