Using SSI and Filters

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Xitami
Version 2.1c

Using SSI and Filters

Xitami supports filter programs in Perl, C, or any other language that your system supports. A filter program runs when the HTML page is displayed, unlike a CGI program, which runs when the user posts data from a HTML form. Xitami provides a standard SSI filter (PerlSSI) which requires a Perl interpreter. This is not meant for heavy-duty work, but is a good example of a filter. (We intend to develop a fast SSI module that will be embedded into the server directly.) Another example of a filter program is PHP/FI, which Xitami supports.

To add your own filter programs, you add an entry in the [Filter] section of the config file. A filter program is invoked whenever a file with the appropriate extension is displayed.

Filter programs need to respect the rules for CGI programs. That is, they should generate the same type of header (Content-Type: text/html). Filter programs also get the standard CGI environment, and are subject to the CGI timeouts and other constraints set in the [CGI] section.

The SSI Filter

SSI (server-side includes) is a fairly standard syntax which you can read about on the NCSA site. We implemented all the common SSI tags in the PerlSSI filter. To use this, you need Perl on your system (it should be on the PATH). The PerlSSI filter is slow, and meant as a work-around until we implement SSI the correct way, in the server itself. The PerlSSI filter is located in the Xitami directory itself. To run it, you must have Perl installed. The requirements for this filter are the same as for a Perl CGI program.

By default, Xitami recognises any document with extension '.ssi', '.shtm', or '.shtml' as an SSI document. This is defined in the [Filters] section of the configuration files.

The SSI documents are placed in the normal web pages directory, and are recognised purely by their extension, not the path.

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