Question

Writing a Search CGI running on a local host

Asked by: barakp

I would like some pointers on how to write a search CGI running on a local host, meaning searching in a folder of HTML files on my computer.

I especially need help in how to build the local host server and how to call the search CGI running from it.
The other point I am not sure about is how I return the results back to my browser.

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Asked On
2002-05-28 at 16:28:23ID20305566
Topics

CGI Scripting

,

Server Side Includes (SSI)

Participating Experts
2
Points
200
Comments
16

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Answers

 

by: rj2Posted on 2002-05-29 at 10:17:28ID: 7042366

You should install web server (e.g Apache),install Perl and save you CGI script in cgi-bin directory.
If you have configured web server correctly, you should be able to access cgi script like http://localhost/cgi-bin/myscript.pl

Here are some links:
Apache web server: http://www.apache.org
Activstate Perl: http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/

Below is sample cgi script that returns "hello world" in browser.


#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;

print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n";
print "<HTML><BODY>Hello world</BODY></HTML>";

 

by: ahoffmannPosted on 2002-05-29 at 11:00:38ID: 7042531

would you realy re-envent the wheel? There exist http://www.htdig.org/

 

by: barakpPosted on 2002-05-29 at 13:59:40ID: 7043090

I don't really understand how to configure the server.

Furthermore, I would like to note the machine the search will be done from will be Windows based.

Thanks for what you wrote so far it is great.

 

by: barakpPosted on 2002-05-29 at 14:01:46ID: 7043095

Meaning the server needs to run from a Window's based machine.

 

by: rj2Posted on 2002-05-30 at 09:01:41ID: 7044792

Well, for a basic setup I don't think you have to configure anything.
What Windows version do you have (95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP) ?

Please follow instructions below to get started.

Here is link to Windows version of Apache
http://apache.archive.sunet.se/dist/httpd/binaries/win32/apache_2.0.36-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi

Download it and install it.

Then download and install Perl.
http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/

Test your web server by clicking this url
http://localhost

You should get a welcome message from Apache.

Then save the "hello world" cgi script above as "myscript.pl" under the cgi-bin directory where you installed Apache.

Then click on link below
http://localhost/cgi-bin/myscript.pl

 

by: barakpPosted on 2002-05-31 at 05:23:57ID: 7046785

I need this website to be distributed via CD-ROM. Does the server need to be installed in every computer or it be installed on the CD?

 

by: rj2Posted on 2002-05-31 at 10:13:11ID: 7047411

CGI scripts need a web server to run, yes.
If what you want to do here is to distribute some html information with a search engine on CD-rom then IMHO it makes more sense to make the search engine in Java than to make it as a CGI script.

 

by: barakpPosted on 2002-05-31 at 12:17:45ID: 7047641

Do you mean a Java application or Java applet?

I would like to search via a web browser interface.

 

by: rj2Posted on 2002-06-01 at 10:13:40ID: 7048768

You could write the search engine as a Java application that you could access through a web browser interface. The Java application would need to speak http for this to work.

I suggest Java because it has excellent network support, is platform independent and most users will already have Java support installed, but it is possible to use other languages too, including Perl.

Do you know something about the users that will use the CD-rom, is it a closed, small group or could it be anybody?
Can you assume something about which OS they use?

 

by: barakpPosted on 2002-06-02 at 01:16:08ID: 7049321

It's a group of 30 people using some sort of Windows OS.

Can a Java application be called upon from a web browser?

 

by: rj2Posted on 2002-06-02 at 01:38:43ID: 7049336

Yes, if the Java aplications listens on some port (e.g. 6020), you can access it from web browser like http://localhost:6020
The Java application would need to written as a miniature web server.

Will the CD-ROM users be willing to install a web server and Perl in order to use the CD-ROM?

If yes, writing a CGI script is probably less work than writing a Java application.
If no, or if you plan wider distribution later, a Java application means less installation headaches for the users.

 

by: barakpPosted on 2002-06-02 at 01:43:59ID: 7049337

Can you explain to me how I get the Java application to listen to a port?

 

by: rj2Posted on 2002-06-02 at 09:44:51ID: 7049617

Here is a link that should get you started.

http://www.advisor.com/Articles.nsf/aid/KUCHP001

 

by: barakpPosted on 2002-06-03 at 12:36:00ID: 7052023

The site looks great. Give me some time to check it out.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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