Re: [MacPerl-WebCGI] CGI/WebSTAR problem

[David Steffen <steffen@biomedcomp.com>]

Thorsten Dittmar wrote:

>I've used Perl on Linux to write a webshop, which now needs to be ported to
>the Mac. It works as follows: there's a set of database files [and] 
>... on the Mac ... some product categories are not entirely 
>displayed.  Mr. Neeracher said there was a limit to the amount of 
>data a CGI Script can handle (32KB or 64KB).  Are there workarounds?

I don't know the answer, but I have a couple of ideas:

1) Despite being Mr. ".acgi considered harmful", I would try changing 
your script from a .cgi to an .acgi just as an experiment.  You 
probably will have to turn on autoflush:

$| = 1;

...as well.

Finally you need to make sure that your CGI prints its output a 
little at a time (e.g. a line at a time or a small record at a time) 
for this to solve your problem.  If this works, it is because each 
AppleEvent will contain only a small part of your output.  It will 
also have the advantage that the client will see output a little at a 
time as well, which can be reassuring if the output takes a long time 
to generate.

If your application receives extremely light useage, e.g. only one 
person is likely to access it at a time, and/or if a certain degree 
of unreliability is acceptable, this might work.  I have done this 
for a research application where the client needed a solution on a 
Mac RIGHT NOW and was willing to reset the Mac every now and again.

2) Have your script send output to a temporary HTML file, and once 
this is complete, have your CGI send a redirect to that file.  You 
will also need to provide for deletion of temporary files once they 
have been used.  This is a real kludge, but depending on how 
desperate you are...

3) Depending on why you need to do this on a Mac, Chris Nandor's 
solution of using WebTen or the more extreme version of running Linux 
on your Mac would solve the problem cleanly, easily, and completely.

-David Steffen-
David Steffen, Ph.D.
President, Biomedical Computing, Inc. <http://www.biomedcomp.com/>
Phone: (713) 610-9770 FAX: (713) 610-9769 E-mail: steffen@biomedcomp.com

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