Bizar variable problem

[Chris W]

I have a simple html form that sends 3 values to perl cgi script. The
perl script then makes some calculations and prints the results to the
browser. It also writes the values to a file with some other static
text. Problem is that the values don't get saved to the file. The file
is created and the static text shows up in the file on both sides of
where the values should be, if I print the variables to the browser it
shows them correctly. Now for the bizarre part, if I do this in an old
version of netscape (4.7) then it works fine but any other browser I
have tried (IE, Netscape 7.1, Opera) it gives me this problem, which is
really strange since I can't see how the browser has any effect on the
server side of things. I have tried the script on both MS IIS and
Apache with the same result.
--
Chris W

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

Chris W wrote:

... It also writes the values to a file with some other static
text. Problem is that the values don't get saved to the file.
<snip>
Now for the bizarre part, if I do this in an old version of
netscape (4.7) then it works fine but any other browser I have
tried (IE, Netscape 7.1, Opera) it gives me this problem, which is
really strange since I can't see how the browser has any effect on
the server side of things.

How about posting the script or, even better, a short version of it
that illustrates the problem you describe.

--
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
Email: http://www.gunnar.cc/cgi-bin/contact.pl

[Chris W]

Ok here is the code.

#!c:\perl\bin\perl.exe
use CGI qw(:standard);
use CGI::Carp qw/fatalsToBrowser/;
require 'config.pl';

##############################
###Variables in question######
$item = param("item");
$qty = param("qty");
$price = param("price");
##############################

$cartFileName = CGI::cookie("CartFile");
$total = $qty * $price;
$shipping = "\$3.00";
$gtotalstr = sprintf "%9.2f", ($total + 3 + ($total * $tax));
$taxstr = sprintf "%9.2f", ($total * $tax);
$totalstr = sprintf "%9.2f", $total;

################################################## ################
#########I have moved this code to various places and still no joy
################################################## ################
open CARTFILE, ">$orderdir/$cartFileName";
print CARTFILE "$item - $qty - \$$price\n"; #THIS IS WHAT DOESN'T
WORK.
######the two "-"s and the "$" are all that's in the file.
close CARTFILE;

print CGI::header();
open TEMPLET, "<$cgidir/cart.html";
while(<TEMPLET>){
print;
if(/BODY GOES HERE/){

##########################################
#######This all prints as expected########
print "<br><br>$item - $qty - \$$price\n<BR><BR>";

print <<"[END]";

Sub Total:\$$totalstr<br>
Tax :\$$taxstr<br>
Shipping :$shipping<br>
Total :\$$gtotalstr<br>
<FORM ACTION="$hcgidir/GetPayment.pl" METHOD=POST>
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="total" VALUE="$total">
Please select payment method.<br>
<input type="radio" name="paymentType" value="CreditCard">Credit
Card
<input type="radio" name="paymentType" value="Check">Mail Check
<INPUT TYPE="submit" name="submit" value="Continue">
</FORM>
<br>
</form>

[END]

}#end if
} #end while templet

--
Chris W

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

Chris W wrote:

Ok here is the code.

#!c:\perl\bin\perl.exe
use strict;
use warnings;

<snip>
open CARTFILE, ">$orderdir/$cartFileName";
print CARTFILE "$item - $qty - \$$price\n"; #THIS IS WHAT DOESN'T WORK.

open CARTFILE, ">$orderdir/$cartFileName" or die $!;

The above suggestions are the basic methods to ask Perl for help with
finding various code errors. Please use those methods before asking a
Usenet group to help you debug your code.

--
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
Email: http://www.gunnar.cc/cgi-bin/contact.pl

[Chris W]

Gunnar Hjalmarsson wrote:

#!c:\perl\bin\perl.exe
use strict;
use warnings;

No change in behavior of the code once all the strict stuff was added.
The only warnings were about a few vars from config.pl that are only
used once and that isn't part of the problem


open CARTFILE, ">$orderdir/$cartFileName" or die $!;

I took my long or die thing out to simplify and that obviously isn't the
problem, since as I said in my first message, the file is being created
and written to, it just doesn't write the value of my variables in the
file.

Chris W

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

Chris W wrote:

Gunnar Hjalmarsson wrote:

open CARTFILE, ">$orderdir/$cartFileName" or die $!;
I took my long or die thing out to simplify

I suggest that you take it back. You should make it a habit to never
"simplify" that way, btw.
and that obviously isn't the problem,
That's not obvious to me.
since as I said in my first message, the file is being created and
written to, it just doesn't write the value of my variables in the
file.

If the variables are populated (which they obviously are if their
content is printed to the screen), I find it very hard to believe that
the script would actually print to the file and still exclude the
variables. Maybe there is just an old file copy, and nothing gets
printed. Maybe, since the filename seems to be dependent on some
cookie, there is a cookie problem... You would get a clue if you
checked the return value of that open statement.

