cgimodel: CGI Programming Made Easy with Python

Assume you already have this module:

#!/usr/bin/env python
#  testmethod.py
def  Method1(name1,name2,name3):
        print name1,name2,name3
if __name__ == '__main__':
     Method1('one','two','three')

Edit the cgidisp.py module, inserting the following method under the class Dispatcher:

def cmd_TestMeth(self,parDict):
   import testmethod
   name1 = parDict['name1']
   name2 = parDict['name2']
   name3 = parDict['name3']
   testmethod.Method1(name1,name2,name3)

Now it is ready! You can call this on the command line by typing on one line:

cgimodel.py -fun TestMeth -name1 one -name2 two -name3 three

or by URL (all on one line):

cgimodel.py?-fun=TestMeth&name1=one&name2=two&name3=three

or by FORMS:

<FORM METHOD="post" ACTION="/cgi-bin/cgimodel.py">
<INPUT TYPE=hidden name=fun value=TestMeth>
<INPUT TYPE=hidden name=name1 value=one>
<INPUT TYPE=hidden name=name2 value=two>
<INPUT TYPE=hidden name=name3 value=three>
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE="Run">
</FORM>

It would be much better if you could separate HTML text from CGI modules, so that CGI looks thinner and more readable. You can use the template modules (see Resources) to do this. The template module keeps the text away from the CGI and has a page-paragraph structure. Each CGI call can be associated with a page, and each paragraph can be used to set up the view of your HTML page.

cgimodel can host any number of applications. The redundancy of writing a CGI front end is no longer necessary. Since many applications can be run by a single cgimodel, logging information particular to each application can be done for later analysis to improve server performance, stability of each application, better service, etc. Currently, this can be done with the log information generated by the web server.

With cgimodel.py, cgidisp.py and possibly the template.py modules, you should find writing and testing CGI programs easier.

Resources