Web scripts--all brain dead (eg Shopping List)

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Web scripts--all brain dead (eg Shopping List)

by dmark :: Rate this Message:

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It isn't like there is a lot of coding that is required to fix these things--just a shift in thinking (or just start thinking period.) For those not in the know, these scripts don't share well across interfaces (not at all unless you use #$#@% framesets!) That's why they have been stuck with IA5 as their "state of the art" interface for all of these years. The only response I recall from the "MH Geniuses" a year back (in the user forum) is that these aren't CGI scripts (I had called them that at one point.) Good night. No they aren't technically CGI scripts. Call them faux-CGI scripts if you must, but that doesn't change anything (they are still flawed in exactly the same way they were when I downloaded them two years back.)

The scripts are located in Web/bin. I count 86 in SVN, but they aren't all used (many are just remnants.) There are a few that are "embedded" in common code (like the bar code reader page.) They all need the same treatment (and it would be good to get all CGI-like logic out of the common code modules!)

So lets look at the shopping list script as an example (written by the main idiot.) The primary goals are the ability to INCLUDE (server side) this stupid script in a page and the ability to use this page through a secure proxy (outside of the home's firewall.) These are not hard issues to address. I will refer to my (very old) rewrite of the shopping list script, which meeted these goals (had to as I wasn't about to make my interface frame-based!)

# Shopping List
# Version 1.68
# Matthew Williams
#
# $Revision: 435 $
# $Date: 2006-04-29 15:04:07 -0400 (Sat, 29 Apr 2006) $
#
# This file should be placed in mh/web/bin. I link to it through a my_mh page.
#
# If you want to be tricky, then this same script can be used to manage multiple lists.
# Just call the script this way: shopping_list.pl?listName=foobar
#
# Now, it will use the file pointer to by the mh param foobar_list
# The shopping_print... parameters are still used, regardless of which list is being processed.
#
# file pointed to by shopping_list should be populated like Windows .ini files
# with [categories] in square brackets and items=0
# e.g.
# [Fruits and Vegetables]
# Lettuce=0
# Tomatoes=0
# [Desserts]
# Cake=0
#
# If shopping_print_type is 'pipe':
# shopping_print will be fed an HTML file suitable for printing
# I suggest using html2ps to convert the html to postscript and then
# piping the output to lp
# e.g.
# shopping_print_type=pipe
# shopping_print=/usr/local/bin/html2ps | /usr/bin/lp
#
# If shopping_print_type is 'file':
# shopping print will be run with any occurance of _FILE_ replaced
# with a filename containing the shopping list in plain text
# e.g.
# shopping_print_type=file
# shopping_print=prfile32 _FILE_
#
# In the above example, prfile32 is assumed to be somewhere on your PATH.
# If not, supply a path to the executable and not just the executable.
#
# FYI, PrintFile http://www.lerup.com/printfile is a good way of
# printing text files from the Windows command line
#
# shopping_columns determines how many items are displayed per column
# This is useful for tuning the output to match your screen resolution
#
# shopping_email determines which e-mail address will receive the
# shopping list. If blank, will default to net_mail_account_address
#
# Revision History:
#
# Version 1.68: Matthew Williams
# - added filter to list name to restrict file location to data directory
#
# Version 1.67: Matthew Williams
# - added html_page to all return statements so that correct HTTP headers
# would be added. (Safari in particular was sensitive to lack of headers).
# Thanks to Howard Plato for discovering and helping to work out this bug.
#
# Version 1.66: Matthew Williams
# - added call to insert_keyboard within add_item (virtual_keyboard.pl
# needs to be activated).
# - initial CSS margin-top values now specify pixels to comply with standard
#
# Version 1.65: Matthew Williams
# - now using html_page to send complete http headers
# - removed initial CR from html
#
# Version 1.64: Matthew Williams
# - added ability to manage multiple lists
#
# Version 1.63: Matthew Williams
# - changed form action from get to post
#
# Version 1.62: Matthew Williams
# - fixed some bad html that was breaking html2ps
# - pages now validate as strict HTML 4.01 (validator.w3.org)
# - note that this version was not publicly released
#
# Version 1.61: Matthew Williams
# - fixed bug in 1.6 functionality that prevented it from working when last
# category was being chosen for new item
#
# Version 1.6: Matthew Williams
# - added checkbox on add items screen to allow a new item to be
# immediately added to the shopping list
#
# Version 1.5: Matthew Williams
# - changed output of plain text files to be columns
#
# Version 1.4: Matthew Williams
# - added print_file_type to better support Windows environments
#
# Version 1.3: Matthew Williams
# - added "at store" button and related functionality
#
# Version 1.2: Matthew Williams
# - added section headers to printed output
# - added ability to send list to an e-mail address
#
# Version 1.1: Matthew Williams
# - changed "modify" button to "update list" to prevent confusion
#
# Version 1.0: Matthew Williams
# - intial release
#

