updated 4 January 2010

Bill Weinman · CGI Essential Training

CGI Essential Training teaches the skills required to build CGI (Common Gateway Interface) scripts that allow web forms to interact with applications on a web server. You will learn how CGI can be used for simple interactive applications written in any programming language; how to use HTML templates, hidden fields, and other techniques for building web applications.

Topics include:

• Understanding the server requirements for CGI
• Installing CGI scripts on Unix and Windows servers
• Coding form elements into an HTML page
• Keeping context with hidden fields on a web form
• Best practices for creating CGI content

Asking for help

If you have been viewing CGI Essential Training on lynda.com and you need help, the help request form on lynda.com is designed to help you by collecting the necessary information as you submit your request. If you choose to write directly to me for help please be sure to include the following information:

• What course are you taking?
• What lesson are you on?
• What operating system and version are you running (e.g., Mac OSX 10.6.1, or Windows XP SP3)?
• What browser and version are you using?
• You may copy/paste this browser user-agent string:
  CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html)
• What hosting provider and server type (Windows or Unix) are you using to run your CGI scripts?
• A full detailed description of the problem.

I strive to provide the best courses I can and I want to help you succeed in your learning adventure. I will do everything I can to help you, with the information and resources I have available.