CGI Fact Finding Mission (Need Input)

Hello Folks,

        I work at a University and have been charged with writing "on-line
Registration" through the web. The purpose of this note is to (hopefully)
gather different insights and ideas on the best possible approach.

        We are on release 4.4 (Very Recently) and I have written RPG CGI
programs on prior releases (V3R2/V4R1). In all but one case all cgi passed
some parms and then displayed some information. (Like an inquiry program
would) This information is available to the public and displaying this
information was not a security issue. I have dug out the Webmasters and the
Web programming guides and have noticed that there were significant
differences.

Now for the questions:
        
        What is the best approach to emulate or maintain "context
sensitivity". Normally a CGI request is processed and the server forgets all
about you. How do I keep track of where the user is in the registration
process as it will undoubtedly be a multiple page process. In the one case I
did attempt something like this I trapped the incoming IP number and wrote
it to a file but this was rather clunky and I still wasn't able to tell
where they were in the process, just that they had been there before.

        How do I encrypt data such as a pin number or social security
number? How do I get it out of StdIn? I also will have to take payment via a
credit card at some point.

        Should I be writing a straight cgi program, or a main server program
and spawned server program?

        Has anyone used Persistent CGI?
        
        Has anyone coded CGI with encryption? 

        Can Java help me? We are an RPG shop and I don't want to be the only
one who knows Java. If I use Java do I have to purchase something and where
do I get started? Can Pearl help me?

        I also had trouble with numeric fields in the data base and matching
up the form field. Is there a way to ensure numeric input in a form field? 

        

        ANY HELP OFFERED IS GREATLY APPRICIATED
        THANKS IN ADVANCE




Michael P. Gibbons
BMIS04@AC.MARYWOOD.EDU
MARYWOOD UNIVERSITY
2300 Adams Ave. 
Scranton, PA 18509

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