Beginning Perl Web Development (eBook)

Steve Suehring is the security editor for LinuxWorld Magazine. He has written articles for Linux Magazine and authored a book titled MySQL. Suehring has also edited a number of titles on Linux and open source software. He has been working with closed and open source software for a number of years.

Contents at a Glance 4
Contents 6
About the Author 14
About the Technical Reviewer 16
Acknowledgments 18
Introduction 20
PART 1 CGI Development with Perl 22
CHAPTER 1 The CGI Module 24
An Overview of CGI 24
What You Need for This Chapter 25
Hello World, CGI Style 26
A Closer Look at the CGI.pm Functions 32
Environment Variables 44
Interaction with the System 47
Debugging and Troubleshooting 48
Security Considerations with CGI Programs 52
Summary 55
CHAPTER 2 Popular CGI Modules 56
Integration with Other Modules 56
Interaction Based on Environment Variables 66
Security Considerations with CGI Modules 68
Summary 68
CHAPTER 3 Databases and Perl 70
Interacting with a Database 70
Using SQL Databases with the DBI 76
Interacting with the Web 86
Troubleshooting Database Interaction 91
Security Considerations with Data Access 91
Summary 92
CHAPTER 4 System Interaction 94
Perl Scripts and the Operating System 94
Working with Filehandles 94
Uploading Files with CGI.pm 98
Working with System Processes 104
Security Considerations with System Interaction 106
Summary 107
PART 2 Internet Interaction with LWP and Net::Tools 108
CHAPTER 5 LWP Modules 110
Getting Started with the LWP 110
HTTP from 29,999 Feet 111
Keeping It Simple with LWP::Simple 113
Getting More Functionality with LWP::UserAgent 117
Using the LWP 118
Removing HTML Tags from a Page 124
Security Considerations with the LWP 125
Summary 126
CHAPTER 6 Net:: Tools 128
Checking E-Mail with Net::POP3 128
Checking E-Mail with Mail::Box 138
Sending E-Mail with SMTP 139
Checking DNS with Net::DNS 146
Sending a Ping with Net::Ping 149
Security Considerations with Net:: Modules 154
Summary 154
PART 3 XML and RSS 156
CHAPTER 7 SOAP-Based Web Services 158
A Quick SOAP Primer 158
SOAP Meets Perl: SOAP::Lite 160
Creating a SOAP Listener 167
Consuming a SOAP Web Service 169
Security Considerations with SOAP Web Services 173
Summary 173
CHAPTER 8 Perl and RSS 174
RSS: Versioning Fun 174
Reading RSS with XML::RSS 175
Writing RSS with XML::RSS 180
Security Considerations with RSS 183
Summary 184
CHAPTER 9 XML Parsing with Perl 186
XML Parsing Methods 186
XML Parsing Considerations 187
Parsing XML with XML::Simple 187
Parsing XML with XML::SAX 193
Using Tree-Based Parsing 200
Security Considerations with XML Parsing 201
Summary 201
PART 4 Performance Enhancement with mod_perl 202
CHAPTER 10 Apache and mod_perl 204
How Apache Handles Requests 204
mod_cgi vs. mod_perl 208
Apache::Registry vs. Apache::PerlRun 210
mod_perl Installation 214
From mod_cgi to mod_perl 220
Security Considerations with mod_perl 221
Summary 221
CHAPTER 11 Development with mod_perl 222
Thinking in mod_perl 222
Preloading Perl Modules 228
Working with the Apache Request Object 230
Working with the Apache Server 247
Security Considerations with mod_perl, Revisited 250
Summary 251
PART 5 Creating Web Templates 252
CHAPTER 12 The Template Toolkit 254
Perl and Templates 254
Template Toolkit Introduction 255
Template Toolkit Syntax 261
Building a Web Site with Template::Toolkit 278
Security Considerations 283
Summary 283
CHAPTER 13 Perl Web Sites with Mason 284
Introducing Mason 284
Installing Mason 286
Mason Syntax 290
Building a Web Site with Mason 299
Security Considerations with Mason 302
Summary 302
APPENDIX Perl Basics 304
Our First Perl Program 304
Types of Data 306
Operators 314
Variables 327
Variable Interpolation 334
The if Statement 336
Looping Constructs 347
The while Loop 347
Loop Control Constructs 354
Summary 359
Index 360