need assistance to track signups with cgi

[yeeehaaw13]

i am attempting to use a service like searchcactus to get signups to my website. i have the formmail cgi script and the html already coded. the problem is that they need to be able to track the signups. i am unsure as to whether what they need is done in the html code or the cgi code. i am unexperienced with cgi (i have been reading up on it to try to figure it out myself, but to no avail) and if the necessary changes need to be made to the cgi code, any help in how to do this would be appreciated. here is what they told me, sorry for the length:
______________________
The "ID tracking" requires advertiser web site to handle the UserID
information that we send as part of URL (URL parameter).
To do this URL should point to "server executable" not just plain HTML
page - usually
this would be ASP or PHP script or a CGI script. You can make a new script
for this
purpose or modify the logic of already existing one.
If your web site is configured so that such script is set as a "default
page" you can
omit the name of the page itself in the URL, example:
You have the MyScript.cgi CGI script and set it to handle the uid URL
parameter received
from SearchCactus. Your web site is configured so that MyScript.cgi is set
as a
"default page". Valid URLs for us will be

http://www.mywebsite.com/MyScript.cgi?uid=xxxx

OR

http://www.mywebsite.com/?uid=xxxx

Upon each click SearchCactus will replace the xxxx part with actual ID so
you will receive

http://www.mywebsite.com/MyScript.cgi?uid=12345

(

http://www.mywebsite.com/?uid=12345)

Again - the second form of URL is valid ONLY if you have the processing
script set as a
"default page". If you are not sure please consult your Web site
administrator about site settings.
___________________

 

[duncdude]

I can't quite grasp what you are doing... are you putting a link to your website on searchcactus? If so, surely you do not need to worry about the user ID?

Can you explain a bit further?

The [red]?uid=xxxx[/red] is held in the environment variable [red]$ENV{'QUERY_STRING'}[/red] using [red]GET[/red] (not POST)

Regards
Duncan

 

[yeeehaaw13]

thanks for the reply. what i am trying to do is put a link to my site on searchcactus>>>someone clicks the link on searchcactus to my site>>>they click the link on my site to my form and sign up for my sites mailing list. but in order for them to do this, they need to be able to track the people that click through, hence the "?uid=xxxx". judging by your comment, the change to be able for them to track would be in the cgi code and not the html, correct? if that is so, what area of the code should i be changing? any help is welcomed since i am new to cgi and am unsure of what to do.

thanks in advance.

 

[tviman]

Usually they provide the link info - especially if it's a link on thier site. If the link were on your site, they would provide the HTML or Javascript code that would include the uid info.

There's always a better way. The fun is trying to find it!

 

[duncdude]

I just don't understand. As tviman states the link is coming FROM THEM and then TO YOU - how can you have any control over what they do? Surely they will supply the ?uid=xxx and YOU can choose to make use of it or not...?

Duncan