Active Server Pages was a technology introduced by Microsoft in Internet Information Server 2.0. Code named Denali, the technology uses a small Internet Server Programming Application Interface filter (ISAPI Filter) that loads any required scripting language interpreters when a user first requests an ASP page. Because the filter is in memory for as long as the server is running, there is no additional overhead of starting new processes and so it is thought to be much kinder on server resources than the traditional CGI applications.

How ASP works
When an ASP page is requested, the ASP ISAPI filter executes any server side code it finds in the page before sending back a more browser friendly response. Normally this is HTML, but can be HTML with embedded scripts, images or any other file type so long as the correct headers are sent along with the response.
The response an ASP page gives to a request can be manipulated by the use of ASP objects, each have their own properties and methods that can be manipulated by any scripting language that has been configured to run with the server (typically VBScript).

ASP Objects

• Application
• ObjectContext
• Response
• Request
• Server
• Session

The ASP objects listed above are of little use on their own, you will need to be familiar with at least one scripting language before you can start to build your own pages that use these objects. VBScript is the common choice, not only is it the default scripting language that is assumed for ASP pages, but it is the scripting language that is most like English.

Application
The Application object is one that represents the whole domain space, without it ASP will not work. Before ASP can work, you have to create the application; this tells the server to load the ASP ISAPI filter for the files in that particular space. The application object will then run in the background on the server until it is stopped or restarted.
Any variables that you store in the application will be available to all your ASP pages, and so this is an easy way to pass data from one script to another. However it does use system resources (such as memory) and so the use of application level variables is not very efficient and can in some cases slow down your site.

ObjectContext
The objectcontext object allows you to create and run transactions. The best way to describe a transaction is a piece of code that can be undone should there be problems.

Response
The response object will send the results of any server side scripts back to the user’s browser. It has methods to add headers telling the browser when to expire the page, what character set to use and can even detect if the connection originally used to request the page has been closed. This can be a handy feature as it can stop scripts when there is no one there to see the page, thus saving data transfer and server resources.
Not only does the response object control what gets sent back to the browser, but also how it gets sent back. It is possible to buffer the response and send it back when the whole script is finished, or you could send the data back in chunks to let your visitors know that it is still working.

Request
The request object holds all the information that has been sent from the user that can be used in your scripts. This includes any page headers, cookies, form or URL data. Fortunately, all this data has been parsed to some degree and so you don’t need to worry about breaking it all down and putting it back together again; just remember to make sure that it is safe to use!

Server
The server object is mainly used as a utility object; helping create new instances of add-in ASP objects, find the real path of a file and converting output to make it more browser friendly. It can also be used to set the server time out response, which is handy for scripts that need a longer time to execute without sending any output to the browser.

Session
The session object works a little like the application object, but is specific to the user and the browser they are using. It can make a viable alternative to cookies used to store and move data between scripts, but as sessions tend to expire very quickly (usually 20 minutes after last activity) they can only store data temporarily.

Expanding ASP Capabilities
There are other objects that are additional to the built in objects listed above that can be used to provide additional functionality.

• FileSystemObject - allows ASP pages to interact directly with files stored anywhere on the host server (which is why a few hosts have this disabled). This is a useful object; Web Site Owner relies on it to create the pages.
• CDONTS (Collaboration Data Objects for Windows NT Server) – used to send and receive messages, this object is Microsoft’s offering of adding mail capabilities to a site. As the name suggests, it is a little dated now and most of the hosts I’ve asked tend to prefer other 3rd party objects to do the same job; JMail and ASPEmail being two prefererred replacements.
• ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) – used to interact with databases (either physical or those created in working memory).

Conclusion
ASP may not be as fast as some of the scripting languages available today, but it is the easiest for a beginner to learn and with a little imagination and a logical mind it can do a wide variety of things.

Post from: Hot Scripts Blog

Active Server Pages

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These functions allow you to figure out data types.

TypeName()
Returns the data type rather than the code.

