Fortune Cookie

The Fortune Cookie is a neat little element that adds some fun to any webpage. When a page containing the Fortune Cookie is accessed, a random string of text is generated.

Setting up Fortune Cookie

 

The Fortune Cookie is a CGI script that relies on Server Side Includes (SSI) to operate. In order for your webpage to be capable of running a CGI script such as this, you must rename your .html or .htm file to use the file-extensions .shtml, .shtm or .sht. For example, index.html should be renamed index.shtml. Don't forget to re-adjust your links after making this change.

On the page you'd like the Fortune Cookie to appear on, add the following code:

<!--#exec cgi="cgi-bin/fortune" -->

Configuration Options

The Fortune Cookie can be placed be placed between words or HTML tags:

Today's Pearl of Wisdom: <br>
<i> <!--#exec cgi="cgi-bin/fortune" --> <i>

Things to Remember

Remember to name the HTML files correctly for CGI compatibility (i.e. .html -> .shtml).

Should the Fortune Cookie fail to work properly, we recommend that you delete and re-install it from the control panel.

Related Items

• IC Tech. Ref. Document: Using the Common Gateway Interface
• IC Tech. Ref. Document: Server Side Includes (SSI)
• Free On-line Dictionary of Computing's definition of the Common Gateway Interface
• Free On-line Dictionary of Computing's definition of the Server Side Includes
• NCSA's The Common Gateway Interface
• NCSA's Introduction to CGI
• NCSA's SSI Tutorial
• Plenty of SSI Documentation courtesy of The CGI Resource