CGI throws in an extra character. Why?

[Petras]

Hi, everybody!

This is a chunk of code that is supposed to make a table of thumbnails. The form elements have a purpose--ultimately I want to be able to view a directory of images and rename them through a CGI script (untill I have a time to read Mastering Perl/TK, that is). But that's not the point.

The BIG QUESTION is, why, using Indigo Perl 5.8 and IE 6.029, why does a number one ("1") render at the bottom of the page? Where does that come from?

There is a lot of non-conforming code here. Feel free to blast my newbie-style in response, but that's not really what this post is about ;)

#! perl -wT

use CGI;
use CGI::Pretty;
use strict;
use File::Basename;  #so I can use dirname();
use DirHandle;       #so I can use opendir();
use strict;

# eventual the path will come from an env variable from a calling webp
+age
my $path=dirname('c:/pictemp/start.gif');

my @files;

opendir(DIR, $path);
@files = readdir(DIR);


# This ugly section drops the '.' and '..' from the directory array. 
# It looks juvenile, but it works.
my $junk;

if ($files[0] eq '.' ) {
  $junk = shift @files;
}

if ($files[0] eq '..' ) {
  $junk = shift @files;
}

my $query = CGI->new();

print $query->header( "text/html" ),
      $query->start_html(-title   => "Renaming Digital Photos",
                         -bgcolor => "#ffffcc" );

print "<form name=newNameForm method=post action=rename.cgi>\n";

print $query-> input( { -name=> "baseDir",
                        -type=> "hidden",
                -value=> "$path"} );

print "\n<table border=1><tr valign=top>\n";

my $file;
my $counter=0;
my $tempFile;

foreach $file (@files) {
  $tempFile=$path."/".$file;
  print "<td>\n\t".$file."<br>\n\t";
  print $query->input ( { -type=>'hidden',
                          -name=>"'hidden'.$counter",
              -value=>"$file" } );
  print "\n\t";
  print $query->input ( { -type=>'text',
                          -name=>"'newName'.$counter",
              -size=>"30",
              -value=>$file } );
  print "\n\t<img width=200 src=".$tempFile.">\n\t</td>\n";
  if ( ++$counter % 3 == 0) {
    print "</tr><tr valign=top>\n";
  }
}
print "</tr></table>";
print #query->end_html;

closedir(DIR);

---

It displays a table, with appropriate file names, form fields, and thumbnails, but after the table an extra "1" shows up. What's going on?

Pease out,

Petras

Edit by castaway - move readmore tags outside of code tags

[Your Mother]

The print #query->end_html; at the end, I think. print is sucking up the true return value of the closedir because the end_html is commented out.

[Petras]

Just curious, then. I really don't know how to check, so I'll just ask (ah, ignorance and laziness....). Does  closedir execute if it is part of a  print statement? print ++$someVar; would execute the incriment even though it is part of a print statement. Are there any rules as to what executes as part of another statement and what doesn't?

Thanks,
-P

[Your Mother]

I'm not a guru and I hope I don't misspeak but here's an offering: print is a list operator so it's always going to wait for everything to its right, w/i its precedence space, to finish. Perl is really great for its DWIMness in the sense that statements/subs/methods often act the way you'd expect or hope just from looking at them. The rules for that stuff is mostly just precedence (how strongly an operator or function wants to grab and act upon what's around it).

Check out perlop for precedence info in all its gl?ory.

[davido]

At the bottom of your script, here's your problem:

print #query->end_html;

That should be...

print $query->end_html;

What's happening is that # begins a comment, which means that you're calling print with no arguments, which means it defaults to printing the contents of $_, which happen to be (in this case), the number '1'.

[Anonymous Monk]

you're calling print with no arguments, which means it defaults to printing the contents of $_, which happen to be (in this case), the number '1'.

No, that's not right. Notice the ; is commented out too, so the statement does not end on that line. It's actually what Your Mother said -- the return value from closedir.

[davido]

You're right. That darn # character is still to blame though. ;)

[Petras]

Hey, that's right on the money. Not very profound, but right on the money. Thank you very much!

[ikegami]

So, using a dollar sign is right on the money? :)

[Anonymous Monk]

B::Deparse would've answered your question. This is how perl sees your program:

BEGIN { $^W = 1; }
use CGI;
use CGI::Pretty;
use File::Basename;
use DirHandle;
use strict 'refs';
my $path = dirname('c:/pictemp/start.gif');
my @files;
opendir DIR, $path;
@files = readdir DIR;
my $junk;
if ($files[0] eq '.') {
    $junk = shift @files;
}
if ($files[0] eq '..') {
    $junk = shift @files;
}
my $query = 'CGI'->new;
print $query->header('text/html'), $query->start_html(-'title', 'Renam
+ing Digital Photos', -'bgcolor', '#ffffcc');
print "<form name=newNameForm method=post action=rename.cgi>\n";
print $query->input({-'name', 'baseDir', -'type', 'hidden', -'value', 
+"$path"});
print "\n<table border=1><tr valign=top>\n";
my $file;
my $counter = 0;
my $tempFile;
foreach $file (@files) {
    $tempFile = $path . '/' . $file;
    print "<td>\n\t" . $file . "<br>\n\t";
    print $query->input({-'type', 'hidden', -'name', "'hidden'.$counte
+r", -'value', "$file"});
    print "\n\t";
    print $query->input({-'type', 'text', -'name', "'newName'.$counter
+", -'size', '30', -'value', $file});
    print "\n\t<img width=200 src=" . $tempFile . ">\n\t</td>\n";
    if (++$counter % 3 == 0) {
        print "</tr><tr valign=top>\n";
    }
}
print '</tr></table>';
print closedir DIR;

print closedir DIR; will print 1 if closedir returns true.