Help with my first CGI program???

Mon Nov 19 14:23:14 EST 2001

Any help would be appreciated. I am getting a KEYERROR when I run my CGI
program as a standalone python program. Maybe its just because the
standalone python program doesn't have the input data from the FORM I
use in my HTML input page to my CGI. Howver, I get no error messages
from actaully running my CGI on the web (just a general serer error),
even though I set sys.stderr = sys.stdout

I know I'm a clueless newbie, but even any general help will be greatly
appreciated. I think I am almost there, but I can't figure out a way to
effectively debug my CGI program.

IDLE gives me the following error message when I run the program in IDLE
as a stand-alone program::

Content-type: text/html
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/Python21/aaacgi.py", line 26, in ?
    rankings = {"ease of learning" : form['easelearning'].value,
  File "C:\PYTHON21\lib\cgi.py", line 547, in __getitem__
    raise KeyError, key
KeyError: easelearning

The input HTML page is:::

<html><body>
<title>CGI 101</title>
<H1>A first user interaction: forms</H1>
<hr>
<form method=POST action="http://www.awaretek.com/test3.cgi">

Input an integer from 1 to 100, as a weight or relative importance
factor for each of the citeria below. 1 means not very importnat to you,
100 menas extremely important to you

<P><B>ease of learning</B>
    <input type=text name=easelearning>

 <P><B>ease of use</B>
    <input type=text name=easeuse>

 <P><B>speed of program execution</B>
    <input type=text name=speed>

 <P><B>quality of available tools</B>
    <input type=text name=tools>

 <P><B>popularity</B>
    <input type=text name=pop>

 <P><B>power and expressiveness</B>
    <input type=text name=power>

 <P><B>cross-platform</B>
    <input type=text name=cross>

 <P><B>cost</B>
    <input type=text name=cost>
    <input type=submit>
</form>
</BODY></HTML>

The CGIU program follows. The data for FORM is fed into the cgi program
by the HTML FORM above:::

#!/usr/bin/python
#######################################################
# runs on the server, reads form input, prints html;
# url=http://server-name/root-dir/Basics/test3.cgi
#######################################################

import cgi
import string
import sys
sys.stderr = sys.stdout
form = cgi.FieldStorage()            # parse form data
print "Content-type: text/html"      # plus blank line

html = """
<TITLE>test3.cgi</TITLE>
<H1>Greetings</H1>
<HR>
<P>%s</P>
<HR>"""

options = ["Python", "Perl", "Ruby", "Tcl", "JavaScript", "Visual
Basic", "Java", "C++", "C", "Lisp", "Delphi"]
criteria = ["ease of learning", "ease of use", "speed of program
execution", "quality of available tools", "popularity", "power &
expressiveness", "cross platform?", "cost"]

rankings = {"ease of learning":form['easelearning'].value,

"ease of learning" : form['easelearning'].value,
"ease of use" = form['easeuse'].value,
"speed" = form['speed'].value,
"tools" = form['tools'].value,
"pop" = form['pop'].value,
"power" = form['power'].value,
"cross"] = form['cross'].value,
"cost"] = form['cost'].value}

score = {("Python", "ease of learning"):100, ("Python", "ease of
use"):100, ("Python", "speed of program execution"):10, ("Python",
"quality of available tools"):70, ("Python", "popularity"):50,
("Python", "power & expressiveness"):100, ("Python", "cross
platform?"):100, ("Python", "cost"):100,
("Perl", "ease of learning"):50, ("Perl", "ease of use"):90, ("Perl",
"speed of program execution"):30, ("Perl", "quality of available
tools"):50, ("Perl", "popularity"):75, ("Perl", "power &
expressiveness"):100, ("Perl", "cross platform?"):100, ("Perl",
"cost"):100,
("Ruby", "ease of learning"):50, ("Ruby", "ease of use"):100, ("Ruby",
"speed of program execution"):20, ("Ruby", "quality of available
tools"):20, ("Ruby", "popularity"):10, ("Ruby", "power &
expressiveness"):100, ("Ruby", "cross platform?"):80, ("Ruby",
"cost"):100,
("Tcl", "ease of learning"):100, ("Tcl", "ease of use"):100, ("Tcl",
"speed of program execution"):10, ("Tcl", "quality of available
tools"):50, ("Tcl", "popularity"):40, ("Tcl", "power &
expressiveness"):10, ("Tcl", "cross platform?"):100, ("Tcl",
"cost"):100,
("JavaScript", "ease of learning"):70, ("JavaScript", "ease of use"):75,
("JavaScript", "speed of program execution"):10, ("JavaScript", "quality
of available tools"):50, ("JavaScript", "popularity"):100,
("JavaScript", "power & expressiveness"):40, ("JavaScript", "cross
platform?"):50, ("JavaScript", "cost"):100,
("Visual Basic", "ease of learning"):50, ("Visual Basic", "ease of
use"):100, ("Visual Basic", "speed of program execution"):20, ("Visual
Basic", "quality of available tools"):100, ("Visual Basic",
"popularity"):100, ("Visual Basic", "power & expressiveness"):50,
("Visual Basic", "cross platform?"):1, ("Visual Basic", "cost"):1,
("Java", "ease of learning"):15, ("Java", "ease of use"):50, ("Java",
"speed of program execution"):50, ("Java", "quality of available
tools"):100, ("Java", "popularity"):100, ("Java", "power &
expressiveness"):100, ("Java", "cross platform?"):100, ("Java",
"cost"):100,
("C++", "ease of learning"):10, ("C++", "ease of use"):25, ("C++",
"speed of program execution"):90, ("C++", "quality of available
tools"):100, ("C++", "popularity"):100, ("C++", "power &
expressiveness"):100, ("C++", "cross platform?"):100, ("C++",
"cost"):100,
("C", "ease of learning"):15, ("C", "ease of use"):10, ("C", "speed of
program execution"):100, ("C", "quality of available tools"):100, ("C",
"popularity"):100, ("C", "power & expressiveness"):100, ("C", "cross
platform?"):110, ("C", "cost"):100,
("Lisp", "ease of learning"):20, ("Lisp", "ease of use"):30, ("Lisp",
"speed of program execution"):70, ("Lisp", "quality of available
tools"):50, ("Lisp", "popularity"):25, ("Lisp", "power &
expressiveness"):110, ("Lisp", "cross platform?"):80, ("Lisp",
"cost"):90,
("Delphi", "ease of learning"):50, ("Delphi", "ease of use"):110,
("Delphi", "speed of program execution"):85, ("Delphi", "quality of
available tools"):100, ("Delphi", "popularity"):30, ("Delphi", "power &
expressiveness"):100, ("Delphi", "cross platform?"):80, ("Delphi",
"cost"):10}

result = {}
for o in options:
        value = 0
        for c in criteria:

                value = value + rankings[c] * score[o, c]
        result[o] = value

results = result.items()        # A list of tuples (key, value)
results.sort(lambda x, y: -cmp(x[1], y[1]))
                                # Sort the list using the reverse of the

                                # "value" of the entry, so that higher
                                # values come first

print html % ("Hello, %s." % form['easeuse'].value)

print html % form['easeuse'].value