Languages, tools, and gadgets

PHP

Idiom supports scripting with PHP. PHP allows programming to be done in a language that looks like HTML.

To use PHP, follow the instructions for CGI files but name your files with .php instead of .cgi.

Actually there are a bunch of different versions of php installed. We install multiple versions so that we don't break old scripts.

You can control which version you use by choosing which extension to use for your scripts. Or if that is not convienient, we can change the version mapping for your web site so that .php gets mapped to whichver version you want.

ext	version	notes
.phtml	2.0b7	The first version we installed. It is installed with GD support, but without mSQL; Postgres95; logging; or access controls.
.php423	4.2.3	Installed with the following modules: xml, standard, session, readline, posix, pgsql, pcre, mysql, ctype, and zlib.
.php3 .php4 .php403	4.0.3pl1	This version is installed with support for IMAP, mSQL, MySQL, SysV Semaphores, SysV shared memory, and GDBM.
.php .php422	4.2.2	Default version. Installed with many options.
.php434	4.3.4	Installed with many options.
.php520	5.2.0	Latest version. Installed with many options.

Miva pages

Idiom supports scripting with Miva. Miva allows programming to be done in a language that looks like HTML.

To use Miva, you should look at the documentation.

• Your html scripts reside in your public_hts directory.
• They must be named something.mv.
• Any data they save must be in your hts_data directory.
• URLs to access miva look like: http://www.idiom.com/cgi-bin/miva?~YOUR_LOGIN/something.mv. If you would like to use a URL within your custom domain, please ask.

There is another version of Miva called Miva Mia that runs on Windows 95 and Windows NT systems. It includes a web server and can be used to develop Miva-based web pages at home. Miva Mia is free with your Idiom account and can be downloaded after obtaining a license from here.

There is a mailing list of Miva users. You can subscribe by mailing a message with a body of

subscribe hts-users YOUR_LOGIN@idiom.com

to majordomo@miva.com. Or you can access the same information though the local newsgroup mgate.htmlscript.users.

If you want to use Miva within a domain (url is http://yourdomain/cgi-bin/miva?somescript.mv) then please send an email to support@idiom.com.

Miva used to be called Htmlscript.

At any given time, there are usually three versions of Miva installed on idiom.com. At the moment, they are:

cgi-bin/miva.old	version 3.21
cgi-bin/miva	version 3.22
cgi-bin/miva.new	version 3.62

Miva Merchant web catalog

Idiom is a vendor (reseller) of the Miva Merchant web catalog. Miva Merchant uses htmlscript to provide a storefront and Shopping basket. Miva Merchant is easy to use: it provides a web interface for modifying your storefront.

Miva Merchant is not included with your Idiom account: it costs $495.00 per domain to buy.

<Meta-HTML>

Idiom supports scripting with Meta-HTML. Meta-HTML allows programming to be done in a language that looks like HTML.

To use Meta-HTML, follow the instructions for CGI files but name your files with .mhtml instead of .cgi.

Hit counters

A counter program is provided on Idiom for those who want it. The program is called Count 2.5. It is installed, copy the examples or read the official documentation.

To use the counter you must load it as an img from within your web page. This can be done as:

<img src="/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=YOUR_USERNAME.dat">.

If you are using the counter from your own virtual domain, you must ask us to enable counter access for your domain.

Image Maps

Server-side image maps are supported by Idiom's web server. Please see the documentation Apache provides.

Indexing your pages

If wish to provide a search-engine interface to your pages, follow the recipe below to create a search engine. Information on configuring the search engine can be found at here. Idiom is using version 3.1.6 of ht://Dig.

If you're got your own domain:

cd /cgi/$HOME/www.domainname.com mkdir -p sitesearch cd sitesearch cp /cgi/examples/htdig/* . $EDITOR htdig.conf $EDITOR index.html /cgi/usr/local/bin/rundig -v cd $HOME/www.domainname.com ln -s /cgi/$HOME/www.domainname.com/sitesearch .

If you don't have a domain:

cd /cgi/$HOME mkdir -p public_html/sitesearch cd public_html/sitesearch cp /cgi/examples/htdig/* . $EDITOR htdig.conf $EDITOR index.html /cgi/usr/local/bin/rundig -v cd $HOME/public_html ln -s /cgi/$HOME/public_html/sitesearch . The URL for your search engine will would be http://www.domainname.com/sitesearch or http://www.idiom.com/~LOGIN/sitesearch. In the recipe above, replace "$EDITOR" with your favorite editor and "sitesearch" with a directory name of your choice.