my $shoppinglistdebug=0;
my %param;

# This is critical. You need to be able to run this from a "wrapper" (eg ia5/shopping_list.shtml)
# The foreach loop below will only work if you reference the script as bin/shopping_list.pl (which
# is exactly what the menu frame does in IA5.) Not good. For one, linking to /bin/anything breaks
# the portability (requiring that ridiculous link rewriter solution proposed in the Wiki.)

foreach my $param (@ARGV) {
$param =~ /^(.+)=(.+)$/ && do {
$html.="<p>$1 ** $2</p>\n" if $shoppinglistdebug;
$param{$1}=$2;
}
}

# This is directly from my version of this script. Only the first line is different (other than the
# debug line.)
#
#@ARGV = split('&&', $ENV{HTTP_QUERY_STRING}) if ($#ARGV <= 0);
#
#foreach $param (@ARGV) {
# $param =~ /^(.+)=(.+)$/ && do {
# #$html.="$1 $2\n";
# $param{$1}=$2;
# }
#}

# What is $ENV{HTTP_QUERY_STRING}? It is set in my version of http_server (one line of code.)
# Should be quite obvious that it contains the querystring parameters (or posted form), with double
# ampersands for some odd reason (they aren't needed.) Whatever, split by the '&&' delimiter and you've got
# the parameters passed to the "wrapper" page. Note that this will still work if you call the script
# directly (the way it is done now.)

my $listName=$param{listName};
$listName =~ s![:/\\\.]!!g; # don't allow illegal characters in filename
$listName='shopping' unless $listName;

my $prettyName=ucfirst($listName).' List';

my $file=$config_parms{"${listName}_list"};
$file = "$Pgm_Root/data/${listName}_list.txt" unless $file and -e $file;
my $printCommand=$config_parms{shopping_print};
my $printCommandType=$config_parms{shopping_print_type};
$printCommandType='pipe' unless $printCommandType eq 'file';
my $printOutput=$file.'.output';
my $tempFile=$file.'.temp';
my $action;
my $sectionHeader;

my $numColumns=$config_parms{shopping_columns};
$numColumns=4 unless $numColumns;
my $columnWidth=100/$numColumns.'%';

# Here we go. WTF is he doing outputting this next blob in here?
# All of this goes in the wrapper page(s) (eg IA5/shopping_list.shtml, MHX/shopping_list.shtml, etc.)
# Otherwise you can't include this script in a page at all (just reference it directly, which is only
# appropriate for framesets.) Get it? Of course he doesn't or he would have fixed it by now!

my $html=qq[<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>$prettyName</title>
<style type="text/css">
p,a { font-family: helvetica;
font-size: 10pt;
margin:0; }
a { text-decoration: none; }
h3 { font-family: helvetica;
font-size: 12pt;
margin:0;
margin-top: 10px;}
h4 { font-family: helvetica;
font-size: 10pt;
margin:0;
margin-top: 10px;}
</style>
];
$html .= &insert_keyboard_style;
$html.=qq[
</head>
<body>
<form name="main" id="main" action="/bin/shopping_list.pl" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="listName" value="$listName">
];

# The above should only include the form tag. Delete the action attribute (which is obviously going
# to break secure proxies as it references the root.) The default action is the page it is included in
# (eg IA5/shopping_list.shtml.)

