Hi,
Okay this is going to be a little long and drawn out but I ask that you
read it and offer me any advice that you can on how I might accomplish this.
In advance, your help is appreciated. Here it goes:

I have a text file sitting on a server. I do not adminstrate the server
and don't have any special privileges beyond that which a normal user would
(i.e. I can run Perl scripts, put images on, and host a website). The text
file will need to be searched by a Perl script that also sits on the server
and it will be searched according to the criteria passed to the script by
the connecting application.

On the desktop I have a Java application complete with a box for a search
string, a drop down menu for search criteria, a list box to display the results
of the search in, and a command button to initiate a search.

This client side application will take the users input (i.e. search string,
and search criteria) and pass it to the server side script in the form "COMMAND\SEARCH_CRITERIA\SEARCH_STRING\n".
The script will then parse the incoming command and do the search then return
the results to the client. Here are my questions:

1) If the script is sitting on a server called myserver.com and is called
searchscript.pl does my application have to set up a socket to myserver.com
then call searchscript.pl? If so, how do I do that? Can I just set up a
standard socket?

2) How do I set up a connection that will execute an actual file on the webserver.
For instance the Perl Script is not active and listening to a port until
my client calls it. How do I do that?

Yes, I know this seems a bit convoluted. I am keeping the text file and
the script on the server to make it easier to update the text file when needed.
This saves me from having the client download a new version of the file each
time it changes. However, if anyone has an easier way to accomplish this
I am open to hearing it. Remember, I DO NOT have execute privileges on the
server so I CANNOT set up and run a Java based server (which would be the
absolute easiest way to do this). Please, please help! :-)

Thanks,
Anthony