Guest Book Cgi

#!c:/Perl/bin/Perl.exe

use strict; # enforce declarations and quoting
use CGI qw(:standard); # import shortcuts

sub bail { # function to handle errors gracefully
    my $error = "@_";
    print h1("Unexpected Error"), p($error), end_html;
    die $error;
}

my(
   $CHATNAME,   # name of guestbook file
    $MAXSAVE,   # how many to keep
    $TITLE,     # page title and header
    $cur,       # new entry in the guestbook
    @entries,   # all cur entries
    $entry,     # one particular entry
    $LOCK_EX,   # hardcoded value for flock
);

$LOCK_EX = 2;   # hardcoded value for flock

$TITLE = "Simple Guestbook";
$CHATNAME = "chatfile"; # wherever makes sense on your system
$MAXSAVE = 10;
print header, start_html($TITLE), h1($TITLE);
$cur = CGI->new(); # current request
if ($cur->param("message")) { # good, we got a message
    $cur->param("date", scalar localtime); # current time
    @entries = ($cur); # save message to array
}

# open the file for read-write (preserving old contents)
open(CHANDLE, "+< $CHATNAME") ||
    bail("cannot open $CHATNAME: $!");
# get exclusive lock on the guestbook 
# ($LOCK_EX == exclusive lock)
flock(CHANDLE, $LOCK_EX) || bail("cannot flock $CHATNAME: $!");

# grab up to $MAXSAVE old entries, newest first
while (!eof(CHANDLE) && @entries < $MAXSAVE) {
    # pass the filehandle by reference
    $entry = CGI->new(/*CHANDLE);
    push @entries, $entry;
}
seek(CHANDLE, 0, 0) || bail("cannot rewind $CHATNAME: $!");
foreach $entry (@entries) {
    $entry->save(/*CHANDLE); # pass the filehandle by reference
}
truncate(CHANDLE, tell(CHANDLE)) ||
    bail("cannot truncate $CHATNAME: $!");
close(CHANDLE) || bail("cannot close $CHATNAME: $!");

print hr, start_form; # hr() emits html horizontal rule: <HR>
print p("Name:", $cur->textfield(
    -NAME => "name"));
print p("Message:", $cur->textfield(
    -NAME => "message",
    -OVERRIDE => 1, # clears previous message
    -SIZE => 50));
print p(submit("send"), reset("clear"));
print end_form, hr;
print h2("Prior Messages");
foreach $entry (@entries) {
    printf("%s [%s]: %s",
    $entry->param("date"),
    $entry->param("name"),
    $entry->param("message"));
    print br();
}
print end_html;