includefile(include/header)

COMMENT(manpage, section, releasedate, archive, short name)
manpage(FBB::CGI)(3bobcat)(_CurYrs_)(libbobcat-dev__CurVers_)
                    (CGI interface)

manpagename(FBB::CGI)(handles GET and POST submitted form data)

manpagesynopsis()
    bf(#include <bobcat/cgi>)nl()
    Linking option: tt(-lbobcat) 

manpagedescription()

    The class tt(CGI) offers an interface to data submitted by web-forms. The
data is sent to a script handling the data using a tt(<form
action="/path/to/form/script">) stanza. Very often this is indeed a script,
like a Perl script, but there is no need to use a scripting language. The
class tt(CGI) allows bf(C++) programmers to process the form by an executable
usually resulting in faster processing and in construction time benefits from
the type safety offered by bf(C++). The class tt(CGI) automatically handles
data submitted using the tt(GET) method as well as data submitted using the
tt(POST) method.

    By default the class's constructor writes the customary tt(Content-type)
header lines to the standard output stream. Additional (html) output of a
reply page must be provided by other code. Therefore, a program processing an
uploaded form will have an organization comparable to the following basic
setup:
        verb(
    // assume includes and namespace std/FBB were defined
    int main()
    {
        CGI cgi;
        cout << "<html><body>\n";
        if (parametersOK(cgi))
        {
            process(cgi);     
            generateReplyPage();
        }
        else
            generateErrorPage();
        cout << "</body></html>\n;
    }
        )

    When errors in the received form-data are detected an error message is
written to the standard output stream and an tt(FBB::Exception) exception is
thrown.

includefile(include/namespace)

manpagesection(INHERITS FROM)
    -

manpagesection(TYPEDEF)
    itemization(
    itb(CGI::MapStringVector) 
       A shorthand for tt(std::unordered_map<std::string, 
        std::vector<std::string> >),
        which is the data type in which form-variables are stored. 
    )


manpagesection(ENUMERATIONS)
    The tt(CGI::Method) enumeration specifies values indicating the way the
        form's data were submitted:
    itemization(
    itb(CGI::UNDETERMINED)
       Used internally indicating that the form's method was neither tt(GET)
        nor tt(POST).
    itb(CGI::GET)
       Indicates that the tt(GET) method was used when submitting the form's
        data;
    itb(CGI::POST)
       Indicates that the tt(POST) method was used when submitting the form's
        data.
    )

    The tt(CGI::Create) enumeration is used to request or suppress creation of
        the directory to contain any file uploaded by a form:
    itemization(
    itb(CGI::DONT_CREATE_PATH)
       When uploading files, the destination directory must exist;
    itb(CGI::CREATE_PATH)
       When uploading files, the destination directory will be created.
    )
    
manpagesection(CONSTRUCTORS)
    itemization(
    itb(CGI(bool defaultEscape = true, 
            char const *header = "Content-type: text/html", 
            std::ostream &out = std::cout))
        The default constructor writes the standard content type header to the
standard output stream and will use tt(std::cout) for output. Specifying tt(0)
as header suppresses outputting the tt(Content-type) line. Otherwise the
content type line is also followed by two tt(\r\n) character combinations. By
default all characters in retrieved form-variables are escaped. The overloaded
insertion operators (see below) can be used to modify the default set of
characters to escape. The backslash is used as the escape character. The
escape-prefix is not used if the tt(defaultEscape) value is specified as
tt(false) and if no insertions into the bf(CGI) object were performed.
    )

    Copy and move constructors (and assignment operators) are available.

manpagesection(OERLOADED OPERATORS)

    bf(Note:) the following three insertion operators, defining sets of
characters that should be escaped, can only be used before calling any of the
tt(param, begin) or tt(end) members. As soon as one of these latter three
members has been called the set of characters to be escaped is fixed and
attempts to modify that set is silently ignored.

    itemization(
    itb(char const *operator[](std::string const &key) const)
        The index operator returns the value of the environment variable
        specified as the index. 0 is returned if the variable
        specified at tt(key) is not defined.

    itb(CGI &operator<<(std::string const &accept))
       This member's actions are suppressed once tt(param, begin) or
        tt(end) (see below) has been called.

