[MacPerl-AnyPerl] REMOTE_USER...Myabe not a Perl question

[Jason White <jason.white@usu.edu>]

We are writing a custom script for a class that runs under a course
management system (WebCT).  Many of the pages are dished up with server
parsing etc.  Our script runs from within the cgi-bin of the server
(Apache) and the form comes from what they term a 'path'.  Students log in
to the courses, whose authentication is managed by .htaccess... which means
their user name is available (or should be) to us via $ENV{'REMOTE_USER'}.
The problem is that REMOTE_USER comes in blank to us from within this form
(which is served up as a frame document in a window).  We have a templated
submission form to submit to the script.  Problem is, right now, we have to
ask the user to remember the ID....which presents a number of issues...1)
Privacy/Security 2) To prevent #1 we would have to write our own
authentication system 3) Doing #2 would create an even larger seam in the
interface since the student has already logged in once and should not have
to do so again.

Anyway, anyone have an idea why $ENV{'REMOTE_USER'} is coming up blank?  If
I create just a single page under the course directory with the code...

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "$ENV{'REMOTE_USER'}";

...and go to it, it gives me the remote user...and not just on the first
authentication.  I can go to it after authenticating and coming back and it
will give me the remote user's 'name'.

Does it have something to do with document structure, frames?  Thanks in
advance...

Jason
PS - The form is submitted using POST.


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