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  • Fundamentals of Web Programming: Lecture 7: HTTP & CGI

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    Akira Tsubaki
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    This document summarizes a lecture on HTTP and CGI. It discusses the anatomy of URLs, how HTTP works as a client-server protocol, and the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) standard. CGI allows dynamic web pages through scripts or programs that receive input from HTTP requests and return output to the client. Pitfalls of CGI include resource requirements, portability issues, and ensuring server independence.

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    CGI and Perl

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    This document summarizes a lecture on HTTP and CGI. It discusses the anatomy of URLs, how HTTP works as a client-server protocol, and the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) standard. CGI allows dynamic web pages through scripts or programs that receive input from HTTP requests and return output to the client. Pitfalls of CGI include resource requirements, portability issues, and ensuring server independence.

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    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    10 views18 pages

    Fundamentals of Web Programming: Lecture 7: HTTP & CGI

    Uploaded by

    Akira Tsubaki
    This document summarizes a lecture on HTTP and CGI. It discusses the anatomy of URLs, how HTTP works as a client-server protocol, and the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) standard. CGI allows dynamic web pages through scripts or programs that receive input from HTTP requests and return output to the client. Pitfalls of CGI include resource requirements, portability issues, and ensuring server independence.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 18

    Fundamentals of

    Web Programming
    Lecture 7: HTTP & CGI

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 1


    Today’s Topics
    • Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
    • Common Gateway Interface (CGI)

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 2


    URLs and URIs
    • Used interchangeably:
    – URL: Uniform Resource Locator
    – URI: Uniform Resource Identifier
    • URLs can use one of many
    different protocols:
    – ftp://…
    – news://…
    – http://… (our focus today: http URLs)

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 3


    Anatomy of a URL
    • http://host[:port][/path][?search]
    • Examples:
    – Host
    • http://localhost
    • http://www.cnn.com
    – Port
    • http://localhost:80

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 4


    Anatomy of a URL
    • Examples
    – Path
    • http://localhost/new.html
    – Search
    • http://localhost/mirror.cgi?arg=val

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 5


    HTTP
    • Client-Server Communication
    – The Browser is the Client
    – The Web Site is the Server
    • Client Request: HTTP request
    • Server Response: HTTP response

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 6


    HTTP Communication
    1. Extract Host Part of URL http://www.cnn.com/index.html
    2. Get IP address from DNS 207.25.71.28
    3. Establish TCP/IP connection to Host

    4. Send HTTP Request


    Hello!
    GET /index.html

    5. Wait for Response

    Content/type: text/html
    <html><body>
    <h1>Hello!</h1>...
    Browser
    6. Render Response

    Web Server
    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 7
    HTTP Is Stateless
    • A stateless protocol doesn’t
    remember anything from one
    transaction to another (all
    transactions are independent)
    • Workarounds:
    – Use INPUT with TYPE=HIDDEN to
    store state information
    – use cookies to store state information

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 8


    CGI: Common Gateway
    Interface
    • Standard interface supports server
    programming in a variety of ways:
    – Unix shell scripts
    – PERL scripts
    – C, C++ programs
    – Java servlets
    – ASP
    – etc.

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 9


    CGI Protocol
    7. Closes Connection 1. Notice URL is a program
    2. Prepare the environment
    3. Launch script/program
    Hello!

    CGI Program
    4. Send Header
    5. Send Content
    6. Exit

    Browser
    Content-type: text/html

    8. Display Content <html><body>


    Web Server <h1>Hello!</h1>
    </body></html>

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 10


    CGI Advantages
    • Allows dynamic control of “pages”
    • Examples:
    – counters
    – customized pages (user prefs)
    – interactions with state
    (server ‘remembers’ data from
    request to request; e.g., shopping
    basket)

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 11


    CGI Pitfalls
    • Resource Requirements
    • Resource Contention
    • Where to Store Scripts?
    – Stored in one directory, managed
    centrally
    – Stored in several directories,
    distributed management

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 12


    CGI Pitfalls
    • Portability
    – Yes: Perl, C, C++
    – No: VBasic, Unix shell scripts
    • Server Independence
    – File paths (data)
    – Program location (support functions)

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 13


    CGI Methods
    • GET: Information is sent directly in
    the URL
    • POST: Information is sent via
    STDIN stream

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 14


    CGI Variables
    • REQUEST_METHOD: GET | POST
    • QUERY_STRING: the data sent
    • CONTENT_LENGTH: the amount of
    data
    • If you use a CGI support library
    (e.g., CGI.pm), this is taken care
    of automatically

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 15


    Standard Variables
    • See list on p. 875 of the text
    • Try the mirror.cgi program on the
    course server

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 16


    URL Encoding
    • Special chars (&, +) must be
    escaped
    – ‘&’ = %25; ‘ ’ = %20
    • CONTENT_TYPE indicates the style
    of encoding
    • If you use a CGI support library,
    this is taken care of for you
    • Example: basket.cgi with GET
    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 17
    Complete Example
    • Simple Shopping Basket
    • See script basket.cgi on the course
    server

    Lecture 7: HTTP and CGI 18

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