Q & A on Active Server Pages and Visual Basic Scripting

 
What is asp?
Who really uses it?
What can it do?
What do I need to start?

What is VBScript?

Does ASP only work with MS Internet Explorer browsers? 



What is Asp

So you have seen and heard about ASP on the web, and now you wonder what the
heck it is, and what it can do for you.

Well, Microsoft introduced Active Server Pages (ASP) in December 1996. Microsoft made it available for its Internet Information Server (IIS), beginning with Version 3.0 of IIS.

It is what is known as an open technology framework, comprised of several different commonly used programming disciplines. But does ASP demand that you be or become a programmer in order to benefit from ASP? No, not at all.

Simply stated, ASP’s "best role in life" is that it makes it easier to integrate small-to-intermediate size programs, information, and database stored data into web pages. ASP allows the web page HTML, through the use of  VBScript, to send or receive web site user information, data stored in  databases, or to take or give information from or to your web site user – but  is by no means limited to these functions.

At the core of ASP we find VBScript – Visual BASIC Script – a fairly simple, yet powerful, script-programming language developed by Microsoft.

VBScript acts as a "glue" to combine and deliver all the power of ASP into your web pages, and often when people speak of ASP and "ASP code," they  generally mean VBScript code." VBScript is the default script language in ASP, but you can also use other scripting languages like Perl, JScript etc.

VBScript is mostly server sided, meaning that the script is run on the web server itself – the computer that actually hosts your web pages – so that the web page functions regardless of the web browser used to view that page – it is thusly said to "generate clean HTML."

" Since their inception in 1997, Active Server Pages (ASP), have provided 
developers with an open, compile-free application environment, combining HTML 
pages, scripts, and ActiveX server components to produce highly dynamic 
websites.

*As server-side scripts that run on a Microsoft Internet Information Server, 
Active Server Pages (ASP) can be used to build database driven websites where 
the browser may have no scripting at all. Our Main Feature shows one of this 
script's many functions: building pop-up windows that gather data for the 
developer.

ASP allows HTML web pages to generate database updates in a variety of 
formats, including Excel spreadsheets. 

*You'll also see that, because ASP code does not need to be compiled 
separately, HTML coders can freely add ASP commands to their pages, further 
widening the code's functionality. "

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What can it do

Everything, well…. almost. The possibilities are endless, but some key uses are creating web pages based on database searches, personalizing web pages to individual web users, displaying different web pages for different browsers, password protection, games and forms processing.

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Who really uses it

With over 500,000 developers already in its so far 24-month life span, and 1,000,000 projected by the end of 1999, Active Server Pages is high-growth technology. Many web sites are using ASP, and although its use is not mandatory, it allows a much greater flexibility in both the overall web site, and the web pages that it is used in.

As of this writing, there are over 500 companies producing ASP components and applications covering functionality from Accounting and Electronic Commerce to Mainframe and other Legacy data access. Microsoft is building ASP and other scripting technologies into its operating systems and many of its products, including Exchange, Office, IIS server and Visual Studio.

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What do i need to start

To get the full power and all the features of ASP, you need access to a MS Windows NT 4.0 or above machine with IIS 4.0 or above (IIS 4.0 is a free upgrade to NT included in the NT 4.0 Option Pack).

The easiest way to publish ASP pages is by getting NT server hosting from your web site services provider. Many companies offer it, e.g. Softcom, WEB2010, Interland, some of which offer ASP hosting from 9.95$ a month.

You can also install a light version of ASP capability on your personal or "local" Windows 95 or 98 machine with Microsoft’s PWS (Personal Web Server). You can download PWS free from Microsoft's website, and PWS is also included in the NT 4.0 Option Pack. If you install PWS, remember to check or enable the ASP option.

You will need Internet Explorer 4.01 or later installed on your computer. MS IE 4.01 or later versions also support ASP. If you run on a UNIX server, or for other reasons do not want to use NT IIS, you can buy and install ChiliASP, a third-party product that enables ASP power on non-NT platforms.

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What is VBScipt?

VBScript, the newest member of the Visual Basic family of programming
languages, brings active scripting to a wide variety of environments, including Web client scripting in Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.0 and later, and Web server scripting in Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) version 3.0.and later.

Easy to Use and Learn

If you already know or feel comfortable with Visual Basic or Visual Basic for Applications, VBScript will be very familiar.

Even if you don't know Visual Basic, once you learn and get comfortable with VBScript, you're on your way to programming with the whole family of Visual Basic languages, should you wish to do so.

Although you can learn about VBScript in just these few Web pages, they don't teach you how to program. To get started programming, take a look at Step by Step books available from Microsoft Press.

As we said earlier, you don’t have to be or become a "master programmer" in order to use and benefit from ASP and from VBScript, but you may be pleasantly surprised when you use ASP and VBScript….a lot of interesting possibilities seem to rub off on you!

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Does ASP only work with MS Internet Explorer browsers? 

The answer is short: No! ASP also works with Netscape and Opera browsers.

Because ASP is generally a server side process, the web browser does not have to handle code.

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