CGI

Class

Overview

The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a simple protocol for passing an HTTP request from a web server to a standalone program, and returning the output to the web browser. Basically, a CGI program is called with the parameters of the request passed in either in the environment (GET) or via $stdin (POST), and everything it prints to $stdout is returned to the client.

This file holds the CGI class. This class provides functionality for retrieving HTTP request parameters, managing cookies, and generating HTML output.

The file CGI::Session provides session management functionality; see that class for more details.

See www.w3.org/CGI/ for more information on the CGI protocol.

Introduction

CGI is a large class, providing several categories of methods, many of which are mixed in from other modules. Some of the documentation is in this class, some in the modules CGI::QueryExtension and CGI::HtmlExtension. See CGI::Cookie for specific information on handling cookies, and cgi/session.rb (CGI::Session) for information on sessions.

For queries, CGI provides methods to get at environmental variables, parameters, cookies, and multipart request data. For responses, CGI provides methods for writing output and generating HTML.

Read on for more details. Examples are provided at the bottom.

Queries

The CGI class dynamically mixes in parameter and cookie-parsing functionality, environmental variable access, and support for parsing multipart requests (including uploaded files) from the CGI::QueryExtension module.

Environmental Variables

The standard CGI environmental variables are available as read-only attributes of a CGI object. The following is a list of these variables:

AUTH_TYPE               HTTP_HOST          REMOTE_IDENT
CONTENT_LENGTH          HTTP_NEGOTIATE     REMOTE_USER
CONTENT_TYPE            HTTP_PRAGMA        REQUEST_METHOD
GATEWAY_INTERFACE       HTTP_REFERER       SCRIPT_NAME
HTTP_ACCEPT             HTTP_USER_AGENT    SERVER_NAME
HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET     PATH_INFO          SERVER_PORT
HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING    PATH_TRANSLATED    SERVER_PROTOCOL
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE    QUERY_STRING       SERVER_SOFTWARE
HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL      REMOTE_ADDR
HTTP_FROM               REMOTE_HOST

For each of these variables, there is a corresponding attribute with the same name, except all lower case and without a preceding HTTP_. content_length and server_port are integers; the rest are strings.

Parameters

The method params() returns a hash of all parameters in the request as name/value-list pairs, where the value-list is an Array of one or more values. The CGI object itself also behaves as a hash of parameter names to values, but only returns a single value (as a String) for each parameter name.

For instance, suppose the request contains the parameter “favourite_colours” with the multiple values “blue” and “green”. The following behavior would occur:

cgi.params["favourite_colours"]  # => ["blue", "green"]
cgi["favourite_colours"]         # => "blue"

If a parameter does not exist, the former method will return an empty array, the latter an empty string. The simplest way to test for existence of a parameter is by the has_key? method.

Cookies

HTTP Cookies are automatically parsed from the request. They are available from the cookies() accessor, which returns a hash from cookie name to CGI::Cookie object.

Multipart requests

If a request’s method is POST and its content type is multipart/form-data, then it may contain uploaded files. These are stored by the QueryExtension module in the parameters of the request. The parameter name is the name attribute of the file input field, as usual. However, the value is not a string, but an IO object, either an IOString for small files, or a Tempfile for larger ones. This object also has the additional singleton methods:

local_path()

the path of the uploaded file on the local filesystem

original_filename()

the name of the file on the client computer

content_type()

the content type of the file

Responses

The CGI class provides methods for sending header and content output to the HTTP client, and mixes in methods for programmatic HTML generation from CGI::HtmlExtension and CGI::TagMaker modules. The precise version of HTML to use for HTML generation is specified at object creation time.

Writing output

The simplest way to send output to the HTTP client is using the out() method. This takes the HTTP headers as a hash parameter, and the body content via a block. The headers can be generated as a string using the http_header() method. The output stream can be written directly to using the print() method.

Generating HTML

Each HTML element has a corresponding method for generating that element as a String. The name of this method is the same as that of the element, all lowercase. The attributes of the element are passed in as a hash, and the body as a no-argument block that evaluates to a String. The HTML generation module knows which elements are always empty, and silently drops any passed-in body. It also knows which elements require matching closing tags and which don’t. However, it does not know what attributes are legal for which elements.

There are also some additional HTML generation methods mixed in from the CGI::HtmlExtension module. These include individual methods for the different types of form inputs, and methods for elements that commonly take particular attributes where the attributes can be directly specified as arguments, rather than via a hash.

Utility HTML escape and other methods like a function.

There are some utility tool defined in cgi/util.rb . And when include, you can use utility methods like a function.