IsNumeric()
Returns a boolean value of true if the data type is that of a number and false if otherwise.

IsArray()
Returns a boolean value of true if the data type is that of an array and false if otherwise.

IsDate()
Returns a boolean value of true if the data type is that of a date and false if otherwise.

IsEmpty()
Returns a boolean value of true if the data type is a empty value and false if otherwise.

IsNull()
Returns a boolean value of true if the data type contains no valid data and false if otherwise.

IsObject()
Returns a boolean value of true if the data type is that of an object and false if otherwise.

Typecasting

What’s typecasting? Typecasting converts between data types. For instance, if you have data you obtained from a form, it’s considered text. However, with typecasting, you can convert that variable into a date value.

Dim idate
‘Get the DOB from the form
idate = Request.Form(“DOB”)
‘Convert it to a date
idate = cdate(idate)

With the CBool() function, you can get a boolean value. If the number is 0, you get a boolean value of false, otherwise you get a boolean value of true. The following code will return true.

Dim inumber
inumber = 12
If CBool(inumber) = True Then
Response.Write “True”
Else
Response.Write “False”
End If

Formatting Functions

Formatting functions are useful when you need to display data the way you want it. For results, you will end up with a string. The code below will return 4/6/2004

Response.Write FormatDatetime(date, vbshortdate)

You can also display the date like this: Tuesday, April 06, 2004, using the following code:

Response.Write FormatDatetime(date, vblongdate)

The same applies to time:

Response.Write FormatDatetime(time, vblongtime)

Math functions

Vbscript has lot’s of math functions, however, you won’t use them very often, so I will only list a couple.

Rnd(), when used with randomize, will generate an random number (random enough) less the one and greater than or equal to zero. Try out the following code:

randomize
Response.Write rnd

What does randomize do? Randomize uses the system timer to start the random number generator.

Another vbscript math function you might run into is the Round() function. And as you would guess, it rounds numbers.

Round(9.99)

The code above returns 10.

Date Functions

When working in vbscript, you will come across dates and their values. Luckily, vbscript as a ton of built-in functions just for this.

‘add a month
Response.Write DateAdd(“m”, 1, #12-09-1981#)
‘add a year
Response.Write DateAdd(“yyyy”, 1, #12-09-1981#)
‘add a day
Response.Write DateAdd(“d”, 1, #12-09-1981#)

As you can see, one month, year and day is added to the dates. Remember to add the # character at the beginning and the end of a date. This tells vbscript to treat the following string as a date and not as a math problem: 12/09/1981 = 12 divided by 09 divided by 1981

If you want to figure out the number of days, month or years between to dates, you can use the DateDiff() function.

DateDiff(“yyyy”, #12-09-1981#, #12-09-1982#, )

The code above returns 1, since there’s one year between 12-09-1981 and 12-09-1982.

If you need to obtain a value from a variable and place it into an existing date, you can use the DateSerial() function.

Dim iday
iday = 12
Response.Write DateSerial(year(date), month(date), iday)

The following code takes the variable iday and places it into the present month and year to create a date. As you can see from above, date returns the present date.

To get the year of the present date, use the following code:

Response.Write year(date)

There’s also the TimeSerial() function, which is just like the DateSerial() function, except it uses times not dates.

Now what if you want to only get a certain part of a date? You can use the function DatePart().

DatePart(“m”, #12-09-1981#)

The code above will return 12 as you assumed.

If you want to get the month name instead of a number, you can call the MonthName() function.

Response.Write monthname(12)

The code above returns December. To abbreviate this, use the argument abbrev.

Response.Write monthname(12, true)

To get the name of the present month, do the following:

Response.Write monthname(month(date), true)

String Functions

Probably the most useful functions in vbscript would be the string functions. And there’s a lot of them.

If you need text in all upper/lower case characters, use the UCase() or LCase() functions:

Response.Write UCase(“codehungry”)
Response.Write LCase(“CODEHUNGRY”)

LTrim() and RTrim() remove blank spaces from the left and right of a string.

