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The Scripts Menu area allows you to use some pre-installed scripts through CPanel. This section contains information about using these scripts, as well as using scripts in general.
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Introduction To CGI
CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a standard for running external programs from a Web server. CGI allows the returned HTML page to be dynamic - for example, with a CGI script you could access information in a database and format the results as part of an HTML page. Not surprisingly, CGI scripts are very popular and used extensively throughout the World Wide Web.
There are a number of very good introduction to CGI documents available on the Web. The information given below is a summary of the most important points to remember when using CGI. Please refer to the following for a more in-depth introduction:
Key points to bear in mind when using CGI scripts:
- The pre installed scripts available through CPanel are the easiest to use, but if a certain script does not do exactly what you want, feel free to look for better scripts on the Web. You can usually find a script to do almost anything, especially if you are prepared to pay.
- Read all available documentation on a particular script before using it. This will help avoid most problems.
- CHMOD ("Change Mode") means change the permissions on a particular file (usually the script itself). The CPanel File Manager allows you to quickly do this, as do most FTP tools.
- Important - after uploading cgi-bin scripts, CHMOD to 755 (unless the script documentation specifically states otherwise).
- Many scripts need to know the path to Perl (scripting language engine) and to sendmail (HTTP mail engine). You can find this information on the front page of CPanel.
- Make sure you test your scripts repeatedly! Testing is vital to make sure everything is working to your satisfaction.
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Interchange Shopping Cart
The Interchange Shopping Cart is a fully-featured shopping cart that can be installed with the click of a button. The product is fully documented at the Interchange site - please refer to the Interchange web site if you have any questions about using the shopping cart.
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Agora Shopping Cart
The Agora Shopping Cart is a fully-featured shopping cart that can be installed with the click of a button. The product is fully documented at the Agora site - please refer to the Agora web site if you have any questions about using the shopping cart.
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XMB Forum
The XMB Forum is a PHP web-based message board. Unlike an email list or newsgroup, the XMB Forum creates a forum on your web site that allows users to post questions and receive replies, all from their web browser. This allows you to choose from a variety of graphical interfaces and smilies - little faces that communicate the mood of the writer . Once a forum has been created you can modify it extensively, from adding new sub-forums to changing the visual appearance of the board. Be sure to visit the XMB Forum web site - http://www.xmbforum.com/ - for more information on how to customize and use your XMB Forum.
Note: Keep in mind that each separate installation of XMB forum takes up approximately 2.7MB, and will grow in size with the popularity of the forum.
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CGIwrap
The CGIwrap script creates a scgi-bin folder at the public_html level of your web site. This allows you to run scripts with your own user ID.
The advantage of this is that you can run scripts that have the same permissions that you do - you can write, edit, and delete files as you normally do. In a regular cgi-bin folder, you can only do this if you set your directory permissions to 777 (world access) and file permissions to 666, both of which are quite dangerous as anyone can now modify your web site.
The disadvantage of this is that if there is a security breach in your script that another person can exploit, they have access to your site in the same manner that you do - they can do anything. However, as long as the scripts you run in the scgi-bin directory are secure, you have nothing to worry about.
Be sure to read the CGIwrap user guide for more detailed information on using CGIwrap.
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FormMail-clone
One of the most popular form to e-mail scripts available is FormMail, by Matt Wright. FormMail-clone is a clone of FormMail.cgi under a less restrictive license. It behaves almost exactly as FormMail.cgi, but it is completely written from scratch so there may be a few minor visual differences.
Note: nms Formmail has been developed to replace FormMail by the Perl community. It is highly recommended that you use or replace Matt's scripts with the nms version. The scripts are more secure, have removed many of the bugs, and are supported. Please read the documentation carefully and set the security so that the script can not be hijacked by spammers.
The following steps provide quick installation instructions for FormMail. Be sure to read the FormMail README file for more detailed information about customizing FormMail.
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