if ($shoppinglistdebug ) {
foreach my $key (keys(%param)) {
$html.="<p>$key ** $param{$key}</p>\n";
}
}

# He does it again here. This only makes sense in a frameset (which nobody wants.)
# Use my suggestions are you don't need to output the <head> and <body> tags, just the content.
# This is hardly rocket science. And you sure as HELL don't call &html_page in ANY of these scripts
# (that inserts the HTTP headers, which is not the job of these faux-CGI scripts, that is the job
# of the http_server script.) Adding headers here is the ultimate insurance that this script will
# never be used outside a #$#@! frameset. Is this guy brain-dead? It isn't like I haven't explained
# this too him (several times.)

sub shoppingListError {
my ($message)=@_;
return html_page(undef,qq[<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>$prettyName Error</title>
</head>
<body>
<h3>Internal Error in $prettyName Script</h3>
<h3>$message</h3>
</body>
</html>
]);
}

$param{'action'}='list' unless defined($param{'action'});
$param{'action'}='list' if $param{'action'} eq 'cancel';
my $printing=(($param{'action'} eq 'print') or ($param{'action'} eq 'print preview') or ($param{'action'} eq 'e-mail'));
my $atShop=(($param{'action'} eq 'at shop') or ($param{'action'} eq 'remove items'));

if ($param{'action'} eq 'add item') {
if (($param{'category'} eq 'select') or ($param{'item'} eq '')) {
$html.=qq[<p>Category: <select name="category">\n<option>select</option>\n];
open (SHOPLIST,$file) || return shoppingListError("$file: $!");
while (<SHOPLIST>) {
chomp;
s/^\s*(.*?)\s*$/$1/;
/^\[(.+)\]$/ && do { $html.= qq[<option>$1</option>\n]; next; };
}
close (SHOPLIST);
$html.=qq[</select></p><p> </p>\n];
$html.=qq[<p>Item: <input type="text" name="item" id="item" size=50></p><br>];
$html.=qq[<p>Add to $prettyName Now: <input type="checkbox" name="onlistnow"></p><br>];
$html.=qq[<p><input type="submit" name="action" value="add item">\n];
$html.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="cancel"></p>\n];
$html.=qq[</form>\n];
$html.='';
$html.= &insert_keyboard({form => 'main', target => 'item', autocap => 'yes'});
$html.=qq[</body></html>\n];
return html_page(undef,$html); # Idiot. See above.
}
open (OLDLIST,$file) || return shoppingListError("$file: $!");
my $duplicate=0;
my $newvalue=$param{'onlistnow'} eq 'on' ? '1' : '0';
$html.="<p>Param onlistnow is $param{'onlistnow'} so newvalue is $newvalue</p>\n" if $shoppinglistdebug;

while (<OLDLIST>)
{
chomp;
s/^\s*(.*?)\s*$/$1/;
/^(.+)=(.+)$/ && do {
if ($param{'item'} eq $1) {
$duplicate=1;
last;
}
};
}
if ($duplicate) {
$html.=qq[<h3>$param{'item'} already in list</h3>];
} else {
seek (OLDLIST,0,0);
open (NEWLIST,">$tempFile") || return shoppingListError("$tempFile: $!");
my $foundCategory=0;
while (<OLDLIST>) {
chomp;
s/^\s*(.*?)\s*$/$1/;
/^#/ && do { print NEWLIST "$_\n"; next };
/^$/ && do { print NEWLIST "\n"; next };
/^\[(.+)\]$/ && do {
if ($param{'category'} eq $1) {
$foundCategory=1;
print NEWLIST "$_\n";
next;
}
if ($foundCategory) {
print NEWLIST "$param{'item'}=$newvalue\n";
$html.="<p>$param{'item'}=$newvalue</p>\n" if $shoppinglistdebug;
print NEWLIST "$_\n";
$foundCategory=0;
next;
}
print NEWLIST "$_\n";
};
/^(.+)=(.+)$/ && do {
print NEWLIST "$_\n"; next;
};
}
if ($foundCategory) {
$html.="<p>$param{'item'}=$newvalue</p>\n" if $shoppinglistdebug;
print NEWLIST "$param{'item'}=$newvalue\n";
}