Examples of use

Get form values

require "cgi"
cgi = CGI.new
value = cgi['field_name']   # <== value string for 'field_name'
  # if not 'field_name' included, then return "".
fields = cgi.keys            # <== array of field names

# returns true if form has 'field_name'
cgi.has_key?('field_name')
cgi.has_key?('field_name')
cgi.include?('field_name')

CAUTION! cgi returned an Array with the old cgi.rb(included in Ruby 1.6)

Get form values as hash

require "cgi"
cgi = CGI.new
params = cgi.params

cgi.params is a hash.

cgi.params['new_field_name'] = ["value"]  # add new param
cgi.params['field_name'] = ["new_value"]  # change value
cgi.params.delete('field_name')           # delete param
cgi.params.clear                          # delete all params

Save form values to file

require "pstore"
db = PStore.new("query.db")
db.transaction do
  db["params"] = cgi.params
end

Restore form values from file

require "pstore"
db = PStore.new("query.db")
db.transaction do
  cgi.params = db["params"]
end

Get multipart form values

require "cgi"
cgi = CGI.new
value = cgi['field_name']   # <== value string for 'field_name'
value.read                  # <== body of value
value.local_path            # <== path to local file of value
value.original_filename     # <== original filename of value
value.content_type          # <== content_type of value

and value has StringIO or Tempfile class methods.

Get cookie values

require "cgi"
cgi = CGI.new
values = cgi.cookies['name']  # <== array of 'name'
  # if not 'name' included, then return [].
names = cgi.cookies.keys      # <== array of cookie names

and cgi.cookies is a hash.

Get cookie objects

require "cgi"
cgi = CGI.new
for name, cookie in cgi.cookies
  cookie.expires = Time.now + 30
end
cgi.out("cookie" => cgi.cookies) {"string"}

cgi.cookies # { "name1" => cookie1, "name2" => cookie2, ... }

require "cgi"
cgi = CGI.new
cgi.cookies['name'].expires = Time.now + 30
cgi.out("cookie" => cgi.cookies['name']) {"string"}

Print http header and html string to $DEFAULT_OUTPUT ($>)

require "cgi"
cgi = CGI.new("html4")  # add HTML generation methods
cgi.out do
  cgi.html do
    cgi.head do
      cgi.title { "TITLE" }
    end +
    cgi.body do
      cgi.form("ACTION" => "uri") do
        cgi.p do
          cgi.textarea("get_text") +
          cgi.br +
          cgi.submit
        end
      end +
      cgi.pre do
        CGI::escapeHTML(
          "params: #{cgi.params.inspect}\n" +
          "cookies: #{cgi.cookies.inspect}\n" +
          ENV.collect do |key, value|
            "#{key} --> #{value}\n"
          end.join("")
        )
      end
    end
  end
end

# add HTML generation methods
CGI.new("html3")    # html3.2
CGI.new("html4")    # html4.01 (Strict)
CGI.new("html4Tr")  # html4.01 Transitional
CGI.new("html4Fr")  # html4.01 Frameset
CGI.new("html5")    # html5

Some utility methods

require 'cgi/util'
CGI.escapeHTML('Usage: foo "bar" <baz>')

Some utility methods like a function

require 'cgi/util'
include CGI::Util
escapeHTML('Usage: foo "bar" <baz>')
h('Usage: foo "bar" <baz>') # alias
Constants

CR

String for carriage return

LF

String for linefeed

EOL

Standard internet newline sequence

No documentation available

Whether processing will be required in binary vs text

Path separators in different environments.

HTTP status codes.

Maximum number of request parameters when multipart

Attributes

Return the accept character set for this CGI instance.

Class Methods

Return the accept character set for all new CGI instances.

Set the accept character set for all new CGI instances.

Create a new CGI instance.

tag_maker

This is the same as using the options_hash form with the value { :tag_maker => tag_maker } Note that it is recommended to use the options_hash form, since it also allows you specify the charset you will accept.

options_hash

A Hash that recognizes three options:

:accept_charset

specifies encoding of received query string. If omitted, @@accept_charset is used. If the encoding is not valid, a CGI::InvalidEncoding will be raised.

Example. Suppose @@accept_charset is “UTF-8”

when not specified:

cgi=CGI.new      # @accept_charset # => "UTF-8"

when specified as “EUC-JP”:

cgi=CGI.new(:accept_charset => "EUC-JP") # => "EUC-JP"
:tag_maker

String that specifies which version of the HTML generation methods to use. If not specified, no HTML generation methods will be loaded.

The following values are supported:

“html3”

HTML 3.x

“html4”

HTML 4.0

“html4Tr”

HTML 4.0 Transitional

“html4Fr”

HTML 4.0 with Framesets

“html5”

HTML 5

:max_multipart_length

Specifies maximum length of multipart data. Can be an Integer scalar or a lambda, that will be evaluated when the request is parsed. This allows more complex logic to be set when determining whether to accept multipart data (e.g. consult a registered users upload allowance)

Default is 128 * 1024 * 1024 bytes

cgi=CGI.new(:max_multipart_length => 268435456) # simple scalar

cgi=CGI.new(:max_multipart_length => -> {check_filesystem}) # lambda
block

If provided, the block is called when an invalid encoding is encountered. For example:

encoding_errors={}
cgi=CGI.new(:accept_charset=>"EUC-JP") do |name,value|
  encoding_errors[name] = value
end

Finally, if the CGI object is not created in a standard CGI call environment (that is, it can’t locate REQUEST_METHOD in its environment), then it will run in “offline” mode. In this mode, it reads its parameters from the command line or (failing that) from standard input. Otherwise, cookies and other parameters are parsed automatically from the standard CGI locations, which varies according to the REQUEST_METHOD.

