Forms and Form Data

Password Fields

• A password field allows the entering of text without echoing it on the screen.
• Note that the actual data transferred is not secure or encrypted. Network logging, network sniffing, and many other attacks will easily intercept the password.
• The only security this offers, is protection from someone looking over your shoulder at the screen. Note they could just as easily look over your shoulder at the keyboard.
• The Perl CGI construct to create a password field would be as follows:
  

  # Generate a password area
  # Render it regardless of if we have previously entered text or not.
  print $query->h1('Please enter some secret text');
  print $query->password_field({-name=>'PasswordareaOne',
  			 -default=>'Your Password',
  			 -size=>10,
  			 -maxlength=>60});
  

• The Perl CGI construct to then later extract the contents of this area would be
  

      # Extract out whatever the contents of our password area were.
      my $textInput = $query->param(-name=>'PasswordareaOne');
      print $query->hr();
      print $query->p('The Password entered was:'), $query->br();
      print $query->em({-align=>'center'}, $textInput);
      print $query->hr();