Running a CGI Counter Script

Mark Hobley · Dec 7, 2005

I have created an HTML page as follows:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
<title>Test Page</title>
</head>
<body>

</body>
</html>

I was expecting this to invoke my count.cgi script, but it does not run.

If I point the browser at /cgi-bin/count.cgi, the script runs as expected.

Have I used the HTML correctly ?

Please advise.
My web server daemon is thttpd.

Mark.

--
Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Telephone: (0121) 247 1596
International: 0044 121 247 1596

Email: markhobley at hotpop dot donottypethisbit com

http://markhobley.yi.org/

David Dorward · Dec 7, 2005

Mark said:

Have I used the HTML correctly ?

That is SSI rather then HTML. The syntax looks correct.

My web server daemon is thttpd.

Are you accessing the page using the ssi CGI program?
http://www.acme.com/software/thttpd/ssi_man.html

Mark Hobley · Dec 7, 2005

In alt.html David Dorward said:
That is SSI rather then HTML. The syntax looks correct.

Ok. Is there an HTML way of doing this ? I just want the script to run as the
page is viewed.

Are you accessing the page using the ssi CGI program?
http://www.acme.com/software/thttpd/ssi_man.html

My scripts that collect form data work ok. Its just the counter script that
doesn't run. Can I invoke the hit counter without ssi ?

Mark.

--
Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Telephone: (0121) 247 1596
International: 0044 121 247 1596

Email: markhobley at hotpop dot donottypethisbit com

http://markhobley.yi.org/

David Dorward · Dec 7, 2005

Mark said:
Ok. Is there an HTML way of doing this ? I just want the script to run as
the page is viewed.

<img src="/cgi-bin/myscript.cgi" alt="">

.... and then ensure that myscript.cgi returns an image.

It will break if images are turned off.
Its likely to break with some privacy packages.
It means another http request for each page view.

You could also switch to a webserver which supports SSI internally, such as
Apache.

Mark Hobley · Dec 7, 2005

Mark Hobley said:
My scripts that collect form data work ok. Its just the counter script that
doesn't run. Can I invoke the hit counter without ssi ?

I have found that instead of using the following:



I can use:

<img src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">

This runs the script.

Unfortunately, my script doesn't produce an image, so I get a rectange on the
screen where the image would go.

Can I use instead something like one of the following:

<text src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">

or even better

<void src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">

or

<null src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">

?

Please advise.

Mark.

--
Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Telephone: (0121) 247 1596
International: 0044 121 247 1596

Email: markhobley at hotpop dot donottypethisbit com

http://markhobley.yi.org/

David Dorward · Dec 7, 2005

Mark said:
<img src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">

Unfortunately, my script doesn't produce an image, so I get a rectange on
the screen where the image would go.
Can I use instead something like one of the following:

<text src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">

No. Change the script so it outputs an image - but see my previous comments
on the subject elsewhere in this thread.

Mark Parnell · Dec 7, 2005

Unfortunately, my script doesn't produce an image, so I get a rectange on the
screen where the image would go.

Change the script?

<text src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">
<void src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">
<null src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">

Considering <text>, <void> and <null> don't exist, no. Well, there's
nothing stopping you from putting it into your page, but any browser
that did anything with it would be misbehaving.

Apart from getting the cgi to return an image (noting the caveats
mentioned by David), the only reliable way of including it would be
through SSI (or PHP, ASP etc.).

Jonathan N. Little · Dec 7, 2005

Mark said:
I have created an HTML page as follows:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
<title>Test Page</title>
</head>
<body>

</body>
</html>

The code above is a SSI, Server Side Include, most hosting company
servers settings require the file extension 'shtml'. So if you have the
above code in your html document 'mypage.html' rename to 'maypage.shtml'
and see if it works.

Mark Hobley · Dec 8, 2005

David Dorward said:
<img src="/cgi-bin/myscript.cgi" alt="">

... and then ensure that myscript.cgi returns an image.

I think that I might be able to get a 1 x 1 transparent gif from somewhere.

How would I send it from the script, which is a conventional unix script that
will run on a Bourne compatible shell?

Mark.

--
Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Telephone: (0121) 247 1596
International: 0044 121 247 1596

Email: markhobley at hotpop dot donottypethisbit com

http://markhobley.yi.org/

Guillaume · Dec 8, 2005

David Dorward:
Mark Hobley:

I think that I might be able to get a 1 x 1 transparent gif from somewhere.
How would I send it from the script, which is a conventional unix script that
will run on a Bourne compatible shell?

#!/bin/sh

echo 'Content-Type: image/gif'
echo

# counting code here

cat image1x1.gif

You can add more options like Pragma: no-cache, Content-Length, ...

Neredbojias · Dec 9, 2005

With neither quill nor qualm, Mark Hobley quothed:

I have found that instead of using the following:



I can use:

<img src="/cgi-bin/count.cgi?testcount">

This runs the script.

Unfortunately, my script doesn't produce an image, so I get a rectange on the
screen where the image would go.

Style it invisible or "display:none;"

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Running a CGI Counter Script

Mark Hobley

David Dorward

Mark Hobley

David Dorward

Mark Hobley

David Dorward

Mark Parnell

Jonathan N. Little

Mark Hobley

Guillaume

Neredbojias

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