Parse an HTTP query string into a hash of key=>value pairs.

params = CGI::parse("query_string")
  # {"name1" => ["value1", "value2", ...],
  #  "name2" => ["value1", "value2", ...], ... }
Instance Methods

Synonym for ENV.

Create an HTTP header block as a string.

Includes the empty line that ends the header block.

content_type_string

If this form is used, this string is the Content-Type

headers_hash

A Hash of header values. The following header keys are recognized:

type

The Content-Type header. Defaults to “text/html”

charset

The charset of the body, appended to the Content-Type header.

nph

A boolean value. If true, prepend protocol string and status code, and date; and sets default values for “server” and “connection” if not explicitly set.

status

The HTTP status code as a String, returned as the Status header. The values are:

OK

200 OK

PARTIAL_CONTENT

206 Partial Content

MULTIPLE_CHOICES

300 Multiple Choices

MOVED

301 Moved Permanently

REDIRECT

302 Found

NOT_MODIFIED

304 Not Modified

BAD_REQUEST

400 Bad Request

AUTH_REQUIRED

401 Authorization Required

FORBIDDEN

403 Forbidden

NOT_FOUND

404 Not Found

METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED

405 Method Not Allowed

NOT_ACCEPTABLE

406 Not Acceptable

LENGTH_REQUIRED

411 Length Required

PRECONDITION_FAILED

412 Precondition Failed

SERVER_ERROR

500 Internal Server Error

NOT_IMPLEMENTED

501 Method Not Implemented

BAD_GATEWAY

502 Bad Gateway

VARIANT_ALSO_VARIES

506 Variant Also Negotiates

server

The server software, returned as the Server header.

connection

The connection type, returned as the Connection header (for instance, “close”.

length

The length of the content that will be sent, returned as the Content-Length header.

language

The language of the content, returned as the Content-Language header.

expires

The time on which the current content expires, as a Time object, returned as the Expires header.

cookie

A cookie or cookies, returned as one or more Set-Cookie headers. The value can be the literal string of the cookie; a CGI::Cookie object; an Array of literal cookie strings or Cookie objects; or a hash all of whose values are literal cookie strings or Cookie objects.

These cookies are in addition to the cookies held in the @output_cookies field.

Other headers can also be set; they are appended as key: value.

Examples:

http_header
  # Content-Type: text/html

http_header("text/plain")
  # Content-Type: text/plain

http_header("nph"        => true,
            "status"     => "OK",  # == "200 OK"
              # "status"     => "200 GOOD",
            "server"     => ENV['SERVER_SOFTWARE'],
            "connection" => "close",
            "type"       => "text/html",
            "charset"    => "iso-2022-jp",
              # Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-2022-jp
            "length"     => 103,
            "language"   => "ja",
            "expires"    => Time.now + 30,
            "cookie"     => [cookie1, cookie2],
            "my_header1" => "my_value"
            "my_header2" => "my_value")

This method does not perform charset conversion.

Print an HTTP header and body to $DEFAULT_OUTPUT ($>)

content_type_string

If a string is passed, it is assumed to be the content type.

headers_hash

This is a Hash of headers, similar to that used by http_header.

block

A block is required and should evaluate to the body of the response.

Content-Length is automatically calculated from the size of the String returned by the content block.

If ENV['REQUEST_METHOD'] == "HEAD", then only the header is output (the content block is still required, but it is ignored).

If the charset is “iso-2022-jp” or “euc-jp” or “shift_jis” then the content is converted to this charset, and the language is set to “ja”.

Example:

cgi = CGI.new
cgi.out{ "string" }
  # Content-Type: text/html
  # Content-Length: 6
  #
  # string

cgi.out("text/plain") { "string" }
  # Content-Type: text/plain
  # Content-Length: 6
  #
  # string

cgi.out("nph"        => true,
        "status"     => "OK",  # == "200 OK"
        "server"     => ENV['SERVER_SOFTWARE'],
        "connection" => "close",
        "type"       => "text/html",
        "charset"    => "iso-2022-jp",
          # Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-2022-jp
        "language"   => "ja",
        "expires"    => Time.now + (3600 * 24 * 30),
        "cookie"     => [cookie1, cookie2],
        "my_header1" => "my_value",
        "my_header2" => "my_value") { "string" }
   # HTTP/1.1 200 OK
   # Date: Sun, 15 May 2011 17:35:54 GMT
   # Server: Apache 2.2.0
   # Connection: close
   # Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-2022-jp
   # Content-Length: 6
   # Content-Language: ja
   # Expires: Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:35:54 GMT
   # Set-Cookie: foo
   # Set-Cookie: bar
   # my_header1: my_value
   # my_header2: my_value
   #
   # string

Print an argument or list of arguments to the default output stream

cgi = CGI.new
cgi.print    # default:  cgi.print == $DEFAULT_OUTPUT.print

Synonym for $stdin.

Synonym for $stdout.