       The insertion operator can be used to fine-tune the set of characters
        that are escaped in strings returned by tt(param) (see
        below). Depending on the value of the constructor's tt(defaultEscape)
        parameter characters inserted into the tt(CGI) object will or will not
        be escaped by a backslash. 

        If the constructor's tt(defaultEscape) parameter was specified as
        tt(true) then the insertion operator can be used to define a set of
        characters that are em(not) escaped. 

        If tt(defaultEscape) was specified as tt(false) then the insertion
        operator will define a set of characters that em(will) be
        escaped. 

        The backlash itself is always escaped and a request to use it
        unescaped is silently ignored. 

        The tt(accept) string can be specified as a regular expression
        character set, without the usual surrounding square brackets. E.g., an
        insertion like tt(cgi << "-a-z0-9") defines the set consisting of the
        dash, the lower case letters and the digits.

        Individual characters, character ranges (using the dash to specify a
        range) and all standard character classes (tt([:alnum:], [:alpha:],
        [:cntrl:], [:digit:], [:graph:], [:lower:], [:print:], [:punct:],
        [:space:], [:upper:]), and tt([:xdigit:])) can be used to specify a
        set of characters. In addition to these standard character classes the
        class tt([:cgi:]) can be used to define the set consisting of the
        characters tt(" ' ` ;) and tt(\).  

        Note that standard and tt([:cgi:]) character classes em(do) require
        square brackets. 

        When a series of insertions are performed then the union of the sets
        defined by these insertions are used. 

        bf(Note): using unescaped single quotes, the double quotes, backtick
        characters and semicolons in CGI-programs might be risky and is not
        advised.

    itb(CGI &operator<<(int c))
       This member's actions are suppressed once tt(param, begin) or
        tt(end) (see below) has been called.

       This insertion operator is used to change the default escape handling
        of a single character tt(c). The tt(int) parameter is cast internally
        to a tt(char).

    itb(CGI &operator<<(std::pair<char, char> range))
       This member's actions are suppressed once tt(param, begin) or
        tt(end) (see below) has been called.

       This insertion operator can be used to change the default escape
        handling of a range of characters. The pair's second character must be
        equal to or exceed the position of the pair's first character in the
        ASCII collating sequence or the member will have no effect.

    itb(std::ostream &std::operator<<(std::ostream &out, CGI const &cgi))
       tt(CGI) objects can be inserted into tt(ostreams) to display the
        characters that will appear escaped in strings returned by the 
        tt(param()) member function. Each character for which tt(isprint())
        returns tt(true) will be displayed as character, surrounded by single
        quotes. For all other characters their ASCII values are displayed.
        Each character is displayed on a line by itself.

    )

manpagesection(MEMBER FUNCTIONS)
    itemization(
    itb(CGI::MapStringVector::const_iterator begin())
       Returns the begin iterator of the form's parameter map. Iterator values
        unequal to tt(end) (see below) point to a pair of values, the first of
        which is the name of a field defined by the form, the second is a
        vector of strings containing the field's value(s). See also the
        description of the tt(param) member below.

    itb(CGI::MapStringVector::const_iterator end())
       Returns the end iterator of the form's parameter map.

    itb(unsigned long long maxUploadSize() const)
       Returns the current maximum file upload size in bytes.

    itb(CGI::Method method() const) 
       Returns the method that was used when the form was submitted (either
        tt(CGI::GET) or tt(CGI::POST)).

    itb(std::vector<std::string> const &param(std::string const &variable))
       Returns the value of the form-variable specified by the function's
        argument. An empty vector is returned if the variable was not provided
        by the form's data. 

       If the same variable was specified multiple times or if its value
        extends over multiple lines (only with tt(multipart/form-data)) then
        the vector contains multiple strings. 

       With tt(GET) and tt(POST) methods not using tt(multipart/form-data)
        input fields extending over multiple lines are stored in one string,
        using tt(\r\n) combinations between those lines.

