The very name CGI used to send chills up my spine. For
years I put it in the 'too-hard-basket'. But like most
things in life, CGI is not as scary as it seems. If
you have a cgi directory on your website and you know
how to FTP files, chances are you can have a CGI
script up and running in less than 20 minutes.
CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is not a programming
language but a standard that allows visitors to
interact with your website. CGI scripts can be written
in a number of different languages but most are
written in Perl (Practical Extraction and Reporting
Language).
This article gives you details of five free CGI scripts
that will do the following:
1. Mail out your Newsletter from your server
2. Track the number of times your free E-Book is
downloaded
3. Rotate banners on your website
4. Create your own auto responders
5. Allow visitors to recommend your website to friends
At the end of this article are details of where to
download these 5 free scripts. But first, here are
some basic guidelines on how to configure and install
CGI scripts:
1. CGI programs usually come in a zip file. Unzip the
file and open the README file. This document will give
you instructions for configuring the program file.
2. Open the program file using a text editor such as
NOTEPAD (the program file will usually have the file
extension.cgi but may have other extensions such as
.pl).
In most CGI programs you will have to configure the
following 4 items:
(a) the path to perl
This is where the perl program resides on your server.
The path will usually be:
#!/usr/bin/perl
but could be:
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
If you're unsure what your 'path to perl' is, check
your web host's online 'manual' or FAQs. If you can't
find it there, simply ask your web host.
(b) the path to sendmail
Most CGI programs notify you when your visitors have
completed a particular action, and for that, the
program needs to know where the 'sendmail' program
resides on your server. The path to your UNIX sendmail
program will usually be: /usr/sbin/sendmail
But it could also be something like this:
/usr/lib/sendmail
Again, check the documentation on your web host's
website, or simply ask your web host.
(c) the absolute path to your CGI directory
The absolute path tells the CGI program exactly where
to find the file (or files) that it needs to open.
Unfortunately, the absolute path to your CGI directory
is not something you will be able to guess or deduce -
it is completely arbitrary and depends entirely on how
the system administrator at your web host has
partitioned your host's hard drive.
The easiest way to find out your absolute path is to
ask your web host. Another way is by using telnet -
just type in pwd (print working directory) and that
should give you your absolute path.
(d) Your email address
This is the address that the CGI program will use to
notify you when an action has been completed.
3. Uploading
Upload the program files to your cgi-bin (or a
directory off your cgi-bin) using ASCII mode. Never
use BINARY mode, as this will play havoc with the
line-breaks in the script.
4. Set the File Permissions using CHMOD
CHMOD (changing mode) is the term for setting security
permissions on files. The README file will usually
tell you the permissions that you need to set for each
file. The script file will need to be set to 755. This
allows the file's owner to read, write, and execute
the file; anyone else can only read and execute it.
You can set the permissions using telnet, but the
easiest way is to use the built-in option in your FTP
program.
5. Calling the Script
Now that you've configured the script, uploaded it and
set the permissions, it's time to try it out! You do
this by 'calling the script' using a URL in an HTML
document. This is what the URL for calling your script
will normally look like:
http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/script.cgi
Again, the README file should have specific
instructions on how to call the script. In addition,
most CGI programs are accompanied by a web page
that contains the form your visitors would use to
call the script.
And now here are the details of the 5 free CGI
scripts I mentioned earlier:
Subscribe Me Lite
Subscribe Me Lite is a program that allows
prospects/customers to automatically subscribe and/or
unsubscribe themselves from your mailing list. It has
a built-in mass mailing form for sending out your
newsletter or updates.
More Information:
http://www.cgiscriptcenter.com/subscribe/index2.html
Rob's File Tracker
Rob's File Tracker is a perl script that counts file
downloads or click-thrus to any file. Very useful if
you want to know how many people are downloading your
free E-Book.
More Information:
http://www.robplanet.com/cgi racker/
AdRotate Pro
AdRotate Pro is an ad rotation program that's easy to
setup and easy to use. Features include unlimited
rotations, expiry by date, views or clicks, default
ads for when all ads are expired, and customer
reports.
More Information: http://www.vanbrunt.com/adrotate/
MasterRecommend
This script allows visitors to recommend your website
to a friend by sending an email, without leaving your
website. The program will also send you a copy of your
visitor's message (nice to know what your visitors
think about your website).
More Information:
http://www.willmaster.com/master/recommend/MasterRecommendmanual.html
Master Auto-Responder
This is a standard auto-responder program. The
script allows you to set the "From:" and "Subject:"
lines for your auto-response.You can also choose to
receive a copy of each email that the auto-responder
receives.
More Information:
http://mastercgi.com/howtoinfo/howautoresponderswork.shtml
If you need more help installing your CGI scripts, here
are two excellent free tutorials:
http://spider-food.net/install-a-cgi-script.html
http://www.stefan-pettersson.nu/scripts utorials/installcgi.html
About the Author
Michael Southon is the author of the popular new
E-Book, 'Ezine Writer!'. Discover the #1 Secret of
Internet Marketing - More Traffic, More Sales:
http://www.ezine-writer.com/