close (OLDLIST);
close (NEWLIST);
rename $tempFile,$file;
$html.=qq[<h3>$param{'item'} added to $param{'category'}</h3>];
}
$html.=qq[<p> </p>];
$html.=qq[<p><input type="submit" name="action" value="add item">\n];
$html.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="list"></p>\n];
$html.=qq[</body></html>];
return html_page(undef,$html); # Idiot again.
}

if (($param{'action'} eq 'update list') or ($param{'action'} eq 'clear all') or ($param{'action'} eq 'remove items')) {
open (OLDLIST,$file) || return shoppingListError("$file: $!");
open (NEWLIST,">$tempFile") || return shoppingListError("$tempFile: $!");
while (<OLDLIST>) {
chomp;
s/^\s*(.*?)\s*$/$1/;
/^#/ && do { print NEWLIST "$_\n"; next };
/^$/ && do { print NEWLIST "\n"; next };
/^\[(.+)\]$/ && do { print NEWLIST "$_\n"; next; };
/^(.+)=(.+)$/ && do {
my $newVal='0';
if ($param{'action'} eq 'update list') {
$newVal=$param{$1} eq 'on' ? '1' : '0';
}
if ($param{'action'} eq 'remove items') {
$newVal=$param{$1} eq 'on' ? '0' : $2;
}
print NEWLIST "$1=".$newVal."\n"; next;};
}
close OLDLIST;
close NEWLIST;
rename $tempFile,$file;
if ($param{'action'} eq 'clear all') {
$html.="<h3>All Items Cleared</h3>\n";
}
if (not $atShop) {
$html.= "<h3>List Updated</h3>\n";
}
}

if ($printing) {
$html.=qq[<h2>$prettyName</h2>];
if ($param{'action'} eq 'print preview') {
$html.=qq[<h4>Preview Only</h4>];
}
if ($param{'action'} eq 'e-mail') {
$html.=qq[<h4>E-Mail List</h4>\n];
}
}

open (SHOPLIST, $file) || return shoppingListError("$file: $!");
my $num=0;

my $showAll=1;

$showAll=0 if $atShop==1;

if ($atShop) {
$html.=qq[<h2>$prettyName At Shop</h2>];
$html.=qq[<p><input type="submit" name="action" value="remove items">];
$html.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="cancel"></p>];
}

my $firstSection=1;
while (<SHOPLIST>)
{
chomp;
s/^\s*(.*?)\s*$/$1/; # clear whitespace before and after line
/^#/ && do { next; }; # ignore blank lines
/^\[(.+)\]$/ && do { # we've found a new section
$sectionHeader='';
$num=0;
if (!$firstSection) {
$sectionHeader.="\n</tr>\n</table>\n";
}
$firstSection=0;
if ($printing) {
$sectionHeader.="\n<h3>$1</h3><table>\n\n";
} else {
if ($atShop) {
$sectionHeader.=qq[\n<hr><h3>$1</h3><p><input type="submit" name="action" value="remove items">];
$sectionHeader.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="cancel"><p><table>\n];
} else {
$sectionHeader.=qq[<p><input type="submit" name="action" value="update list">\n];
$sectionHeader.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="print preview">\n];
$sectionHeader.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="print">\n];
$sectionHeader.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="e-mail">\n];
$sectionHeader.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="add item">\n];
$sectionHeader.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="at shop">\n];
$sectionHeader.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="cancel">\n];
$sectionHeader.=qq[<input type="submit" name="action" value="clear all"></p>\n];
$sectionHeader.=qq[<hr><h3>$1</h3><table width="100%"><colgroup span="$numColumns" width="$columnWidth">\n];
}
}
next;
};
/^(.+)=(.+)$/ && do {
my ($item, $value)=($1,$2);
if ($atShop and $value==0) {
next;
}
if ($printing and $value==0) {
next;
}
$html.=$sectionHeader;
$sectionHeader='';
if ($num % $numColumns == 0) {
if ($num > 0) {
$html.="</tr>\n"
}
$html.='<tr>';
}
$num++;
my $checked=$value; # only used when not printing

if ($atShop) {
$checked=0;
}
# my $fieldname=$item;
# $fieldname =~ s/ /%20;/g;

if ($printing) {
$html.=qq[<td><input type="checkbox">$item</td>\n];
} else {
$html.=qq[<td><input type="checkbox" name="$item"]. ($checked ? ' checked' : '') . '>';
$html.=qq[$item</td>\n];
}
}
}
close (SHOPLIST);

