The following CGI Scripts are pre-installed and ready to use one your account:

Simple CGI Wrapper
This is a CGI Wrapper that will allow you to run CGI Scripts with your User ID.

Random HTML
This is a Random HTML generator. It picks a string of HTML code from a list and inserts it in an SSI (Server Side Includes) enabled web page.

Simple GuestBook
This is a just a simple guestbook for your visitors to view and sign.

Advanced GuestBook
This is a more advanced guestbook written in PHP and MySQL.

Counter
You can create a counter to count and show how many visitors have been to your site.

Clock
This utility will create a real time java clock for your site.

Countdown
You can create a countdown box to countdown to a specified date.

CGI EMail
CGI Email takes the input of an HTML form and converts it to an email format defined by the author of the form.

FormMail Clone
FormMail-clone is a clone of Matt Wright's FormMail.

Entropy Search
Setup Search Engine
Rebuild Search Index

Entropy Banner
This feature allows you to create rotating banner ads for your site.

This CGI Center area allows you to use some pre-installed CGI scripts through CPanel.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a standard for running external programs from a Web server. CGI allows the returned HTML page to be dynamic - for example, with a CGI script you could access information in a database and format the results as part of an HTML page. Not surprisingly, CGI scripts are very popular and used extensively throughout the World Wide Web.

There are a number of very good introduction to CGI documents available on the Web. The information given below is a summary of the most important points to remember when using CGI. Please refer to the following for a more in-depth introduction:

• An instantaneous introduction to CGI scripts and HTML forms - a detailed introduction.

Key points to bear in mind when using CGI scripts:

• The pre installed scripts available through CPanel are the easiest to use, but if a certain script does not do exactly what you want, feel free to look for better scripts on the Web. You can usually find a script to do almost anything, especially if you are prepared to pay.
• Read all available documentation on a particular script before using it. This will help avoid most problems.
• CHMOD ("Change Mode") means change the permissions on a particular file (usually the script itself). The CPanel File Manager allows you to quickly do this, as do most FTP tools.
• Important - after uploading cgi-bin scripts, CHMOD to 755 (unless the script documentation specifically states otherwise). For example, you need to CHMOD the pre-installed CPanel CGI EMail scripts to 755 to use them properly.
• Many scripts need to know the path to Perl (scripting language engine) and to sendmail (HTTP mail engine). You can find this information on the front page of CPanel.
• Make sure you test your scripts repeatedly! Testing is vital to make sure everything is working to your satisfaction.

The CGI Wrap script creates a scgi-bin folder at the public_html level of your web site. This allows you to run scripts with your own user ID.

The advantage of this is that you can run scripts that have the same permissions that you do - you can write, edit, and delete files as you normally do. In a regular cgi-bin folder, you can only do this if you set your directory permissions to 777 (world access) and file permissions to 666, both of which are quite dangerous as anyone can now modify your web site.

The disadvantage of this is that if there is a security breach in your script that another person can exploit, they have access to your site in the same manner that you do - they can do anything. However, as long as the scripts you run in the scgi-bin directory are secure, you have nothing to worry about.

Be sure to read the CGI Wrap user guide for more detailed information on using CGI Wrap.

For a more detailed description of the distinction between normal and wrapped cgi, refer to this article.

To install the Simple CGI Wrapper:

• Click on the Simple CGI Wrapper link in the CGI Center area.
  Your scgi-bin folder has now been set up. All cgi scripts that you would like to run under your own user ID should be placed in this folder.

This simple script allows you to insert random pieces of text into your web page. This is useful for daily quotes, helpful hints, or any other place where random text is useful.

To install the Random HTML script:

1. Click on the on the Random HTML link in the CGI Center area.
2. Enter each piece of random text in the box and make sure you put each piece of text on a new line. You can not include new paragraphs within the one piece of text, as the script will separate each new paragraph into a new piece of text.
3. Copy and paste the tag at the top of the page into your web page at the appropriate place.
4. Change your web page extension from .htm or .html to .shtml. This is the required file extension to use SSI (Server Side Includes).
5. Click on the Save button.
6. Upload the web page and test the script.

