Greetings bigjoe11a,

I recommend you read through the CGI.pm manual's section on cookies. To write a cookie, just print the header of a page with a cookie object.

use strict;
use CGI;
my $cgi = new CGI;
my $cookie = $cgi->cookie(
  -name => 'cookieName',
  -value => 'cookieValue',
  -expires => '+1h'
);
print $cgi->header( -cookie => $cookie );
[download]

To read the cookie, just use this:

Hi gryphon
i have read numerous posts about cookie and session management with cookies . But still i have some queries
1. u can read a cookie only when after u fetch a cookie and u can fetch a cookie like this
%cookies = fetch(CGI::Cookie)
2. how do u make sure that cookie has actually been sent .


the basic problem i am facing is that inspite of setting the cookie properly i am not able to fetch the cookie .i want to debug where i am going wrong .can you please guide me

Greetings rjsaulakh,

Cookies are bits of text stored on the user's browser, which means that to "set" (write, save, put, etc.) a cookie, you have to send something to the browser. The browser sends cookie data (that you're allowed to view) in the HTTP header during a page request, which means that to "get" (read, fetch, etc.) a cookie, you have to have the browser send you something. In the world of CGI scripts, you have to get something from the browser (the request) before you can send something to the browser (the response). So you can't both set and read a cookie in the same script in the same request/response event. You have to first write the cookie in one response, then and only thereafter can you read the cookie.

Here's an example:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI;

my $cgi = CGI->new;
my $cookie = $cgi->cookie(
    -name  => 'sithLord',
    -value => 'Darth Vadar'
);

print $cgi->header( -cookie => $cookie );
my $cookie_data = $cgi->cookie('sithLord') || 'No Cookie Set';
print "<h2>Cookie Data: $cookie_data</h2>\n";
[download]

The first time you hit this CGI, you'll get "Cookie Data: No Cookie Set." However, reload the page and you'll get "Cookie Data: Darth Vadar."

gryphon
Whitepages.com Development Manager (DSMS)
code('Perl') || die;

Ok, I get your idea for your code, I have no idea on what CGI.pm is. Thanks Joe

Greetings bigjoe11a,

The CGI module (or CGI.pm to distinguish it from the CGI protocol) is a very core Perl module that helps write CGI scripts and other CGI-like things. For very simple scripts, CGI.pm is a bit overkill, but it's very helpful and useful for anything substantial.

You can use the module to create Web fill-out forms, do stuff with form content, read/set cookies, muck around with HTTP headers, create HTML... Oh gosh, just read the POD. If you're writing CGI scripts in Perl, use CGI.pm unless you have a good reason not to.

gryphon
Whitepages.com
code('Perl') || die;