Dual-Mode CGI Interface

Windows httpd for Windows supports the Common Gateway Interface V1.1 for execution of "scripts" (back-end programs) at the request of clients. It does this in two ways:

by executing a DOS "virtual machine" (VM) and creating the CGI environment in the VM.
by directly executing a Windows application, and passing the CGI variables and data via files.

It is strongly recommended that you use the Windows CGI interface with Visual Basic for your back end development! The Windows CGI interface does automatic decoding of forms data.

The documentation supplied with httpd contains a complete guide to developing CGI scripts. Also included is a sample Visual Basic program that contains a "shell" module containing all of the code needed to set up the CGI environment inside a VB back-end. Httpd supports the POST method of HTTP, so you can support the "forms" feature of Mosaic and other browsers. Finally, the DOS CGI interface can be reconfigured in a variety of ways that permit using things like QBASIC, perl, Tcl or Icon instead of a DOS shell.

Return to the feature list.

Robert B. Denny <rdenny@netcom.com>