changing content via another page (using a form)

[josephman1988]

What i want to do, is have content on a homepage, which can be edited via a form on a restricted page.

E.G.

I have news on home page, when i go to a restricted page (e.g. mysite.co.uk/admin) i am produced a form which if i type in, then enter, the news on the homepage is changed.

I can do this on a single page, but on a separate page is a bit confusing at the moment:

CGI:

my $query = new CGI;
my $name = $query->param("name");
my $message = $query->param("message");
 
if ($query->param('action') eq 'insert') {
open (INSERT,">>msg.txt");
print INSERT "$name|$message\n";
close(INSERT);
 
      }
 
open (READ,"msg.txt");
my @loop_data = ();  
while (<READ>) {
chomp $_;
my ($db_name,$db_message) = split(/\|/, $_);
my %row_data;  
 
$row_data{NAME} = $db_name;
$row_data{MESSAGE} = $db_message;
 
 push(@loop_data, \%row_data);
}
 
      close(READ);
 
my $template = HTML::Template->new(filename => 'contactus.tmpl');
$template->param(LOOP => \@loop_data);  template
print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n";
print $template->output;
 
 

TMPL:
[html]<TMPL_LOOP NAME="LOOP">
<strong>Name:</strong> <TMPL_VAR NAME="NAME"> <br />
<strong>Message:</strong> <TMPL_VAR NAME="MESSAGE"> <br /><br />
</TMPL_LOOP>
<form action='contactus.cgi' enctype='multipart/form-data' method='post'>
Name:<br />
<input type="text" name="name" /><br />
Message:<br />
<input type="text" name="message" /><br /><br />
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="insert">
<input type='submit' value='submit' />
</form>[/html]Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[KevinADC]

Whats your question?

[josephman1988]

I want to know 'how' to do this.

Will the method be much different from the code already produced?

[KevinADC]

Sorry, I re-read your first post and I still don't know what it is you are asking or want to know how to do.

[josephman1988]

Ok, it's my fault for not explaining properly but:

(apologies if links aren't allowed)

My home page
www.southeastghosttours.co.uk
has several content 'blocks', one of which being a news section.

Instead of accessing the source code directly to change it then uploading it, i want to add a page, for example:

www.southeastghosttours.co.uk/admin
which will present a form.
anything typed then submitted into this form, will change that block of news.

If it is still confusing, il add a image explanation.

[eWish]

Just write a script for display purposes then write a separate script ( called admin.pl or whatever ) that will allow you to write to the msg.txt file. Then place the admin.pl file in a protected directory.

[josephman1988]

theres 3 parts to the 2 codes above.

The cgi script that does the work.
The form in the TMPL and the loop display above it.

So, would i make a page admin.pl which contains the form?
I type into the form,
keep the CGI seperate which does the work?
Then the cgi script does the work.
keep the <loop> display on the 'home' tmpl document.
And its finaly displayed on the home page

So when i type into the form, it will change the content yes?

if so, how does the home.tmpl document call the data being inputted on the admin page?

[josephman1988]

I maged to figure out how it worked, so thanks anyway.

Now, I have a 'slightly' different problem.

I have /admin/news.cgi
this has a form which provides the form action.

Basically, when i enter the information, it works, but when i redirect back to the page later, its gone.
How am i supposed to store it there?

The process:

my $query = new CGI;
my $date = $query->param("date");
my $news = $query->param("news");
my $template = HTML::Template->new(filename => 'home.tmpl');
 
if ($query->param('action') eq 'insert') {
open (INSERT,">/home/news.txt");
print INSERT "$date|$news\n";
close(INSERT);
}
 
 
$template->param( 'date' => $date, 'news' => $news);
 
 
open (READ,"/home/news.txt");
 
my @data = <READ>;
 
close(READ);
 
foreach my $line (@data) {
(my $db_date, my $db_news) = split(/\|/,$line);
print "$db_date, $db_news<br>\n";
} 
 
print "Content-Type: text/html\n\n";
 
print $template->output; 

The tmpl:

<div id="hcn2">&gt; News - ( <TMPL_VAR NAME="DATE"> ) -
<ul>
<li><TMPL_VAR NAME="NEWS"></li>
</ul>
</div>

Help will be great, thanks. =]

[eWish]

Joseph,

I put together a sample script that shows how to do some of the things you have asked in this thread. I have also added some comments for you. I have attached the sample files.

--eWish