--
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
Email: http://www.gunnar.cc/cgi-bin/contact.pl

[Chris W]

Gunnar Hjalmarsson wrote:

If the variables are populated (which they obviously are if their
content is printed to the screen), I find it very hard to believe that
the script would actually print to the file and still exclude the
variables.
I find it hard to believe too, that's why I have tested it a million
times and, that is exactly what happens if I use any browser except
Netscape 4.7
Maybe there is just an old file copy, and nothing gets
printed.
The file name is based on the time of day and every time I run the
script it creates a new file I now have about 50 files with a first line
that looks like "$ - -", so I know that's not the problem. Another
script down the road also has not problem adding other data to the file,
which makes it even more difficult to believe.
Maybe, since the filename seems to be dependent on some
cookie, there is a cookie problem... You would get a clue if you
checked the return value of that open statement.

adding to or die in there doesn't change anything.
I Just did some experimenting and noticed something odd. . . if I change

open CARTFILE, ">$conf::orderdir/$cartFileName" or die $!;
#the file should already exist at this point

to

open CARTFILE, ">>$conf::orderdir/$cartFileName" or die $!;

Then the first line of the file is exactly like I want it to be, but it
also prints a second line that doesn't have any values, just the " - -
$"

So what does that tell you?

--
Chris W

[Chris W]

Chris W wrote:

I Just did some experimenting and noticed something odd. . . if I change

open CARTFILE, ">$conf::orderdir/$cartFileName" or die $!;
#the file should already exist at this point

to

open CARTFILE, ">>$conf::orderdir/$cartFileName" or die $!;

Then the first line of the file is exactly like I want it to be, but it
also prints a second line that doesn't have any values, just the " - -
$"

I forgot to mention that again it works in netscape 4.7 as I expect it
to, it is only when I use any other browser that it has the problem.

Chris W

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

Chris W wrote:

Gunnar Hjalmarsson wrote:

Maybe, since the filename seems to be dependent on some cookie,
there is a cookie problem... You would get a clue if you checked
the return value of that open statement.

adding to or die in there doesn't change anything.

I Just did some experimenting and noticed something odd. . . if I
change

open CARTFILE, ">$conf::orderdir/$cartFileName" or die $!;
#the file should already exist at this point

to

open CARTFILE, ">>$conf::orderdir/$cartFileName" or die $!;

Then the first line of the file is exactly like I want it to be,
but it also prints a second line that doesn't have any values, just
the " - - $"

So what does that tell you?

Not much. What happens if you hardcode the file name instead of
relying on the cookie value?

--
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
Email: http://www.gunnar.cc/cgi-bin/contact.pl

[Chris W]

Gunnar Hjalmarsson wrote:

Not much. What happens if you hardcode the file name instead of
relying on the cookie value?

Same thing. I decied to look in my access long and found these
interesting entries.

When I run the script from IE or Opera or Netscape 7.1 I get this. . .

"POST /cgi-bin/addToCart.pl HTTP/1.1" 200 6473
"GET /cgi-bin/addToCart.pl? HTTP/1.1" 200 6417

When I use netscape 4.7 I get this in the long

"POST /cgi-bin/addToCart.pl HTTP/1.0" 200 6521
"GET /cgi-bin/? HTTP/1.0" 403 286

That has to have something to do with it

--
Chris W

[Alex Zeng]

Instead of

print CARTFILE "...";

You should try

printf CARFILE "....";

printf prints content to a file.

"Chris W" <ch*****@cox.net> wrote in message
news:3F**************@cox.net...

Ok here is the code.

#!c:\perl\bin\perl.exe
use CGI qw(:standard);
use CGI::Carp qw/fatalsToBrowser/;
require 'config.pl';

##############################
###Variables in question######
$item = param("item");
$qty = param("qty");
$price = param("price");
##############################

$cartFileName = CGI::cookie("CartFile");
$total = $qty * $price;
$shipping = "\$3.00";
$gtotalstr = sprintf "%9.2f", ($total + 3 + ($total * $tax));
$taxstr = sprintf "%9.2f", ($total * $tax);
$totalstr = sprintf "%9.2f", $total;

################################################## ################
#########I have moved this code to various places and still no joy
################################################## ################
open CARTFILE, ">$orderdir/$cartFileName";
print CARTFILE "$item - $qty - \$$price\n"; #THIS IS WHAT DOESN'T
WORK.
######the two "-"s and the "$" are all that's in the file.
close CARTFILE;

print CGI::header();
open TEMPLET, "<$cgidir/cart.html";
while(<TEMPLET>){
print;
if(/BODY GOES HERE/){

##########################################
#######This all prints as expected########
print "<br><br>$item - $qty - \$$price\n<BR><BR>";

print <<"[END]";

Sub Total:\$$totalstr<br>
Tax :\$$taxstr<br>
Shipping :$shipping<br>
Total :\$$gtotalstr<br>
<FORM ACTION="$hcgidir/GetPayment.pl" METHOD=POST>
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="total" VALUE="$total">
Please select payment method.<br>
<input type="radio" name="paymentType" value="CreditCard">Credit
Card
<input type="radio" name="paymentType" value="Check">Mail Check
<INPUT TYPE="submit" name="submit" value="Continue">
</FORM>
<br>
</form>

[END]

}#end if
} #end while templet

--
Chris W

[Jürgen Exner]

Alex Zeng wrote:

Instead of

print CARTFILE "...";

You should try

printf CARFILE "....";
Why do you think a formatted print without a format would solve any problem?
printf prints content to a file.

