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Active Server Pages (ASP) is a "server-side" scripting
environment that you can use to create and run dynamic, interactive
Web server applications. With ASP, you can combine HTML pages,
script commands, and COM components (including ActiveX controls)
to create interactive Web pages or powerful Web-based applications,
which are easy to develop and modify.
A server-side script begins to run when a browser requests
an .asp file from your Web server. Your Web server then processes
the requested file from top to bottom, executes any script
commands, and sends a Web page to the browser.
Server-side scripts cannot be readily copied because only
the result of the script is returned to the browser. Users
cannot view the script commands that created the page they
are viewing.
If you are an HTML author, you will find that server-side
scripts written in ASP are an easy way to begin creating
more complex, real-world Web applications. If you have ever
wanted to store HTML form information in a database, personalize
Web sites according to visitor preferences, or use different
HTML features based on the browser, you will find that ASP
provides a compelling solution. For example, previously,
to process user input on the Web server you would have had
to learn a language such as Perl or C to build a conventional
Common Gateway Interface (CGI) application. With ASP, however,
you can collect HTML form information and pass it to a database
using simple server-side scripts embedded directly in your
HTML documents. If you are already familiar with scripting
languages such as VBScript or JavaScript, you will have little
trouble learning ASP.
Since ASP is designed to be language-neutral, if you are
skilled at a scripting language such as VBScript, JavaScript,
or PERL, you already know how to use Active Server Pages.
What's more, in your ASP pages you can use any scripting
language for which you have installed a COM compliant scripting
engine. ASP comes with VBScript and JavaScript scripting
engines, but you can also install scripting engines for PERL,
REXX, and Python, which are available through third-party
vendors.
If you develop back-end Web applications in a programming
language, such as Visual Basic, C++, or Java, you will find
ASP a flexible way to quickly create Web applications. Besides
adding scripts to create an engaging HTML interface for your
application, you can build your own COM components. You can
encapsulate your application's business logic into reusable
modules that you can call from a script, from another component,
or from another program.
Because your scripts run on the server rather than on the
client, your Web server does all the work involved in generating
the HTML pages sent to browsers. This means that Web Developers
no longer need to be so concerned about whether visitors
to their pages have scripting options turned on, or Browser
specific problems such as unsupported features. For Example,
Taltech's ActiveX control can be used with Client side scripting,
but if you try to view the page with Netscape (which does
not support ActiveX controls unless a special "Plugin" is
installed) you will not be able to see or use the control.
However, by using Server Side Scripting to manipulate the
control and inserting the barocde into the Web Page as a
graphic file, this is no longer an issue.
Related Links
Configuring your Web Server
for Active Server Pages
Using TAL Bar Code ActiveX Plus with Active
Server Pages
Printing From Active Server Pages
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