Trying to run a simple python script

canam101 · - Joined: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 9

I have been running abyss for some time as a simple server and
would now like to let people fill out a form which would capture
variables and then run a perl (or python) script.

Looking at the help file, I managed to set up the interpreter for
perl and for python.

Since I have zero experience of using a web server this way, I
looked around the forum and found an example of some html which
allows the user to fill out a form, and then calls a 'php' script.

It appears that I can call a perl or python script directly, so I
can ignore 'php' for now, I hope.

Here is a sketch of the html I am playing with:

<body>
<form method="POST" action="time1.py">

<center>First Field:<br>
<input type="text" name="first_field" size="19"><br>

<input type="submit" value="submit" name="submit">
</center>
</body>

So this html is in the htdocs folder and the script, time1.py, is
also in the htdocs folder. The server is running, and I open my
browser, and type in

http://myserver.com/test.html,

and click on the 'submit' button. That runs time1.py.

I know time1.py runs because I can see the result.

However, I get a '500 server error', and when I look at the cgi
log, it shows

CGI: [/usr/bin/python time1.py ] URI: /time1.py Broken pipe

By the way, I tried this with a perl script and get the same
results.

I'm running v 2.3.0.4 of Abyss on a linux system.

Thanks for any help.

aprelium · - Joined: 22 Mar 2002 Posts: 6800

canam101,

Is Python declared as a scripting language?
Does the .py file have the exectuable bit (x)? If so remove that bit using a command such as:

canam101 · - Joined: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 9

canam101 · - Joined: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 9

No, it submitted ok this time.

canam101 · - Joined: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 9

I finally got something to run and thought I would pass along what
I have for other newcomers.

What I wanted to do was enter a couple of fields on a web page and
have them taken in as arguments by a python script, which then
copied one file to another file, using the names I supplied.

I had previously set up the interpreter for python.
Since I figured I had to use a php module to call the python
module, I also installed php 5 and set up the web server to
recognize it.

The instructions for doing that are in the help section of the
first console screen for the server. Very clearly written too. My
thanks to the authors. I'm not too tecchie and need all the
clarity I can get in instructions.

Here's the bit of html code:

<form method="POST" action="mailer.php">
<br>
<center>From Field(If known):<br>
<input type="text" name="fromfield" size="19"><br>
From Fieeld:<br>

<center>To Field(If known):<br>
<input type="text" name="tofield" size="19"><br>
To Fieeld:<br>

There is also a 'submit' button which isn't shown.

When the submit button is pressed, the html calles mailer.php.

Both the html and the php file are in htdocs.

Here is the php file

<?php
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {

$fromfield = $_POST['fromfield'];
$tofield = $_POST['tofield'];

$result = exec("/home/joe/abyssws/htdocs/time1.py
$fromfield $tofield");
echo "Thank you for your time.";
echo $fromfield; echo $tofield;

} else {
echo "blarg!";
}
?>

The toughest part of getting this to run was figuring out the
right way to call the python module, time1.py, and in getting the
path to it correct. Also, figuring out how the arguments should be
presented in the exec statement was another trial and error thing.

This seems to provide a clear path from html to exec of the python
module, so, even with this basic functionality, I should be able
to make much better use of the abyss web server.

And I'm not seeing the 500 server error any more.