True. Just as print() does.
Actually neither print nor printf care much about where CARFILE is pointing
to. It could be a file, could be printer, could be a port, could be a
monitor, could be anything else.

jue

[Alex Zeng]

My Bad, I got confused with C/Perl. In C, printf is used to print to file

[Alex Zeng]

I saw the script was running on Windows platform, could that be because of
the pathname of a file is different from Linux? Like

$order_dir/$cart_file_name

shall really be:

$order_dir\\$cart_file_name ???

Print out the filename, and see if it follows the MS Window file naming
convention.

"Chris W" <ch*****@cox.net> wrote in message
news:3F**************@cox.net...

Ok here is the code.

#!c:\perl\bin\perl.exe
use CGI qw(:standard);
use CGI::Carp qw/fatalsToBrowser/;
require 'config.pl';

##############################
###Variables in question######
$item = param("item");
$qty = param("qty");
$price = param("price");
##############################

$cartFileName = CGI::cookie("CartFile");
$total = $qty * $price;
$shipping = "\$3.00";
$gtotalstr = sprintf "%9.2f", ($total + 3 + ($total * $tax));
$taxstr = sprintf "%9.2f", ($total * $tax);
$totalstr = sprintf "%9.2f", $total;

################################################## ################
#########I have moved this code to various places and still no joy
################################################## ################
open CARTFILE, ">$orderdir/$cartFileName";
print CARTFILE "$item - $qty - \$$price\n"; #THIS IS WHAT DOESN'T
WORK.
######the two "-"s and the "$" are all that's in the file.
close CARTFILE;

print CGI::header();
open TEMPLET, "<$cgidir/cart.html";
while(<TEMPLET>){
print;
if(/BODY GOES HERE/){

##########################################
#######This all prints as expected########
print "<br><br>$item - $qty - \$$price\n<BR><BR>";

print <<"[END]";

Sub Total:\$$totalstr<br>
Tax :\$$taxstr<br>
Shipping :$shipping<br>
Total :\$$gtotalstr<br>
<FORM ACTION="$hcgidir/GetPayment.pl" METHOD=POST>
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="total" VALUE="$total">
Please select payment method.<br>
<input type="radio" name="paymentType" value="CreditCard">Credit
Card
<input type="radio" name="paymentType" value="Check">Mail Check
<INPUT TYPE="submit" name="submit" value="Continue">
</FORM>
<br>
</form>

[END]

}#end if
} #end while templet

--
Chris W

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

Alex Zeng wrote:

I saw the script was running on Windows platform, could that be
because of the pathname of a file is different from Linux? Like

$order_dir/$cart_file_name

shall really be:

$order_dir\\$cart_file_name ???

Print out the filename, and see if it follows the MS Window file
naming convention.

There is no such need. '/' can well (and should better) be used as the
directory separator when writing paths in Perl, whether the program
shall be run on Unix/Linux or Windows.

--
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
Email: http://www.gunnar.cc/cgi-bin/contact.pl

[Chris W]

I figured it out last night. I started thinking about the templet file
my script was reading and printing around it's dynamic output. There is
a lot of java script in there and I was wondering if that was making it
reload, so I commented out the parts that read in the templet with all
the java script and low and behold problem solved :) Now all I need to
do is figure out why the java script is making my script reload and how
to stop it.

Here is a link to just the templet file with out any of the dynamic data
from the script in case anyone cares to look at java script.

http://cdw.homelinux.com:8086/Cart.html

--
Chris W

"They that can give up essential liberty
to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, 1759 Historical Review of Pennsylvania

[Chris W]

Chris W wrote:

I figured it out last night. I started thinking about the templet file
my script was reading and printing around it's dynamic output. There is
a lot of java script in there and I was wondering if that was making it
reload, so I commented out the parts that read in the templet with all
the java script and low and behold problem solved :) Now all I need to
do is figure out why the java script is making my script reload and how
to stop it.

Here is a link to just the templet file with out any of the dynamic data
from the script in case anyone cares to look at java script.

http://cdw.homelinux.com:8086/Cart.html

got this reply on a java script ng and it fixed the problem
This line:
<body BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#106BA5" VLINK="#A56B10"
ALINK="#FF00FF" BACKGROUND="?">

Is trying to load a background image named "?".
That's what's causing that second hit.

Thanks for everyone's help in trouble shooting and giving me other ideas
for improvement.
--
Chris W

"They that can give up essential liberty
to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, 1759 Historical Review of Pennsylvania

[WinickWatch]

This line:
<body BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#106BA5" VLINK="#A56B10"
ALINK="#FF00FF" BACKGROUND="?">

Is trying to load a background image named "?".
That's what's causing that second hit.

Thanks for everyone's help in trouble shooting and giving me other ideas
for improvement.

Wow! A "?" caused all the problems!!!! Uggh