Attaching docs, Virtual images

Joel Richardson (jer@bagheera.jax.org)
Thu, 16 Dec 93 16:46:59 EST


Can anyone help me with the following two problems?

1. In a forms application that we're developing, the bulk of what the
user must enter usually exists in a text file already. The form can
include a textarea, of course, but then the user either has to retype
the data or cut and paste. Neither is particularly attractive. Is there
a better way to do this currently? (Something like <INPUT TYPE="attach" ...>
suggests itself, but far be it from me to suggest yet another feature ! :-)

2. Another thing I'm trying to do is to generate embedded images on the
fly, i.e., to create virtual image maps the way we now create virtual
documents. We want to allow the user to explore a database graphically,
so the images and the mappings have to be generated dynamically. Seems
like all the necessary mechanisms are there, so...

I began by simply trying to return a GIF image from a script. (We're
using httpd 1.0) A document contains <IMG SRC="/cgi-bin/getgif" ISMAP>.
The script "getgif" spits out the mime header "Content-type: image/gif"
then cats a sample GIF image. I can see from the logs that that Mosaic
is issuing the GETs, but the image load is unsuccessful (I get the default
NCSA icon). I also tried a script the just issues a "Location: <path>",
where <path> pointed to the GIF file. Same result. Obviously, I am
doing something wrong. Can anyone clue me in? Marc? Rob?

Thanks,
Joel Richardson