GetParam

Functions : GetParam /Code

General Description of function:

Short little function for retrieving configuration and CGI query values. It first attempts to get a result from the CGI request. If that value is not present, it attempts to get a result from the UserData (which stores user preferences). In neither of these sources provide a value, it returns the default in the second parameter.

Given input

Given:

$name

$default

Returns results

Returns:

Uses variables

Uses:

$result?

Flow of Control of function:

• Calls:
  • sub NAME?
    • sub NAME?

• Called by:
  • sub NAME?

Subtleties in code

One subtlety worth noting. CGI.pm has a feature utilized here. If you call GetParam("keywords", ""), you will get SomePage when the url looks like http://www.wikiserver.org/wiki.pl?SomePage

Global variables:

• $NAME?
  • Typical Contents :
  • Default value :
  • General kind of contents :

Special terms to describe function's actions

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Notes/Observations?:

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Questions:

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Fixes to bugs in code:

fixed code

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Suggestions to improve code:

Just as a style point, why pass the default in the second parameter when you could just return undef if you can't set it, and then call as

$foo = &GetParam("foo") || $default;

? The way it's done at the moment, it's not immediately clear what the second parameter is for. I thought it was a get-set method to start with. This new suggestion is self-documenting.

suggested code

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Sample output from function:

actual output

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