Response.Write LTrim(mytext)
Response.Write RTrim(mytext)

And of course, Trim() removes spaces from both sides.

Space() will give you any number of spaces you specify:

Response.Write Space(12) & “Start my text here!!!”

String() will give you any number of characters you specify:

Response.Write String(12, “$”)

Len() returns the number of characters in a word

Response.Write Len(myvariable)

The StrComp() function is used to compare to strings:

Dim mytext1, mytext2
mytext1 = “Andrew”
mytext2 = “Jennifer”
Response.Write StrComp(mytext1, mytext2, 1)

The following code would return -1 because mytext1 is less than mytext2. If you were to reverse the two strings, you would get a value of 1 because mytext1 would be greater than mytext2. If the strings where the same, you would get a result of 0.

The last argument is the comparetype argument. If this argument is 1, then the two strings are compared texturally. If the comparetype argument is set to 0, then the two strings are compared binaurally. For instance, Apple and apple would be considered the same word if they were compared texturally. If they where compared binaurally, the would be considered different.

The Right() and Left() functions will return the number of characters from a string that you specify starting in that direction.

Response.Write Left(“Andrew Schools”, 6)
Returns Andrew

Response.Write Right(“Andrew Schools”,
Returns Schools

The Mid() function works almost like the Right() and Left() function. For an example:

Response.Write Mid(“Andrew Schools”, 1, 6)
Returns Andrew

Response.Write Mid(“Andrew Schools”, 8, 15)
Returns Schools

The Instr() function is a very useful and powerful function. It is used to check where string1 is within string2 and gives you a numeric value.

Instr(start, string1, string2, compartype)

As you can see from above, the start argument lets you specify where in string1 you want to start. And remember comparetype is used to compare the text texturally or binaurally. The code below will find the letter a.

Dim mytext
mytext = “ActiveServerPages”
Response.Write Instr(1, mytext, “a”, 1)

The code above would return 1

Dim mytext
mytext = “ActiveServerPages”
Response.Write Instr(2, mytext, “a”, 1)

The code above returns 14

And than there’s the InstrRev() function which works just like the Instr() function except it starts looking for the match starting from right to left.

The Replace() function is also a very useful and powerful function. It allows you to search for a string within a string and replace it with whatever your heart my desire. The Replace() function takes the following arguments. They are self explanatory.

Replace(string1, find, replace, start, count, comparetype)

To use the Replace() function, try the code below.

Dim mytext
mytext = “Try to find the dog”
mytext = Replace(mytext, “dog”, “cat”, 1, -1, 1)

The code above will find word dog and replace it with the word cat.

The filter() function searches an array. It includes the following arguments:

Filter(array, searchfor, include, comparetype)

The include argument is boolean value. If it’s set to true, it will find all strings containing the character from searchfor. If it’s set to false, then filter() will return all strings not containing the character searchfor.

Dim myarray, arr
myarray = array(“Andrew”, “Jennifer”, “Jessie”)
myarray = Filter(myarray, “j”, True, 1)
For Each arr in myarray
Response.Write arr & “<BR>”
Next

The code above searches the array myarray for words that have the letter j in it. There is a little more to this code than just that. You must use a For…Next loop to retrieve the values from the array.

Split() will take a string and split it up into an array. The Split() function takes the following arguments:

Split(expression, delimiter, count, comparetype)

Expression is the string you want to split up. Delimiter is what you want to separate the new strings. The code below takes a string and makes it an array:

Dim mytext
mytext = “Andrew;Schools;Code;Hungry”
mytext = Split(string1, “;”, -1, 1)

And if you wanted to retrieve those strings from that array, you need a For…Each loop.

