Adding Records Part 1

sub add_record {
    &header("Add a Record");

This calls our header routine, and specifies the title of the page.

    print qq~
    <CENTER>
    <FORM METHOD=POST>
    <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="action"
    VALUE="add_record_two">~;
    &build_record_page;
    print qq~
    <CENTER>
    <INPUT TYPE="submit" value="Enter Into
    Database"></CENTER>
    <CENTER>
    </FORM>~;
    &footer;
}

This sub is the first step you take in adding your records. It presents you with a blank form, ready for you to enter information. Wait!!!! What is this &build_record_page sub doing there? Let me explain this little diddy for ya.

sub build_record_page { my (%record) = @_;

This takes the input given to it, if any, and stores it in the hash %record, as the only data sent to it would be in hash form.

my ($val) = "";
my ($html) = qq~<TABLE border=1 bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4>
    <TR bgcolor="#C0C0C0">
        <TD colspan=2><CENTER><font size=-1> Record
        </CENTER></TD>
    </TR>~;

Standard HTML, but you probably don't need me to point that out

    foreach $obj (@db_fields) {

Now we start to traverse through all of the fields we created at the start of the program.

        if ($obj eq $db_key) {
            next; # ID's are dynamically made, so why let
            the user do it?
        }

This makes sense, as users cannot create keys, as they may make copies. This just skips this step so uses won't be able to make the keys.

        $html .= qq~<TR bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><TD><FONT
        SIZE=-1>$db_name{$obj}</TD><TD>~;
        if ($db_type{$obj} eq "text") {  # Makes the text
        box
        # Make a input text field
            if ($record{$obj}) { $val = qq~
            VALUE="$record{$obj}"~; }
            else { $val = ""; }
            $html .= qq~<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="$obj"
            size="20" $val>~;
        }
        elsif ($db_type{$obj} eq "textarea") { # Makes the
        textarea
        # Make a textarea box instead
            if ($record{$obj}) { $val = qq~$record{$obj}~; }
            else { $val = ""; }
            $html .= qq~<TEXTAREA NAME="$obj" ROWS="4"
            COLS="40">$val</TEXTAREA>~;
        }
        $html .= qq~</TD></TR>~;

This block of code can look confusing. Remember those variables I declared in the @db_fields area? Well, here they are put to use, such as $db_name (readable version) and $db_type, which determines the input type. Basically it prints out the name of the field and its info. Next, in the lines where $val is being set, the script is looking if any data was sent to the sub routine. If so, it uses this data in the fields to be displayed. Otherwise, it just leaves the input fields blank.

    }
    $html .= "</TABLE><P>";

This just finishes off the $html variable, and below, prints it.

print $html;
}

There you go, that sub is now explained.... hopefully :-)