Who is Matt and where do I get his free CGI scripts?

Matt Wright is an expert in CGI/Perl. He has co-authored a book on writing Perl scripts and is nice enough to make his most popular scripts available to anyone who wants to use them. Visit Matt's Script Archive for over 25 free CGI scripts. Matt also administers CGI-Resources (HelpQuest.Com is a sponsor of this site) where Matt has over 800 related CGI resources.

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Downloading Matt's CGI Scripts.

You can download Matt's most popular scripts directly from HelpQuest.Com via FTP or you can download these and many more scripts from Matt by visiting Matt's Script Archive.

Below are Matt's most popular scripts we make available for our users to download from us.

• Matt's Guestbook:  ftp://ftp.helpquest.com/pub/cgi/guestbook/guestbook.zip
  

• Matt's Random Image:  ftp://ftp.helpquest.com/pub/cgi/ranimage/rand_image.zip
  

• Matt's Random Link:  ftp://ftp.helpquest.com/pub/cgi/ranlink/rand_link.zip
  

• Matt's Simple Search:  ftp://ftp.helpquest.com/pub/cgi/search/search.zip
  

• Matt's TextCounter:  ftp://ftp.helpquest.com/pub/cgi/textcounter/textcounter.zip
  

• Matt's WWWBoard:  ftp://ftp.helpquest.com/pub/cgi/wwwboard/wwwboard.zip

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Installing Matt's Guestbook Script

Remember: HelpQuest.Com makes the guestbook script by Matt Wright available for current HelpQuest.Com customers pre-configured!

Visit Matt's Guestbook Readme for a comprehensive explanation on how to install his guestbook on your account.

It is recommended that you create a new directory in your public_html directory named "guestbook" and place your HTML files for this guestbook there. The most common problem users encounter with this script are permissions related. That is, remember to set your permissions on these scripts correctly. Be sure to chmod the guestbook directory to 644. Also chmod your guestbook.html and guestlog.html to 644.

You must rename all the CGI files with .pl extensions to .cgi files. Therefore, guestbook.pl should be saved on the server as guestbook.cgi. Place the guestbook.cgi script in your cgi-local directory and chmod 755.

If you are still having problems, check the paths in your script. For example, look at your guestbook.cgi file and make sure you set $guestbookreal to /home/your_userid/public_html/guestbook/guestbook.html. Now check the rest of your variables.

Make sure your addguest.html call this script properly. For example, the line that says:

<form method=POST action="http://your.host.com/cgi-bin/guestbook.pl">

should be changed to point to your guestbook.cgi script in your cgi-local directory.

For additional trouble shooting, refer to Matt's Guestbook FAQ.

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Installing Matt's Random Image Script.

Remember: HelpQuest.Com makes the random image script by Matt Wright available for current HelpQuest.Com customers pre-configured! Just visit The Personal Control Panel for more information.

Visit Matt's Random Image Readme for a comprehensive explanation on how to install his random image script on your account.

Be sure to place the rand_image.pl script in your cgi-local directory and chmod the rand_image.pl to 755. You must rename all the CGI files with .pl extensions to .cgi files. Therefore, rename rand_image.pl to rand_image.cgi.

Make sure your variables are set correctly. We recommend you making a directory called "ranimages" in your public_html directory. Put all of your images you want to be randomly selected in this directory. Now make sure your variables in your rand_image.cgi script are set correctly. For example, make sure the variable $basedir is set to something like:

$basedir = "/home/your_userid/public_html/ranimages"

Finally, make sure you call this script correctly. You can use this random image in any HTML file you want to, but be sure to call the script in the following way:

<img src="http://www.yoursite.com/cgi-local/rand_image.cgi">

For additional trouble shooting, refer to Matt's Random Image FAQ.

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Installing Matt's Random Link Script

Remember: HelpQuest.Com makes the random link script by Matt Wright available for current HelpQuest.Com customers pre-configured!

Visit Matt's Random Link Readme for a comprehensive explanation on how to install his random link script on your account.

Be sure to place the rand_link.pl script in your cgi-local directory and chmod the rand_image.pl to 644. You must rename all the CGI files with .pl extensions to .cgi files. Therefore, rename the rand_link.pl file to rand_link.cgi.

Make sure you create a file for all of your links to choose from. For example, use the file called rand_log to add all of the links you want to the script to randomly choose from; be sure to put only one link per line!

Now make sure the variable in your rand_link.cgi script is set correctly. For example, make sure the variable $linkfile is set to something like:

$linkfile = "/home/your_userid/public_html/rand_log"

Finally, make sure you call this script correctly. You can use this random link in any HTML file you want to, but be sure to call the script in the following way:

<a href="http://yoursite.com/scripts/cgi-local/rand_link.cgi">Go to a Random Link!</a>

For additional trouble shooting, refer to Matt's Random Link FAQ.

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Installing Matt's Free for All Links Script.

Remember: HelpQuest.Com makes the Free for All Links script by Matt Wright available for current HelpQuest.Com customers pre-configured!

Visit Matt's Free For All Links Readme for a comprehensive explanation on how to install his free for all links script on your account.

Be sure to place the links.pl script in your cgi-local directory and chmod the links.pl file to 644. You must rename all the CGI files with .pl extensions to .cgi files. Therefore, rename the link.pl file to link.cgi.

Now make sure the variable in your links.cgi script is set correctly. For example, make sure the variable $filename is set to something like:

$linkfile = "/home/your_userid/public_html/cgi-local/links.cgi"

Finally, make sure you call this script correctly. You just need to change one link in the links.html to call the script properly:

<form method=POST action="http://yoursite.com/cgi-local/links.cgi">

Be sure to not alter any of the form information on the links.html page or this script will not work properly. You can place the links.html script anywhere in your public_html directory. For additional trouble shooting, refer to Matt's Free For All Links FAQ.

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Installing Matt's Simple Search Script.

Visit Matt's Simple Search Readme for a comprehensive explanation on how to install his simple search script on your account.

Be sure to place the search.pl script in your cgi-local directory and chmod the search.pl file to 755. You must rename all the CGI files with .pl extensions to .cgi files. Therefore, rename the search.pl file to search.cgi.

Now make sure the variables in your search.cgi script are set correctly. For example, make sure the variable $basedir is set to something like:

$basedir = "/home/your_userid/public_html/"

Finally, make sure you call this script correctly. You just need to change one line of HTML in the search.html to call the script properly:

<form method=POST action="http://yoursite.com/cgi-local/search.cgi">

Be sure to not alter any of the form information on the search.html page or this script will not work properly. You can place the search.html script anywhere in your public_html directory. For additional trouble shooting, refer to Matt's Simple Search FAQ.

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Installing Matt's WWWBoard Script.

Remember: HelpQuest.Com makes the WWWBoard by Matt Wright available for current HelpQuest.Com customers pre-configured.

Visit Matt's WWWBoard Readme for a comprehensive explanation on how to install his WWWBoard on your account.

It is recommended that you create a new directory in your public_html directory named "wwwboard" and place your HTML files for the WWWBoard there. The most common problem users encounter with this script are permissions related. That is, remember to set your permissions on these scripts correctly.

If you are still having problems, check the paths in your script. Make sure you have uploaded all files including the data.txt file.

For additional trouble shooting, refer to Matt's WWWBoard FAQ.

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