Dim mytext
mytext = “Andrew;Schools;Code;Hungry”
mytext = Split(mytext, “;”, -1, 1)
For Each arr in mytext
Response.Write arr & “<BR>”
Next

Join() is the opposite if Split(). It takes an array and makes one string:

Dim myarray, string1
myarray = Array(“Andrew”, “Schools”, “Code”, “Hungry”)
string1 = Join(myarray, “;”)
Response.Write string1

Returns “Andrew;Schools;Code;Hungry”

Since we are on the subject of arrays, the functions LBound() and UBound() come in handy. If you want all the strings in an array, you can do the following:

Dim myarray, iloop
myarray = Array(“Andrew”, “Schools”, “Code”, “Hungry”)
For iloop = LBound(myarray) to UBound(myarray)
Response.Write myarray(iloop) & “<BR>”
Next

As you can see, LBound() returns the smallest index (usually zero) while UBound() returns the largest index.

When you use the keyboard, the computer sees numbers while you see letters. For instance, the letter A is really 65 and a is 97. Using the ASC() function, you can figure out what any letter converts to:

ASC(“A”)

Which returns 65

Or you can use the CHR() function to convert the number back to the character is represents:

CHR(“65″)

Which returns A

To list the entire alphabet, you can use a For…Next loop with the ASC() and CHR() functions:

For iloop = ASC(“A”) to ASC(“Z”)
Response.Write CHR(iloop) &vbcrlf
Next

Which will return A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Post from: Hot Scripts Blog

Using built-in functions in ASP

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The session object, a built-in ASP object, refers to a new client accessing your webpage. For instance, when a user enters your site, the server adds a special cookie to the visitors browser, which is called the ASPSessionID cookie. This ASPSessionID cookie can be very useful when you need to identify a particular user.

The code above will give the session variable user the value of a random number. This will identify this user throughout their journey until they leave our site or close their browser.

The Application Object

The application object is another built-in ASP Object that works almost like the session object except it refers to all users. For instance, if you create a application variable named id and give it the value of 21, all users viewing your site would have a application variable named id with the value of 21.

The Global.asa File

So what’s the Global.asa file? The Global.asa file executes event handlers when a user first comes to our site. What are event handlers? Event handlers describe what needs to happen at a certain event. There are two events the session and application objects support. The On_Start and On_End event. When a user first enters our site, the On_Start handler is triggered and any code inside the On_Start handler is executed. And as you would guess, when a user leaves our site or closes their browser, the On_End handler is triggered and any code inside the On_End handler is executed.

The first line of code is a script tag which specifies that VBScript is the language we are using and it will run on the server. We then create a subroutine which is triggered when a user enters our website and takes the session variable user and gives it the value of a random number.

Creating the Code

Now, in order to create a script that counts how many users a currently viewing our site, we must use both the application and session objects with both On_Start and On_End event handlers.

global.asa

The code above will count how many users are currently viewing our site. If you are a little confused, don’t worry. We will dissect the code line by line.

The first line of code as I said above specifies that VBScript is the language we are using and it will run on the server.

The third line of code creates a subroutine which is called when a user enters our site.

Now the next line of code is new. We haven’t discussed it in this tutorial. The application object has the lock() and unlock() methods. When you lock the application object, you ensure that no one else can edit it while it’s being edited. And the unlock() method unlocks the application object so it can be edited once again.

After we lock the application object, we edit the application variable activeusers and add it by 1 since a new user has entered our site. Now to some people, this is confusing at first. Why do we use a application variable instead of a session variable? The reason for this is because, the session object is used to only refer to one user while the application object refers to all users. If we used a session object instead of a application object, all of our users would have a session variable named activeusers equal to 1 which would be no good to us. In order for use to track how many users are viewing our site, we must first track each user that enters our site by using the Session On_Start event and then add the application variable activeusers by 1, which refers to all users who have entered our site.

Now we can unlock the application object so the next user can use it.

The next chunk of code is just the same as the code above, except it is triggered when a user either leaves the site or closes their browser. When this happens, the application variable activeusers is subtracted by 1 since a user has left our site.

