[misterhouse-users] Using .PL files with Server-side includes

[Joey S. <JS...@tr...>]

Hi Bruce,

I have been working recently with .SHTML files and server-side includes
using a .PL file.   Specifically, I am working on a page using a table to
display a layout of my house and use color codes to indicate motion, etc.  I
have already written a .PL file that takes an argument (the room's motion
timer) and returns a color code that reflects information on the status of
that room.  For instance, the cell would be red if the motion time is
active, and gray if inactive. I was able to get it working last night, but I
had a problem with the following line that adds a comment right before the
information returned by the .pl file:

	print $socket "\n<\!-- The following is from include $directive =
$data -->\n" unless $file =~ /\.vxml$/;

A snippet of my shtml code is below:
	
	<td height="34" colspan="2" rowspan="2" <!--#include
file="/joey/motion.pl?timer_motion_main"--> > 

The comment was inserted into my html source every time i used the .pl file
and caused problems with my browser.  I would have something like the
following:

	<td height="34" colspan="2" rowspan="2" 
	<!-- The following is from include file =
/joey/motion.pl?timer_motion_main -->
	bgcolor="#FF3333" >

The (bgcolor="#FF3333") is what my .pl file returns.  I tried adjusting the
code generated by the .pl file, but the comment caused problems when it was
inserted in an html record denoted by "<" and ">".  When I remove the line
from http_server.pl that generates this comment, my problems go away.  

Has anyone else had a similar problem?  If so, you might want to consider
disabling it and only using it for debugging purposes.  

BTW, I have been working with Misterhouse for quite some time the past
couple years and I am still amazed at the extent and flexibility of
Misterhouse.  Thanks Bruce for such great software!

Joey