This is a simple guestbook script that allows you to create a guestbook that your visitors can sign. You can modify the appearance of the guestbook, and view and manage guestbook entries.

Note: A more advanced guestbook, with many more features, is also available. However, this does take more time to set up, and requires some MySQL knowledge.

To create a guestbook:

1. Click on the Simple Guestbook link in the CGI Center area.
2. Copy and paste the HTML code at the bottom of the page to your web page. Feel free to alter the appearance of the form - as long as all the fields are available, the script will still work correctly.

   This is the minimum you need to do to get the script working - upload the file, and you're finished. Refer to Modifying the guestbook template if you need to customize the appearance of the guestbook.

3. Upload the finished HTML page to test the script.

You can modify the appearance of your guestbook template at any time.

To modify the guestbook template:

1. Click on the Simple Guestbook link in the CGI Center area.
2. Click on the Edit Guestbook Template link.
3. Copy and paste any HTML code that you want into the template to alter it's appearance.
4. Click on the Save button.
5. Upload the finished HTML page.

You will want to be able to view your guestbook once visitors start leaving comments. You can keep the guestbook private, or you can set it up so that anyone can view the guestbook.

To view the guestbook:

1. Click on the Simple Guestbook link in the CGI Center area.
2. Click on the View Guest Book link.
3. You can now view the guestbook. If you want to make the guestbook available to anyone, open the viewing page in its own frame (right-click in Internet Explorer).
4. Copy the URL show in your browser when viewing the guestbook and make it a link on the same page as the sign-in form.

You may want to delete entries in your guestbook, either when the page gets too large or if you do not want to keep certain entries. This is easily handled through CPanel.

To view the guestbook:

1. Click on the Simple Guestbook link in the CGI Center area.
2. Click on the Manage Guest Book link.
3. Click on the Delete This Entry link above any entry that you no longer want.

The Advanced Guestbook script offers more features than the Guestbook script by using PHP and a MySQL database.

Refer to Managing the Advanced Guestbook if you need to manage your Advanced Guestbook after it has been set up.

To install the Advanced Guestbook script:

1. Click on the Advanced Guestbook link in the CGI Center area.
2. Enter the directory in which to install the Advanced Guestbook in the available field. This must be a top-level directory on your site.
3. Click on the Install button.
4. Click on the available link to change the admin password on the site.
   
   

You can manage all aspects of each Advanced Guestbook that has been set up at any time.

To manage an Advanced Guestbook:

1. Click on the Advanced Guestbook link in the CGI Center area.
2. Click on the required Guestbook in the Modify an existing Guestbook area.

Counter

The Counter Maker script allows you to create three different items that you can put on your web pages:

• Counter
• Clock
• Date

Counter

This is a simple counter that displays the number of times a particular web page has been accessed. By putting a counter on your home page, you can keep track of how many visitors have looked at your web site since the counter was created. This is useful not only for your own information, but as a means of showing visitors how popular your site is.

Clock

This is a simple clock that displays the time for the set time zone. It updates each time the page is loaded.

Another available CGI script is a Java clock, which displays the time dynamically, just like a digital watch. However, Java may not be an acceptable technology to use, depending on the browsers your visitors are using.

Date

This is a simple date display that can be customized to display in a number of different formats.

All three items can be heavily customized, as required. You can do the following:

• Choose the display style from a large number of available styles.
• Further customize the display style by replacing one color with another.
• Choose the frame color and thickness around the item.
• Set time and date formats.
• Preview the item.

To create a counter, clock, or date:

1. Click on the Counter link in the CGI Center area.
2. Click on the Counter, Clock, or Date radio button.
3. If you are creating a clock, choose the time zone and format options in the TimeZone and TimeFormat drop-down lists.
4. If you are creating a date display, choose the required date format in the Date Format field. M = Month, D = Day, and Y = Year.

   Example: If you choose the MMDDYY option, the 25th of December, 2003 will be displayed as 12- 25- 2003. If you choose the DDMMYY option, the same date would be displayed as 25- 12- 2003.