The last line of code is our closing script tag.

So how do you display the number of active users currently viewing your site? You place the following line of code in one of your asp pages:

index.asp

Post from: Hot Scripts Blog

Counting how many users you have online

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Creating a Database

Before we can do anything with a database, we must first create one. This sample uses Microsoft Access 2002.

1. Open Microsoft Access

2. On the right side of the screen, click on Blank Database

3. Save your database to your wroot folder of your personal web server.

4. You will be able to select from 3 different options: Create table in design view, create table by using wizard and create table by entering data. Select create table in design view.

5. Now once you have opened our newly created table, you will have the options to add data to it, so lets!

6. In Field Name, enter Name and in Data Type, select Memo. Memo allows us to enter text along with the text option, however the memo allows us to add a large number of characters unlike the text option.

7. Now close the table. Once you do this, it will ask you if you want to save changes to our table? Click Yes. You then will be prompted to enter a name for our new table with the default name being table1. Click OK to save our new table as table1. After this, you will be prompted one more time to see if you would like a primary key for our database. A primary key numbers each row of fields which can be very useful. The numbers will never be the same which strictly identifies each row. In this case, we don’t need one, so click No. We now have our very own table.

8. We can now close our database by exiting Microsoft Access.

The Connection Object

One of the most common task you will need to accomplish when working with databases is retrieving data from your database. In order to do this, we must first make a connection using the Connection Object and the following methods and properties: Mode, Provider, ConnectionString and Open.

When using any of the examples below, remember to add the code above first!

Now, the first line of code uses a include file named adovbs.inc. What’s this? The adovbs.inc is a large file of constants, which are variables except their values can’t be changed. This is used to make our jobs as an ASP programmer easier. For instance, in the adovbs.inc file, the constant adOpenKeyset = 1. So when we use adOpenKeyset in our cursor parameter, we are actually using 1 in our cursor parameter. Why is this? Because that’s the real value of our cursor parameter. Microsoft just made it easier for us, so instead of having to remember numbers, we just need to remember those constants. You will see this in action in our next example.

Don’t have the adovbs.inc file, download it here! Remember to save this file in the root directory of your personal web server.

The 3rd line of code creates a instance of the Connection Object and names it DB. So now we have a variable named DB which is a copy of the Connection Object.

The 4th line of code uses the property mode of the Connection Object and sets it to read/write which not only allows us to read from the database, but the change or add to the database.

The 5th line of code uses the connectionstring property of the Connection Object which locates our database.

The final line of code uses the Open() method of the Connection Object to open the database.

So now we have access to our database but what good is that if we can’t read or write data to it. This is when the RecordSet Object comes into play.

Adding Data Using the Recordset Object

The Recordset Object allows us to read/write/update/delete data from our database. Since we have any empty database, let’s add data to our table named table1 using the following methods and properties: Open, AddNew, Update and Close.

The code above takes the names Andrew, Jennifer and Kelly and adds them to our database.

Line 2, like the previous example creates a instance of the Recordset Object and names it RS. So now we have a variable named RS which is a copy of the Recordset Object.

Line 3 opens our database using the following Recordset Object parameters: DB, adOpenStatic, adLockOptimistic, adCmdTable.

DB is the ActiveConnection parameter. We need a connection to our database so we use our Connection Object.

AdOpenStatic constant is the CurosorLocation parameter. It describes what cursor type we would like to use. A cursor is used to navigate through records. Forward, backwards, etc. Also, some cursors are non-updateable so we must use a cursor that supports updating a database. The adOpenKeySet allows this.

AdLockOptimistic constant is the LockType parameter which allows us to add or update data to our database. With the AdLockOptimistic constant in the LockType parameter, the database only locks when the database is being updated. This way no one else can enter data until the data is finished updating. If you want to be on the safe side, you could use the AdLockPessimistic constant in the LockType parameter which locks the database as soon as the Update() method of the RecordSet Object is called.

