Building a site... what else do I need?

Hi:

I am building a site (unix/apache)and I am wondering if I have my
bases covered.

Issue 1: I need a login button on my page. All I really need is
something very basic; login name and password. I have found a few
free ones (I don't need any bells or whistles so I am considering one
of the few free ones). I don't even need directory protection or
anything. Do I have to use cgi scripts for this? Does anybody
recommend anything?

Issue 2: I am also needing a cgi for a very simple and basic function.
When a user clicks a form submit button, pass the user ID/name and
the form name to my email. Is this a simple matter of passing
REMOTE_USER to the email from section and form name "article12374" as
the subject?

Issue 3: I am also looking at setting up a multiple page form. Can
anyone point me to a few free ones? (I am not cheap, I just I don't
have much money to work with, lol)?

Any comments or help would greatly be appreciated.

TIA

Peter wrote:

Hi:

I am building a site (unix/apache)and I am wondering if I have my
bases covered.

The first two can be done with standard apache facilities:

1. Use .htaccess
2. Set up a /cgi-bin directory.

Issue 3: I am also looking at setting up a multiple page form.

This is done with GET or POST methods in the <FORM> tag. Both require

server side programs to process the data as it arrives from each page.

--
jmm dash list (at) sohnen-moe (dot) com
(Remove .AXSPAMGN for email)

jmm-list-gn <jmm-list.AXSPAMGN (AT) sohnen-moe (DOT) com> wrote

Peter wrote:
Hi:

I am building a site (unix/apache)and I am wondering if I have my
bases covered.

The first two can be done with standard apache facilities:
1. Use .htaccess
2. Set up a /cgi-bin directory.

Issue 3: I am also looking at setting up a multiple page form.

This is done with GET or POST methods in the <FORM> tag. Both require
server side programs to process the data as it arrives from each page.

Thanks...checking out my layout of folders, my final question... I do
not want directory/folder restrictions, all I want is a password
program, is that possible? If not, would it be possible to make an
empty folder with access to that?

Peter

Peter wrote:

Thanks...checking out my layout of folders, my final question... I do
not want directory/folder restrictions, all I want is a password
program, is that possible? If not, would it be possible to make an
empty folder with access to that?

You have not actually explained why you want a login. What is its

purpose? What does it restrict or protect?
If you feel compelled to write your own access program, search the
archives of the server side program you have chosen (PHP, perl, cgi,
shell, asp, jsp, whatever). Examples exist in abundance. Note that you
will most likely need to use HTTPS as well.
I have handled logins both ways. It depends on the application. If all
you want is to restrict access to a directory or even the whole site,
using .htaccess is the easiest method, is reasonably secure (esp. with the
digest method), and users are familiar with it.

--
jmm dash list (at) sohnen-moe (dot) com
(Remove .AXSPAMGN for email)

jmm-list-gn <jmm-list.AXSPAMGN (AT) sohnen-moe (DOT) com> wrote

Peter wrote:

Thanks...checking out my layout of folders, my final question... I do
not want directory/folder restrictions, all I want is a password
program, is that possible? If not, would it be possible to make an
empty folder with access to that?

You have not actually explained why you want a login. What is its
purpose? What does it restrict or protect?
If you feel compelled to write your own access program, search the
archives of the server side program you have chosen (PHP, perl, cgi,
shell, asp, jsp, whatever). Examples exist in abundance. Note that you
will most likely need to use HTTPS as well.
I have handled logins both ways. It depends on the application. If all
you want is to restrict access to a directory or even the whole site,
using .htaccess is the easiest method, is reasonably secure (esp. with the
digest method), and users are familiar with it.

Sorry for not explaining more. I am helping with a community site and
my section is kinda like a car-pool/availibility list/page. Members
would have a page for themselves listing info like area they work,
route they travel, times, etc. Now the login part. We can either
have another page just for the contact info (restricted pages for each
member); email addy, phone number, fax, etc, or (this my supervisor
actually came up with), click the "Contact Me" button on the person's
page and 1) if the user is logged in, automatically email us and we
would reply with the contact information. 2) If not logged in, login
and email us. Restricted directories/folders would automatically have
more space if we went this route.

I have created a few sample pages with hidden form names so that the
information required (user name=from (I think this would be
remote_user) and form name=subject) is available so that it can be
emailed to us automatically. I found a few email-form cgi's for this,
I think, lol).

I have a database with all the information so that all I have to do is
click a button and it automatically exports all the new members to web
pages. I even have a function that will match up the requested info
with the other member and email it. (I am still working on
automatically exporting from Outlook to Access to totally automate
it).

We are using frames;top, left and main to make things worse. I have
read very little good about frames, but that is what we/they are
using. I hope it doesn't complicate things, but "if it's easy, it
isn't interesting".