Comment Boxes

[C.Whyte]

How hard is it to add comment boxes at the bottom of an html page, such as (for example) the comment area at the bottom of the stories from the site www.thephatphree.com ? Is it just like designing a guestbook? Anyone have any easy code?

[ALL]

well, you have to use a scripting language like php, asp, perl, python, coldfusion, asp.net, exc...

the html they use is:

<table cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="0" width="400" border="0">
	<tr>
		<td class="sectionName" colSpan="2">
		<div align="center">
			POST A COMMENT</div>
		</td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td class="copy" colSpan="2"><em>All Fields are required.</em></td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td class="sectionName">name: </td>
		<td><input name="CommentName"></td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td class="sectionName">email: </td>
		<td><input name="CommentEmail"></td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td class="sectionName">TITLE:</td>
		<td><input name="CommentTitle"></td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td class="sectionName" vAlign="top">Comment: </td>
		<td><textarea name="CommentComment" rows="10" cols="75"></textarea></td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td>&nbsp;</td>
		<td><input type="hidden" value="1576" name="CommentStoryID">
		<input type="hidden" value="1576" name="StoryID">
		<input type="hidden" value="11" name="SectionID">
		<input type="hidden" value="2005" name="StoryYear">
		<input type="hidden" value="10" name="StoryMonth">
		<input type="hidden" value="1" name="IsPostBack">
		<input class="submit" type="submit" value="Add Comment" name="Submit"><input class="submit" type="reset" value="Reset Form" name="Reset"><p>
		&nbsp;</td>
	</tr>
</table>

[C.Whyte]

Great, I'll toy around with it for a while, thanks for the help!

[C.Whyte]

I have the form all set up, but now I have come across another problem. I guess I have to have form method ="post" and my action="www.cwp.com/comment.cgi

Basically I don't know anything about .cgi

I know it works in unison with htm/html, but i'm not sure what to do. Do I make a new page and save it as a .cgi or do I have to put an editable region on my page?

I'm really not sure how .cgi files work and are set up. Any help on this subject would be golden.

Thanks.

[ALL]

coming from somone who prefers working with perl (aka: cgi)...

they are pretty simple to setup. first, upload the file as .pl or .cgi then...

in ftp set the file permissions to "execute" on all of them, (the chmod is: 755, or 777 [use 755 if it works, before using 777]).

then try running it.

if the server keeps coming up with an error try:
open the file...
the first line has something like: #!usr/bin/perl or #!usr/bin/local/perl

swap them around so if the one with the local is there change it to the other one.

if still dont work, pm it to me

[C.Whyte]

wow man, I'm having a tough time... I think I just keep getting confused about everything. Lets say I have a page that i wrote with dreamweaver, and the page is in html and I want to put the perl script at the bottom of it (ie the comment boxes). I've cut and paste the code you wrote a few posts above into the bottom of the page.

So I figure so far so good, but now I am getting super confused. I guess the first part I am confused apart is the "send" function. I have checked out some other people's code and found that their send method is something as follows:

 <form method="post" action="http://www.cwhyteforpresident.com/comments.cgi" name="comments_form" >

I'm just confused as to what the next step is... and I don't think I am doing it right .

Don't I have to do something with the cgi_bin?

Sorry, I'm just really having a hard time with this.

[ALL]

since you are new to this whole website stuff, if i were you, i would use php rather than perl! php is much eassier to setup, and to run; perl on the other hand is hard to setup and maintain.

the differences are: php is userfriendly, perl (i have heard) runns a little faster, and perl (i have heard) can do more (spacifically to the system).

if you want a comment box, i they are simple to make.

and yes, they do use the <form> method, (i must not have copied it or something:

<form name=frmComments action=features.asp method=post onSubmit='return comments_validate();'>

if you want a small php code to do that, just browse the net, or maybe dave has one here in his 'php library'.

if you are still having trubble, just ask, and i'll see about helping, or making you one.

-ALL

[the9ulaire]

hey, I found this through a google search the other day for comment box html codes. Well, I'm pretty new to all this, so I'm really not sure where to go after I paste the html code that was first posted on this thread.

[HTML]

The code here is simply the HTML that sends the input to whatever script you are using. I may not understand what exactly your question is but something is telling me that there may not be a script yet (?).

Dave

[the9ulaire]

yes, yes, you are correct, sorry, I probably should have been a little more clear with my post. I am wanting to make available commentboxes, yet I have practically no knowledge as how to do it.

[HTML]

You will need to start a new thread in the appropriate script forum stating exactly what you want the script to do. What functions do you need, what purpose do you wish to accomplish with this script etc.

Dave

[C.Whyte]

yes, yes, you are correct, sorry, I probably should have been a little more clear with my post. I am wanting to make available commentboxes, yet I have practically no knowledge as how to do it.

Apparantly it has to be written in php / perl. I am the one who started this thread and am still getting it answered (a slight delay), but when the great ALL has the time to help me, I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem with posting the code he used. My advice is to stick around and keep checking up on this thread, it will one day be anwered.