AdCmdTable constant is the Options parameter which states how our source string (“table1″) should be interpreted. We use the AdCmdTable constant as our Options parameter because we only need to enter data to our table and in our source string, we only add our table name. If we used a source string like (“SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE NAME = ‘Andrew Schools’ “), we would have to use the AdCmdText constant in the Options parameter because we actually have a string of SQL that needs to be interpreted. More on SQL (Structured Query Language) and using the AdCmdText in the Options parameter later.

Retrieving Data Using the Recordset Object

Now lets retrieve the data we just entered into our database.

The code below reads data from our database using the following properties and methods: Open, BOF (Beginning of File), EOF (End of File), MoveFirst and MoveNext.

The first two lines of code is something we have already seen and talked about. The only thing different is we use a AdLockReadOnly constant instead of a AdLockOptimistic constant since we are not updating the database. Now you don’t have to do this, however it save resources since the database doesn’t have to keep track of when you are changing files in the database.

The 3rd line of code checks to see if the database is empty by using the BOF and EOF properties of the Recordset Object. If the following statement is true (no data in our database), then we tell the user by writing to the screen, Sorry, no files! If the statement is false (there is data in our database), then we proceed down to line 6. Note that it’s good pratice to check to see if there isn’t any files. If you don’t and there is no files, you will get an ugly error message which states there isn’t any files.

Line 6 tells the cursor to move to the Beginning of the file just in case it isn’t there. We don’t want to skip any files…

Line 7 starts a While…Loop. It will loop until there is no more data in our database.

Line 8 writes our data to the screen.

Line 9 tells the cursor to move to the next file in our database. Without this line, we would have a infinitive loop because we would always display the first file in our database and our While…Loop would always be true and never end, thus looping for ever or until the script timed out.

Line 10 ends our loop.

Line 11 ends our If…EndIf statement.

Now since we are opening all of these objects, it’s good practice to close them once we are finished with them. This also saves precious server memory.

Deleting Data Using the Recordset Object

There will come a time when you will need to delete data from your database and it’s real easy too. The code below will delete the name Kelly from the database.

Line 2 opens the Recordset Object as shown in previous examples, however, the source string is different. It uses a SELECT statement of SQL which states: find all files with the name = Kelly. Note that the Options parameter is set to AdCmdText.

What’s with the * ? It means All fields. In this statement, you could replace the * with name, since we only have one field we can select from anyway, which is name.

Once we have found the file(s) with the name(s) = Kelly, line 6 deletes the first file using the Delete() method of the RecordSet Object. Why only the first file? If we wanted to delete all file(s) with the name(s) = Kelly, we would have to use a While…Loop.

Updating Data Using the Recordset Object

Updating data is another very important technique when working with databases and it’s almost like adding data to a database. Look at the code below:

The only thing that’s different from adding data then updating data is the lack of the AddNew() method of the Recordset Object and of course we use a SELECT statement of SQL to obtain the file we wish to update. Note that if you had more than one file with the name = Andrew, you would have to use a While…Loop like the previous example to update every file.

If you are copy and pasting these examples, remember to use the Connection Object first. For instance, if you wanted to use the code above, you would have to do the following:

There are many different ways to read/add/update/delete data to a database including complex SQL statements then what this tutorial discusses. For more information on SQL, visit W3Schools.com

Post from: Hot Scripts Blog

Simple ASP database techniques

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A component is just a piece of code someone wrote so you wouldn’t have to re-invent the wheel. Just like when you create a subroutine, you use the same code over and over again instead of having to re-write virtually the same piece of code somewhere else.

Why use Components?

Components make programming easier. You don’t have to use components, but you will be creating much more work for yourself then needed.

Using the Ad Rotator Component

What’s the Ad Rotator Component? Just what is says. It rotates your ads for you. In order to use this component, you will need three things:

1. The rotator schedule file (text file)

2. ASP page that redirects the user

3. The ASP page that houses the banners

First, let’s create the schedule file. A schedule file will have the following format:

schedulefile.txt

The first 4 lines of code apply to all banners.

