Installing Matt's Random Link Generator

If you've got a multitude of links and not enough space to
display them all, how about using Matt's Random Link generator to
mix it up a bit? This script randomly selects a URL from a
database file within your web site and displays the URL link from
your web page. Each time your web page loads a different link
appears.

Installation Procedure

1. Locate and download the following files from href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/">Matt's
   Script Archive:
   
   
   • rand_link.pl - The Perl script which generates
     the random link.
     
      
   
   
   
   


2. Change the first line of the Perl script to reflect the
   official path to Perl on our server:

   #!/usr/local/bin/perl

   
   

   * Note: This is required since the
   application is written in Perl.

   
   


3. There are a few more things that need to be changed in
   the Perl script:

   # Define Variables
   
   
   
   $linkfile = The system path to the database containing the URLs.

   
   

   The system path is not the same as a URL. If your
   domain name was yourdomain.com the system path would be
   /u/web/yourdo where "yourdo" is the account
   userID.

   
   

   As such, the Define Variables section of the Links
   script would follow this format:

   
   

   # Set Variables
   
   
   
   $linkfile = "/u/web/<userid>/database.txt";

   
   

   Be sure to substitute your domain name and userID in
   the example above. Although Matt's code is accurate, we
   recommend using the Perl Script Checker within your
   account Control Panel when installing any Perl script.

   
   


4. Upload the "rand_link.pl" script to your
   cgi-local directory in ASCII transfer mode. Cgi-local
   will place the appropriate permissions on files uploaded
   to this directory so you do NOT need to chmod 755
   the Perl script.
   
    


5. Create the database.txt file which contains the
   URL links and upload it to your root ("home")
   directory in ASCII transfer mode. Make one column of URLs
   and be sure to use absolute paths (e.g.
   http://www.randomsite.com). If desired, this script can
   be used in conjunction with the database file maintained
   by Matt's Free For All Link script.
   
    
   
   Here is a sample database.txt file: cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" bgcolor="#FFFFCC">
   
   
   
   

   http://www.cnn.com http://www.news.com http://www.cnet.com http://www.yahoo.com http://www.lycos.com http://www.webcrawler.com

   
   

To test the script, add the following tags to your HTML
document:

<a href="/cgi-local/rand_link.pl">Random Link</a>

Special Notes

• Some possible causes of a SERVER ERROR:
  
  
  • Set Variables section within Perl script
    inaccurate
  
  
  • Perl script was not uploaded in ASCII transfer
    mode
  
  
  
  

Updated: 10/03/98