CGIs & Server Side Technology
Last Modified 8/19/03.
WebStar is the web server that I have the most experience with. They have
an excellent Extending WebStar page that has links
to chat programs, database integration programs, logging utilities and more. I've also worked with WebTen and the personal web server (Apache) built in to MacOSX. Both these servers support
PHP. PHP is a popular server side scripting language that can interact with SQL databases. Some sites that will host PHP MySQL include
Earthlink, Hiway Technologies, Digital Forest and my own web host, Fastpipe.com.
A lot of PHP modules have been written to enable users to communicate with several different databases,
including Oracle and to do other handy things like sending email. Once
you learn PHP, you can develop remotely for clients at these sites.
Many powerful interactive sites have a database on the back end. Filemaker
is sometimes handy to put on the web because of its user-friendly local interface and its fast
development environment. Filemaker Pro 4.0 and up includes a plug-in web server, but several cgis are available
with greater functionality. A popular Filemaker cgi is Lasso developed by BlueWorld. Lasso can also be used with SQL databases so a Lasso solution originally developed as a prototype using user-friendly Filemaker can be scaled to work with an SQL database when traffic increases. (For sites expecting heavy traffic, I would recommend an SQL database such as MySQL over Filemaker.) Lasso can also send apple events on the Mac platform to communicate with other applications.
Tango used to be a great tool for Filemaker but has since been dropped by the company that was selling and supporting it. (I've heard its alive and well in Australia but have not been able to find a link to the company.) If you're looking for a host for your Filemaker database, I would recommend Digital Point or contact Eric Bickford at WebFM.
Many web hosts offer domain registration as well, but I've not seen one as low-priced as Cheap-Domain Registration. Cheap-Domain Registration is affiliated with Verisign, which has been in business for years providing digital certificates for eCommerce and Internet payment gateway services. Cheap-Domain Registration offers .com domains for only $8.75 a year! Other types of domains (.biz or .us) are even less. You don't have to decide on a web host before registering your domain. If you find a domain you like, you should register it immediately before someone else decides to use it. Having trouble coming up with a domain that is not already taken? Try their Domain Name Generator.
If you don't find a cgi that suites your needs, you can develop your own in Frontier, Applescript,
or RealBasic, the three scripting languages for Macintosh. With these languages, you can send apple events to
interact with any scriptable program on the Mac.
Frontier is a programming environment based on a database structure.
It's cross-platform, although it can only send apple events on the Mac. It has built-in resources for not only
processing web forms but also managing web pages. The first Frontier cgi I ever wrote was a
search cgi. It was written in 1995, but
it probably still works. Frontier has done a pretty good job at being backwards compatible.
Applescript used to be markedly slower than Frontier,
although since it's native in Mac OS 8.5, it's catching up. It's still not multi-threaded meaning
it can't handle more than one request at a time (although like Filemaker, it handles them so fast this is often
not an issue). FaceSpan allows developers to add a fairly elaborate user
interface to their scripts. Filemaker can also contain applescripts. Because of its other programming features
and the fact that it's a database, I prefer Filemaker when I need a complex interface for an applescript. If
an interface is not needed and you're developing a cgi, FaceSpan is a good choice because it allows the
applescript to handle requests in a first in first out manner. Applescripts saved as an application in Script
Editor handle requests first in last out, so if you have a lot of traffic, the first person to access the cgi is
likely to be left hanging. My current applescript cgi examples are
an
error note cgi to notify webmaster's of broken links on their servers and a
password management cgi
to allow users to manage their own usernames and passwords in WebStar.
RealBasic is the newest development environment that can send apple events
and can therefore be used to develop a cgi. RealBasic syntax is the same as Visual Basic, but it's not
cross-platform. I have developed a
cgi shell
to enable RealBasic developers to easily make their own cgis; however,
I've found RealBasic to be inferior to Applescript and Frontier in receiving apple event responses. To be
specific, I tried to redo my username and password management cgis in RealBasic and it didn't work because
RealBasic couldn't tell me when WebStar failed to add the new password. I have not explored how RealBasic performs
with apple event responses from Filemaker and other scriptable applications. I assume it's not as bad
since I've heard people talking about using it successfully with Filemaker. My shell download also includes
a compiled FormtoFile cgi that can be used by people who do not have the RealBasic development software.
These cgis work with certain apple event cgi parameters supported by WebStar and most other Macintosh web servers.
The WebStar parameters can be found at
here in Starnine's
WebStar Technical Notes.
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