$html.='</tr></table></form></body></html>';
my $plainText=$html;

# The below logic is pretty laughable. He went to all of the trouble to build the HTML,
# then strips it all away to mail it. Just build the text version as you go, stupid.

# Strip away HTML stuff from mailtext
$plainText =~ s/<h2.+?<\/h2>//gs;
$plainText =~ s/<h3>(.*?)<\/h3>/\n\*\* $1 \*\*/sg;
$plainText =~ s/<title.+?<\/title>//gs;
$plainText =~ s/<style.+?<\/style>//gs;
$plainText =~ s/<tr.*?>/\n/gs;
$plainText =~ s/(<td.+?)\n/$1 /gs;
$plainText =~ s/<.+?>//g;
$plainText =~ s/E-Mail List//g;
$plainText =~ s/^\n+//s;
$plainText =~ s/\n{3,}/\n\n/gs;
$plainText .= "\n";

if ($param{'action'} eq 'print') {
if ($printCommandType eq 'pipe') {
open (PRINTER, "| $printCommand") || return shoppingListError("$printCommand: $!");
print PRINTER $html;
close (PRINTER);
} elsif ($printCommandType eq 'file') {
open (PRINTER, "> $printOutput") || return shoppingListError("$printOutput: $!");
print PRINTER $plainText;
close PRINTER;
$printCommand =~ s/_FILE_/$printOutput/g;
system ($printCommand);
}
}

if ($param {'action'} eq 'e-mail') {
if (&net_connect_check) {
my $mailtext=$html;

&net_mail_send(subject => 'shopping list',
text => $plainText,
to => $config_parms{shopping_email}
);
} else {
$html .= "<h2>Internet connection down - e-mail NOT sent</h2>";
}
}

return html_page(undef, $html); # And idiot, one last time. He must think these ARE CGI scripts now!

And here is the wrapper from my site. Could also be used with the framesets. Obviously there are some
MHX-specific directives in here, so just look at the one that includes this stupid "CGI" script. That's the important
lesson.

<html>
<head>
<title>My House - Shopping List</title>

</head>
<body>
<div style="float:right" class="toolbar">
</div>

<h1 class="header">Calendar - Shopping List</h1>

</div>
<p align="center"></p>


</body>
</html>

Follow these instructions and anyone can write their own (portable) Web interface for MH. If you want to test the portability, view the source in the browser, save it and open it from your local file system. As long as there is a base href in the wrapper, it should work perfectly. Anything that breaks (submission behavior, images, links, etc.) needs attention (as detailed above.) That's all there is too it. There are dozens of scripts that need this treatment, and I did every one of them for my version of MH, but of course it is now years later and the scripts have been patched endlessly since. Never mind, I can and will still post them as a guide for anyone who wants to tackle this. There is another $ENV var involved for pages with links (this one is just a form), which contains the server path, which varies according to whether the user is local or remote. Don't worry about that now, just keep in mind that everything about these pages can work outside of your firewall and there are no additional servers to install (despite what that Wiki idiot thinks.)

I predict this stuff will never be updated in MH. It would just be too big a blow to the already damaged egos of the responsible parties. We'll see. Windows users don't have to worry as my app has a Web server and I am using my MHX interface with that (might as well salvage it from this derelict.) Looks like Linux users are stuck with frames for life.

PS. The client-side scripting in this page is sure to screw up on certain platforms/browsers. I fixed his keyboard, but I guess he couldn't apply those lessons to the containing page. Some people never learn.