DRX

√app«drx

Web Developer Resource Index: CGI

The Common Gateway Interface is a specification, or protocol, in which an external program or script interacts with a Web server by accepting parameters from the server, and then returns results which are generally displayed in a Web browser (client). CGI scripts may be written in any programming language capable of following the specification. Perl is by far the most popular language for CGI programming.

Traditionally, and where the term "gateway" originates, CGI was designed to extract information from some other source, such as a database, that was not designed to be used in a hypertext environment like the Web. The specification is often used to process the contents of an HTML form. See the FreeBSD Man Pages for an excellent example of both of these features.

Over the past decade CGI has fallen out of favor and has been replaced for the most part by scripting languages such as PHP and Python that are embedded into a Web server like Apache.

Updated: Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 @ 1:53 AM EDT

Internet:Protocols:CGI {0}(10)[54]

Visit Category:

Navigation

§ Title Index

§ Tag Cloud

§ Related Categories

§ Other Indexes

§ Search and RSS

Resources

1.The Common Gateway Interface

The classic documentation on the CGI interface protocol, from the NCSA and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Includes an introduction, tutorial, specifications and more. [181]
★★★★☆
URI:http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/
Author:
NCSA
[1]
Reviewed:Monday, April 11th, 2005 @ 2:53 AM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

The Common Gateway Interface cgi protocol spec
2.Hotsource: Common Gateway Interface

Links to resources and scripts, and in particular scripts for processing forms and for sending emails from them. Most examples are in Perl (go figure), but he also has information about C, Java, AppleScript and Visual Basic. [1452]
★★★★☆
URI:http://www.sbrady.com/hotsource/cgi/
Author:
Scott Brady
[1]
Reviewed:Sunday, July 31st, 2005 @ 11:49 AM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

Hotsource: Common Gateway Interface c cgi perl
3.FastCGI

A language independent, scalable, open extension to CGI that provides high performance without the limitations of server specific APIs. Typically installed as an Apache module under Unix, but also available for many other Web HTTP servers and platforms. [1443]
★★★★☆
URI:http://fastcgi.com/
Author:
Rob Saccoccio
[1]
Reviewed:Friday, July 29th, 2005 @ 2:13 AM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

FastCGI apache cgi http module performance protocol web server
4.How CGI Scripting Works

A introductory article that will answer your questions about CGI scripting and show you how to create your own scripts. You'll also learn a bit about Web servers in the process. [200]
★★★★☆
URI:http://www.howstuffworks.com/cgi.htm
Author:
Marshall Brain
[1]
Reviewed:Monday, April 11th, 2005 @ 6:09 PM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

How CGI Scripting Works cgi web server
5.cgic: An ANSI C library for CGI Programming

cgic is an ANSI C-language library for the creation of CGI-based World Wide Web applications. It is compatible with any CGI-compliant server environment, and compiles without modification in Posix/Unix/Linux and Windows environments. [187]
★★★★☆
URI:http://www.boutell.com/cgic/
Author:
Thomas Boutell
[1]
Reviewed:Monday, April 11th, 2005 @ 11:41 AM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

cgic: An ANSI C library for CGI Programming c cgi programming
6.CGI Programming FAQ

The Common Gateway Interface, or CGI, is a standard for external gateway programs to interface with information servers such as HTTP servers. [186]
★★★★☆
URI:http://www.htmlhelp.com/faq/cgifaq.html
Author:
Nick Kew
[2]
Reviewed:Monday, April 11th, 2005 @ 4:13 AM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

CGI Programming FAQ cgi faq http programming web server
7. CGI: Common Gateway Interface

An HTTP server is often used as a gateway to a legacy information system; for example, an existing body of documents or an existing database application. The Common Gateway Interface is an agreement between the server on how to integrate such programs. [185]
★★★★☆
URI:http://www.w3.org/CGI/
Author:
Matthieu Fuzellier
[1]
Reviewed:Monday, April 11th, 2005 @ 3:59 AM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

CGI: Common Gateway Interface cgi http servers w3c web server
8.Apache HTTP Server: mod_cgi CGI module

Any file that has the MIME type application/x-httpd-cgi or handler cgi-script (Apache 1.1 or later) will be treated as a CGI script, and run by the server, with its output being returned to the client. [184]
★★★★☆
URI:http://httpd.apache.org/docs/mod/mod_cgi.html
Author:
Apache Project Members
[6]
Reviewed:Monday, April 11th, 2005 @ 3:48 AM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

Apache HTTP Server: mod_cgi CGI module apache cgi http mime module servers web server
9.CGI.pm: Perl Common Gateway Interface Class

Using a CGI object's methods, you can examine keywords and parameters passed to your script, and create forms whose initial values are taken from the current query. [183]
★★★★☆
URI:http://search.cpan.org/dist/CGI.pm/CGI.pm
Author:
Lincoln Stein
[1]
Reviewed:Monday, April 11th, 2005 @ 3:32 AM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

CGI.pm: Perl Common Gateway Interface Class cgi oop perl
10.The CGI Resource Index

A large collection of CGI resources including complete programs and scripts, documentation and more. [182]
★★★★☆
URI:http://cgi.resourceindex.com/
Author:
Matt Wright
[1]
Reviewed:Monday, April 11th, 2005 @ 3:20 AM EDT
by:
Douglas Clifton

The CGI Resource Index cgi