5. Enter the thickness of the border around the item in the Frame Thickness field. Zero removes any border around the item.
6. Choose the maximum digits in your counter, if required.
7. Choose the style for the item from the Style drop-down list. To see an example of all of the styles, click on the See Styles link.
8. Enter the red, green, and blue values for the border in the Frame Color fields. Click on the Preview button to see the border color. Most graphics programs will show you RGB colors, as will the Windows Color Picker.
9. Enter the name of the counter in the Counter Name field. You can not duplicate item names within the same CPanel.
10. Click on the Preview button to see what your item will look like. Alter the criteria fields and keep previewing until you are happy with the finished product.
    
    
11. Click on the Make HTML button to create the HTML code that you can cut and paste into your HTML page where you want it.
12. Upload your new HTML page to see how it works.

You may need to reset a counter to 0 at some stage, or set the counter number to some other number. This is easily handled in CPanel.

To reset your counter:

1. Click on the Counter link in the CGI Center area.
2. Enter the name of the counter in the Counter Name field.
3. Enter the new count number in the New Count field.
4. Click on the Commit Changes button.
   
   

Clock

The Java Clock Maker allows you to create a real-time, dynamic clock, that counts the time just like a digital wrist watch.

To create a Java clock:

1. Click on the Clock link in the CGI Center area.
2. Choose the time zone and format for the clock in the TimeZone and TimeFormat drop-down lists.
3. Choose whether you want a border or not in the Border drop-down list.
4. Choose whether you want the date to be shown in the Show Date drop-down list.
5. Alter the display and background colors in the Foreground Color and Background Color drop-down lists.
6. Click on the Make HTML button to preview the clock and create the HTML code to make it work. Alter the clock and preview the result until you are happy with the display.
   
   
7. Copy and paste the HTML code to your web page.
8. Upload your new HTML page to test the results.

Java CountDown/CountUp Maker

This script creates a Java countdown or countup display, to or from a particular time.

Note: This Java applet, while easy to use, is only minimally customizable and does not present very well. Feel free to use the script as long as you understand these limitations.

To set up the Java CountDown/CountUp Maker

1. Click on the Countdown link in the CGI Center area.
2. Choose the time zone for the clock in the TimeZone drop-down list.
3. Enter the date that you are counting down to or up from in the Month, Hour, Day, and Year drop-down lists.
4. Click on the Make HTML button to preview the countdown and create the HTML code to make it work. Alter the countdown and preview the result until you are happy with the display.
   
   
5. Copy and paste the HTML code to your web page.
6. Upload your new HTML page to test the results.

CGI E-Mail

CGI EMail is a simple, easy-to-use script that takes the results of any form and sends them to you via e-mail. Because it is already installed, minimal configuration is required to successfully use the script.

The following steps provide quick summarized instructions for CGI EMail. Be sure to read the CGI user guide for detailed instructions on using CGI EMail.

To configure CGI E-Mail:

1. Create an HTML form with a number of named input fields. Refer to this page for more detailed information of the action component of the form.
2. Create an e-mail template (a .txt file) that displays the format in which you want your form information displayed in the e-mail. Make sure all your form name codes are one word and in square brackets [].
3. Upload the .txt and form files to your site.
4. Go to your cgi-bin directory and change the file permissions on cgiecho and cgie-mail to 755.
5. Test the script. The cgiecho script is designed for testing online, so you do not have to wait for e-mail to be sent or received.

FormMail Clone

One of the most popular form to e-mail scripts available is FormMail, by Matt Wright. The script can be setup very quickly, and provides a number of customization options. CPanel was written a clone of FormMail which operates in the same manner.

The following steps provide quick installation instructions for FormMail Clone. Be sure to read the FormMail README file for more detailed information about customizing FormMail Clone.

Refer to the FormMail documentation for more information about customizing the FormMail clone script.

To set up FormMail Clone:

1. Create the form on your web page, with the following fields:

   <form action="http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-sys/FormMail.cgi" method="POST">
   <input type="hidden" name="recipient" value="e-mail@yourdomain.com"> 
   <input type="hidden" name="subject" value="Feedback from web site"> 
   <input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="http://www.yourdomain.com/thankyou.htm">

2. Upload the web page and test the form. Refer to the FormMail documentation first if you have any questions about using the FormMail script.

