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Message: [QUOTE="Robert TV, post: 4746947"] Hi Everyone, I'm hoping that you might be able to shed some light on a major problem I am having. I have been working on a few simple lines of code for over 8 hours and cannot for the life of me figure it out. I'll start off by explaining what my intent is for the script to do. The big program I have been writing sends out emails for our employees. My problem has to do with 2 specific modules of the program. a) I have an address book module. This is a Web form with two inputs ... a name input and an email input. Here I can add entires one at a time to the address book text file. b) I have a CSV content module. This is a Web form with a text area input. I can take the contents of a CSV file, paste it into the textarea, and the data gets saved to the address book text file. The first module is working correctly. I use the "|" character to separate names and emails on a single line. Here is the code I use to add the entry to the address book text file, and then display it on a web page: <-- Start Code Example --> $definedname = CGI::param('name'); $definedemail = CGI::param('email'); $newrecipient = "$definedname|$definedemail\n"; open (ADDRESSES, ">>$activeuser/addressbook.txt") or die "Can't open file: $!"; flock (ADDRESSES, LOCK_EX) or die "Can't lock file: $!"; print ADDRESSES $newrecipient; close(ADDRESSES); <-- End Code Example --> Notice I use the >> open type to "append" data into the addressbook so that entries accumulate, and I also specify to add a "\n" to $newrecipient so that each entry is on it's own line. Below is the code I use to get the data and display it in a Web page: <-- Start Code Example --> print "Content-type: text/html \n\n"; print <<PRINTHTML; <html> <head> <title>Email Communications System</title> </head> <body> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0"> PRINTHTML open (ADDRESSES, "<$activeuser/addressbook.txt") or die "Can't open file: $!"; @recipients=<ADDRESSES>; close(ADDRESSES); foreach $recipient(@recipients) { chomp ($recipient); ($name,$email)=split(/\|/,$recipient); print <<PRINTHTML; <tr> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> $name</td> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> $email</td> </tr> PRINTHTML } print <<PRINTHTML; </table> </body> </html> PRINTHTML exit; <-- End Code Example --> This above seems to be working correctly. The code builds a table separating the names and email addresses. Notice I need to use the chomp ($recipient); command so that the @array's "\n" gets removed. I talk abut the chomp because I believe my main problem may be in this general area. Below is the source code of the 2 entry html generated page (minus start and end HTML): <-- Start Code Example --> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> Joe Smith</td> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> joe@email.com</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> Jnae Smith</td> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> jane@email.com</td> </tr> </table> <-- End Code Example --> Looks to be correct. So on to the main problem ... As mentioned above I have another section in my program where I can paste CSV data into a textarea input. When submitted, it's supposed to completely overwrite and present data in the address book text file. Here are some snippets from the CSV module: <-- Start Code Example --> @recipients = CGI::param('csvdata'); open (FILE,">>$activeuser/csvdump.txt"); close(FILE); open (ADDRESSES, ">$activeuser/csvdump.txt") or die "Can't open file: $!"; print ADDRESSES @recipients; close(ADDRESSES); open (ADDRESSES, "<$activeuser/csvdump.txt") or die "Can't open file: $!"; @recipients = <ADDRESSES>; close(ADDRESSES); unlink <$activeuser/csvdump.txt>; <-- End Code Example --> Ok, right about now your wondering why did I take the form contents, write it to a temp file, then open and get the data back from the temp file. For some reason I cannot get the code to work any other way. I will explain why a bit later ... onto the CSV parsing code: <-- Start Code Example --> foreach $recipient (@recipients) { chomp ($recipient); ($name,$email)=split(/,/,$recipient); $recipient = "$name|$email\n"; } open (ADDRESSES, ">$activeuser/addressbook.txt") or die "Can't open file: $!"; print ADDRESSES @recipients; close(ADDRESSES); <-- End Code Example --> Look reasonable right? Start a loop for each element in the @array, split the data based on a comma, then redefine $recipient as "$name|$email\n" Notice I replace the comma with the "|" which my recipient display module seen about uses. I use the "|" character because sometimes people have comma's in the name etc and that would screw up the script. So ... did the above work correctly? When I examine the addressbook.txt file, I see all entires I typed in the textarea, with comma's replaced, and each entry is on its own line. So I go back to the recipients display module and this is what is happening to the HTML source code: <-- Start Code Example --> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> Joe Smith</td> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> joe@email.com </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> Jnae Smith</td> <td width="279" class="bodytext" height="19"> jane@email.com </td> </tr> </table> <-- End Code Example --> Notice that the </td> tages that are supposed to appear directly to the right the email address, are being forced down to their own line. This suggests to me that the chomp is not working correctly for the CSV data and a secret/hidden "\n" is still pressent in the $email variable. Remember it worked fine for the module where I enter names and emails in their own input forms individually. You might think this is a simple cosmetic annoyance but it is causing havok on other areas of the program. Lets go over the different recipient entry adding methods .... a) Manual Module = I add names and emails individually into separate input fields. (Single line input fields have no "\n"s) I join the two elements together and add a "\n" so future entries go on their own line "$definedname|$definedemail\n" I print the single entry to the address book text file use the "append" operator >>. When viewing the data, the chomp command that is used works correctly and the generated HTML is sound. b) CSV Module = Many entires can be added at once by pasting CSV data into the textarea. The text area data is assigned to an @array and gets written to a temp file. The temp file is then opened and the data is "re-retrieved" overwritting the @array's previous assignment. Through a loop, I split each line by the comma and reassign the loops string to "$name|$email\n" ... same format as the Manual Module. This is NOT working ... for some reason the "\n"s are different, the display module with not remove the "\n" from the end of the email adddress, thus the </td> html tag getting forces to a line below. IF I do not add a "\n" to the loop in the CSV module, when I print or view the @array data, everything is joined to a single line and I get name|emailname|emailname|email etc etc. rather than each entry on it's own lines as required. Oh and about the wierd thing I do above ... assign the CSV form data to an @array, write to a file, re open the file and get data back ... I do this because the raw data from the textarea form will not for some reason loop correctly in the foreach. Here are the results from each method: Method 1 --- using the raw data. The textarea has this CSV data Jane,jane@email.com Mike,mike@email.ca Kris,kris@yahoo.com After the loop, the printed results are: Jane|jane@email.com Mike -- See names are missing? Method 2 --- using data read from text file. The textarea has this CSV data Jane,jane@email.com Mike,mike@email.ca Kris,kris@yahoo.com After the loop, the printed results are: Jane|jane@email.com Mike|mike@email.ca Kris|kris@yahoo.com -- Correct layout, but is still wrong somwhow Have you any input on what's going wrong here? After 8 hours of fighting it I am almost giving up. I'm sorry this message got so long, I wanted to be thourough. Thank you for your time.. Robert [/QUOTE]

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