Execute shell commands from HTML how?

Question

At work I have a long command that I frequently execute in terminal. It has 6 variables that I have to change each time I use it. Rather than copy and paste my command from a text file and manually alter the variables, I am trying to come up with a simply way to create a GUI that will allow me to make changes and execute it. Probably there is other solution than HTML.. The only purpose is to be able to conveniently pass the arguments to a command line.

I use Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx).

The suggestions are very appreciated.

Answer 1

1. Run a server (Apache is common, Lighttpd is small).
2. Create a form.
3. Write a server side process in your language of choice (I lean towards Perl) that receives data from the form, acts on it, and then delivers a new HTML document to the browser.

• Yulia: Excellent! I'm working with Ruby but I am definitely not a developer yet. Could you please, give me a hint on how to write server side process?
• Quentin: The comments about CGI in the link (marked Perl) apply as much to Ruby as any other language. Ruby also has other ways to run under webservers, but I'm not very aware of them. Rails is a popular framework for Ruby web apps.

Answer 2

I suggest you to write a shell script taking input variables. You could then call it like this (example):

myScript.sh paramValue1 paramValue2 

• Yulia: The point is that the parameters I use vary every time. That is the reason why I want to create a convenient interface to pass them.
• gecco: I dont' exactly understand. You have to type them anyway, no? So what's the difference in typing them into a web page or into a terminal?
• Yulia: On the web page I can use check boxes.

Answer 3

The simplest way to do this from a browser is probably to build an HTML form that submits to a PHP script. Have the PHP script pull the $_POST parameters off and exec them.

You may find that your computer is already running PHP in a web server, or that it is very easy to install and use.

• Yulia: Thank you Sky! I use Ruby and Ruby on Rails in my everyday life. Hopefully, I'll be able to find the alternatives in Ruby.