Entropy Search Engine

This script enables a nice, quick search engine that can help your visitors find information that they are interested in more easily. The larger the site, the more important the search engine becomes.

Warning: This search engine searches all of the ASCII (text) files on your site. This includes HTML, PERL, plain text files, etc. Since there is no way to limit the search engine, if any of these files contain sensitive information, either encrypt the files or remove them from your site. This is a smart move anyway - you should not store sensitive information on your web site without encryption.

To create an Entropy Search Engine:

1. Click on the Rebuild Search Index link under Entropy Search in the CGI Center area. This creates (or recreates) the index file that the search engine uses to find information.
2. Click on the Back button on your browser and click on the Setup Search Engine link.
3. Copy and paste the HTML code into your web page.
4. Use the Search Query field to test the script.

   This is the minimum you need to do to get the script working - upload the file, and you're finished. Refer to Editing the search engine template if you need to customize the appearance of the guestbook.
   
   

You can alter the appearance of the search engine template at any time.

To edit the search engine template:

1. Click on the Setup Search Engine link in the CGI Center area.
2. Click on the Edit Search Results Template link.
3. Copy and paste any HTML code that you want into the template to alter it's appearance.
        Warning: Make sure you do not delete the <cgi> tag. This will cause the script to stop working.
4. Click on the Save button.
5. Use the Search Query field to test the script.
   
   
6. Upload the finished HTML page.

You need to rebuild the search engine index whenever you make changes to your site, otherwise the search engine will not be able to find the new material.

To rebuild the search index

1. Click on the Rebuild Search Index link under Entropy Search in the CGI Center area.

Entropy Banner

The Entropy Banner script allows you to create a set of revolving banner images, normally used for advertising. You can upload and delete files, set priority on the images, and set URLs to which each image points.

To set up an Entropy Banner:

1. Click on the Entropy Banner link in the CGI Center area.
2. Copy and paste the indicated tag into your web page.
3. Change your web page extension from .htm or .html to .shtml. This is the required file extension to use SSI (Server Side Includes).
4. Click on the Add Banner (s) button.
5. Search for and enter each banner that you want to upload in the available fields using the Browse... buttons.
6. Click on the Overwrite existing files tick box if you want to overwrite existing files of the same name.
7. Click on the Upload button.
8. If you need to alter the URLs or priority of the images, go to the next step. Otherwise, upload the web page and test the script.
9. Click on the Modify Rotation button.
10. Click on the High, Medium, or Low radio buttons for any banner that you need to change, and click on the Save button. You need to do this for each banner that you need to alter.
11. Enter the URL for each banner image in the Linked to field, and click on the Save button. You need to do this for each banner.
12. You are now finished. Upload the web page and test the script.

You can upload banners whenever new banners need to be added to the rotation. You can specify whether you want the new banners to overwrite the old ones or not.

To upload new banners:

1. Click on the Entropy Banner link in the CGI Center area.
2. Click on the Add Banner (s) button.
3. Search for and enter each banner that you want to upload in the available fields using the Browse... buttons.
4. Click on the Overwrite existing files tick box if you want to overwrite existing files with new files of the same name.
5. Click on the Upload button.
6. If you need to alter the URLs or priority of the images, go to Modifying the rotation and URLs of banners. Otherwise, upload the web page and test the script.

Modify the rotation of banners, and change their URLs, as you add and remove banners from your site.

To modify banners:

1. Click on the Entropy Banner link in the CGI Center area.
2. Click on the Modify Rotation button.
3. If you need to delete a banner, click on the Delete button. Deleting and re-uploading banners is the only way to change their rotation order.
4. Click on the High, Medium, or Low radio buttons for any banner that you need to change, and click on the Save button. You need to do this for each banner that you need to alter.
5. Enter the URL for each banner image in the Linked to field, and click on the Save button. You need to do this for each banner.
6. Upload the web page and test the script.