The first line of code tells the browser what file to go to once the banner it clicked. This could be a redirecting script that logs all hits out from your site.

The second and third lines of code affects the width and height of the banners while the fourth line of code sets a border width around the image.

The fifth line of code (*) indicates where the first section of the file stops and the second starts.

ImageURL is the path of your banner

HomePageURL is the URL that the user is taken to when they click on the banner. This URL is passed to the redirect URL for processing. If there is no site to be taken to, then a hyphen (-) should be used.

AltText is used to display text instead of an image if the image doesn’t load.

Weight is a number between 0 and 10,000 that indicates how many times the ad should be display compared to all other banners in the schedule file. For instance, if you had two banners in the schedule file with the weight of 1o and one banner with the weight of 20, the banner with weight 2o would be shown more times then the first two banners.

Here’s a live example:

schedulefile.txt

Now on to the redirection page. This page will redirect the user to the appropriate site when a banner is clicked.

The Ad Rotator creates a querystring for us to use. When a user clicks on a banner, we will get a querystring with the following information:

So if we want to redirect the user to the appropriate site, we would use the following line of code:

redirect.asp

The last file we need to create is the ASP page(s) that will display the banners.

index.asp

This page displays our banners. If you refresh this page several times, you will see that a different image is displayed. Sometimes, especially with fewer banners to display, the same banner will appear.

The first couple of lines of code creates an instance of the Ad Rotator object and gives it the name of objAdRotator.

To display our image, we use the following code like shown above:

As you can see, our object uses the method GetAdvertisement() with the property of the name of our schedule file.

Using the Content Linker Component

What’s the Content Linker Component? It’s used to manage large, frequently updated sites which have tutorials, etc. To use the Content Linker Component, you will need a text file to create a linking list file.

Each line can contain up to three tab-separated items, like above.

webpageURL is the page you want to link to. Use file names only, URLS that begin with Http:// won’t work.

description is a description of the page.

comment is used as a comment for programmers.

So let’s create a linking list file:

linkinglistfile.txt

Now we need to create our ASP page that will display our pages from our linking list file.

index.asp

The only code we need to review is the following:

The code above creates a previous and next link for us. In order for us to accomplish this, we must use the methods GetPreviousURL(), GetPreviousDescription(), GetNextURL() and GetNextDescription() of the NextLink object. They are self explanatory.

Remember to include the code above in all the pages you plan on linking. For instance, tut_fun.asp, tut_com.asp and tut_inc.asp would all have the code above at the bottom of their pages, however, different content.

There are also other methods the NextLink object takes:

GetListCount(listfile) – returns the number of pages the linking list file contains

GetListIndex(listfile) – returns the index number of the current page in linking list file

GetNthURL(listfile, num) – returns the URL of the num page in the linking list file

GetNthDescription(listfile, num) – returns the description of the num page in the linking list file

Using the GetNthURL() and GetNthDescription() methods, we can make a table of contents:

The code above will give us a table of contents using a For…Next Loop with a GetNthURL() and GetNthDescription() method.

Using The Browser Capabilities Component

What’s the Browser Capabilities Component? It’s used to figure out what type of browser and different properties the users browser supports.

To see if a users browser supports JavaScript, use the following code:

The Browser Capabilities Component also supports these methods:

Browser Name – (.Browser) Returns a string

Browser Version – (.Version) Returns a string

Check to see if the browser supports frames – (.Frames) Returns a boolean value of true or false

Check to see if the browser supports tables – (.tables) Returns a boolean value of true or false

Check to see if the browser supports background sound – (.BackGroundSounds) Returns a boolean value of true or false

Check to see if the browser supports VBScript – (.VBScript) Returns a boolean value of true or false

Post from: Hot Scripts Blog

Using Built-In ASP Components

Related posts:

1. Using the ASP QueryString