[ruby-talk:9946] Re: Questions about CGI

Comments inlined below.

Friday, January 26, 2001, 1:02:14 PM, Ernest Ellingson wrote:
EE> After reading the pickaxe book, I have become confused.  I'm trying to use 
EE> a multi part form and have two fundamental questions.
EE> 1.  Under the cgi instance methods on page 504 there is some notation for 
EE> [] which I don't understand.  The call is aCGi[ < aString>+] ---> 
EE> anArray.  the "<" isn't the exact notation.  I don't have the character 
EE> used on my keyboard.  Just what array is returned? and what is 
EE> <aString>+.  Can I get a small snippet of code as an example?

If I'm understanding your question correctly....
The notation Andrew and Dave are using is a shorthand.  Their notation
means use the array messsage ([]) with one or more strings.  The "--->" is
their way of showing the result of that message, IOW the array returns
the following.

Midway down on this page:
http://www.rubycentral.com/articles/cgi.html

You see them using the same syntax again.
  require 'cgi'
  cgi = CGI.new
  cgi['player']  # -> ["Miles Davis"]
  cgi['year']    # -> ["1958"]

This just means that looking up 'player' returns an array containing
Miles Davis.
  
EE> 2. How do I refer to CGI#[] to get the multi part form methods.  I think I 
EE> have to use the <aString> + but I'm not able to get the syntax I've tried 
EE> to work.

EE> For example I have a form with  and <input type ="file" 
name='"send_file">>  in a multipart form.  How do I invoke the methods 
EE> "read, local_path, original_filename, content_type"?

EE> This is one example of my trials.

EE> cgi=CGI.new("html3")
EE> if cgi.has_key("send_file")
EE>    a = cgi["send_file"].content_type
EE>     cgi.out{
EE>         cgi.html{
EE>            cgi.h1{a}
EE>         }
EE>     }
EE> doesn't work

Sorry can't help you on this one - I haven't used the cgi stuff yet.

HTH,
Chris
-- 
Chris Grindstaff
[e-mail]  |  www.appliedReasoning.com