I am trying to write a common gateway interface (CGI) program for use with an HTML form that I have created for the Web. I really want to use Visual Basic to write the application but have found that it doesn't seem to work. Any suggestions?
There is a growing number of third-party solutions that provide the means for accomplishing what you are trying to do. The Development Library also has some help for you. I quote from "CGISPAWN: A Utility for Use with HTML Forms," a technical article found in the Development Library:
"The only way for a CGI application to return data to the client is by way of writing to standard out (STDOUT). Some programming languages do not support standard input or output. A good example of this is Visual Basic. Ironically, Visual Basic provides a rich and highly abstracted environment that would make it ideal for writing useful CGI applications. On the other hand, if Visual Basic did provide a means of conveniently reading and writing standard I/O, it would be a very powerful and convenient tool for creating CGI applications. One way to rectify this problem is to have an application that handles all standard I/O issues on behalf of applications written in Visual Basic or any other language that does not support standard I/O."
CGISPAWN is a simple application that permits you to write CGI applications in Visual Basic. The following figure illustrates how CGISPAWN works.