       When files are uploaded the vectors contain sets of four
        strings. The first string provides the path nme of the uploaded file;
        the second string provides the file name specified in the form itself
        (so it is the name of the file at the remote location); the third
        string shows the content type specified by the remote browser (e.g.,
        tt(application/octet-stream)), the fourth string contains tt(OK) if
        the file was successfully uploaded and tt(truncated) if the file was
        truncated. Existing files will not be overwritten. When uploading a
        file a usable filename must be found within 100 trials.

    itb(std::string param1(std::string const &variable) const)
       Returns the first element of the tt(vector<string>) returned by the
        tt(param) member or an empty string if tt(variable) was not defined by
        the received form.
       

    itb(std::string const &query() const) 
       Returns the query-string submitted with tt(CGI::GET) or tt(CGI::POST)
        forms (if the tt(POST)ed form specified
        tt(ENCTYPE="multipart/form-data") the query string is empty). 


    itb(report+CHAR(40)CHAR(41))
        The tt(report) member silently returns if no errors were encountered
        while processing form-data. Otherwise, the tt(html) file generated by
        the tt(CGI) program displays a line starting with tt(FBB::CGI),
        followed by the status report. 

        The following status report messages are presently defined:

       tt(Content-Disposition not recognized in:), which is followed by the
        line where the tt(Content-Disposition) was expected. This may occur
        when processing tt(multipart/form) data.

       tt(Invalid multipart/form-data). This message can be generated when
        readling lines while processing tt(multipart/form) data.

       tt(GET/POST REQUEST_METHOD not found). This message is shown if the
        program couldn't find the form's tt(REQUEST_METHOD) type (i.e.,
        tt(GET) or tt(POST)).

       tt(Invalid CONTENT_LENGHT in POSTed form). This message is shown if
        the content-length header has an incorrect value.

       tt(Content-Type not found for file-field), followed by the file's
        field name. This message is shown if no tt(Content-Type) specification
        was found in an uploaded form.

       tt(Can't open a file to write an uploaded file). This message
        indicates that the CGI program was unable to open a file to write an
        uploaded file to. This can be caused by an overfull disk or partition
        or by incorrect write-permissions.

       tt(multipart/form-data: no end-boundary found). This message is shown
        if the end-boundary was missing in a tt(multipart/form-data) form.

    itb(void setFileDestination(std::string const &path, 
                                std::string const &prefix = "",
                                Create create = CREATE_PATH))
       This member is used to specify the path and prefix of uploaded
        files. Uploaded files will be stored at tt(path/prefixNr) where tt(Nr)
        is an internally used number starting at one. When tt(CREATE_PATH) is
        specified tt(path) must be available or the bf(CGI) object must be
        able to create the path. If tt(DONT_CREATE_PATH) is specified the
        specified path must be available. If not, an tt(FBB::Exception)
        exception will be thrown.

    itb(void setMaxUploadSize(size_t maxSize, int unit = 'M'))
       This member can be used to change the maximum size of uploaded
        files. Its default value is 100Mb. The tt(unit) can be one of tt(b)
        (bytes, the default), tt(K) (Kbytes), tt(M) (Mbytes) or tt(G)
        (Gbytes). Unit-specifiers are interpreted case insensitively. File
        uploads will continue until the maximum upload size is exceeded,
        followed by discarding any remainder.

    itb(void swap(CGI &other))
        The current and tt(other) object are swapped.
    )
    The first time one of the tt(param(), begin()) or tt(end()) members is
called these members may detect errors in the the received form data. If so,
an error message is written to the standard output stream and an
tt(FBB::Exception) exception will be thrown.

manpagesection(STATIC MEMBERS)
    itemization(
    itb(std::string dos2unix(std::string const &text))
        This member converts all tt(\r\n) character combinations in tt(text)
        into plain tt(\n) characters, returning the converted text.

    itb(std::string unPercent(std::string const &text)) This member converts
        all tt(%xx) encoded characters into their corresponding ASCII
        values. Also, tt(+) characters are converted to single blank
        spaces. The converted string is returned.
    )    

manpagesection(EXAMPLE)

verbinclude(../../cgi/driver/driver.cc)

To test the program's tt(get) form processing, call it as tt(driver get
'[:cgi:]'), with the file tt(get) containing:
    verbinclude(../../cgi/driver/get)

To test the program's tt(post) form processing, call it as tt(driver post1
'[:cgi:]'), using tt(post1) and tt(post1.cin) found in Bobcat's source archive
under tt(../cgi/driver).


manpagefiles()
    em(bobcat/cgi) - defines the class interface

manpageseealso()
    bf(bobcat)(7)

manpagebugs()
    None Reported.

includefile(include/trailer)

