Last change: Jun 4/96

George Carmichael, University of Alberta

NOTE:

This program was built because of numerous requests based on the generic CGI submissions policy.

How to use:

The Generic Approach:

1. Log into your gpu id, and build a subdirectory that must be called ~/public_html/COMMENTS/

        mkdir ~/public_html/COMMENTS 
   

2. Permit the directory READ, WRITE and LOOKUP to httpd:

    
        /usr/afsws/bin/fs setacl ~/public_html/COMMENTS httpd rwl
   

3. Create the file Guestbook.html under that subdirectory:

    
        touch ~/public_html/COMMENTS/Guestbook.html
   

4. From your web home page, add the following command:

     <a href="http://www.ualberta.ca/htbin/Geo-guest?yourid">
       Sign my guest book!</a>
   
   
   

The Customized Approach

You can also make the results of forms go into different guest logs, by specifying special fields in your form. That way, you can have as many different comment files under your id as you have web pages.

The only stipulations are:

1. that the guestbooks will all be under the subdirectory ~/public_html/COMMENTS/
2. only pages from your id are allowed to point at these comment files. (That way, security can be ensured)

To customize a form:

1. Request a generic guestbook first, ie:
   http://www.ualberta.ca/htbin/Geo-guest?yourid
2. view source
3. Change as many of the fields as you like
4. Save as a new html file (call it whatever you like) under your web (public_html) subdirectory (but NOT under the COMMENTS subdirectory, which should be reserved for the RESULTS!!)

Special Customized Field Attributes:

MANDATORY FIELDS
Make these fields hidden:

USERID

example:

	<input type=hidden name="USERID" value="yourid">

Field specifies YOUR user id - used to tell the form where to start looking for the Guestbook.

COMMENTFILE

example:

	<input type=hidden name="COMMENTFILE"  value="MyGuests.html">

The name of the Guestbook file to use. You'll reference this file directly as:

	http://www.ualberta.ca/~yourid/COMMENTS/MyGuests.html

Highly recommended fields
These puppies will help with navigation and prompts to your visitors:

PARENTURL

example:

	<input type=hidden name="PARENTURL" value="http://www.ualberta.ca/~yourid/">

This should specify the "main" home directory that you would like guests to see, if they "return" from viewing the guestbook.

PARENTNAME

example:

	<input type=hidden name="PARENTNAME" value="Bob's Country Bunker">

Any arbitrary name to use for prompts to your guest, associated with the PATRENTURL described above.

OPTIONAL fields
These optional fields do (way too) fancy things:

RULER

The default ruler is:

	<input type=hidden name="RULER" value="http://www.ualberta.ca/icons/RulerBrass.gif">

...but you can supply any gif you want here to use as a delimiter between guestbook entries. That way, you can make the appearance of this page "match" your home page.
You can also "turn off" the ruler by the command:

	<input type=hidden name="RULER" VALUE="NONE">

(Given that you can add any field to the output at any spot you want, you can add standard <HR> commands anywhere by putting something like <input type=hidden name="myruler" value="%3Chr%3E"> near the bottom of your form)

NOTIFY

Example:

	<input type=hidden name="NOTIFY" value="yourid@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca"> 

If you give a valid on-campus EMail address, any time someone enters a comment into your guestbook, it will mail you a notification. This allows you to "stop in" once in a while, and make sure that the guestbook doesn't need editing, or trimming.

HIDDEN/CAPITALIZED fields

Fields in your form that are ENTIRELY CAPITALS will not show up on the form. You should only use ALL CAPS when specifying one of the field names decribed above.

HIDDEN fields with embedded HTML code

To further customize the way your guest are reported, you can add any text you want into your form as a hidden field. The guestbook reports back the fields in a "first in, first out" basis. Thus, you can "hide" headers before your fields, that will appear on printouts.

Embedded HTML CODE will work as values to these fields, however, there are MANY browsers that will not interpret these fields correctly during the parsing of a form!!!

To compensate, DO NOT use "<" and ">". I will map the following sequences for you:

%3C maps to <
%3E maps to >

So, for example, if you would like to have a horizontal rule show up before the comments the user types in, you would not say

	<input type=hidden name="spacer" value='<hr>Comments follow:'>

Rather, you WOULD SAY:

        <input type=hidden name="spacer" value='%3Chr%3EComments follow:'>

Customizing your Guestbook's output appearance

	<!-- ###### GEO-GUEST ###### -->

	<!-- ## END GEO-GUEST ## -->

Splash Icon

  <a href="http://www.ualberta.ca/htbin/Geo-guest?yourid">
 <img border=0 alt=" " src="http://www.ualberta.ca/icons/Geo-guest.gif"></a>

CHANGES/REVISIONS

• Changed the method for updating the "Guestbook.html" files, to diminish the number of "lost messages" because of the AFS file permissions wrt renaming/moving files.
• The template has been changed to NOT use single quotes for the value fields. Older versions of browsers don't like those. So, use <input type=hidden name="spacer" value="%3Chr%3E"> in your forms if you want to ensure universality.

• Added code to check for the pesky AFS priveledges. Should combat the occasional "missing comments" that seemed like they were successfully submitted, but weren't.
• Added ability to "turn off" the ruler by the command:

  	<input type=hidden name="RULER" VALUE="NONE">
  

• The March 6 ruler change hosed the gold bar. Sorry 'bout that. Should be working again. That is, by default, a gold ruler will separate the entries.

• A little hack I used to see if there was anyone actually using the program might be useful to everyone. Try: Geo-guest-stats to see what other guestbooks are alive on the system...
• Bug in date reporting fixed. Was logging values as GMT, rather than MDT.

COMMENTS

I welcome comments, but ironically, NOT via a guestbook. I prefer to screen comments via EMAIL, and then generate FAQs. If you'd like to enter "guestbook"-like comments for me, do so via my Home Page

Visitor no