Active Server Pages 3.0 from Scratch

by Chase, Nicholas

• ISBN13: 9780789722614
• ISBN10: 0789722615
• Format: Paperback w/CD
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: Que

Summary

In Active Server Pages 3.0 From Scratch, Nicholas Chase takes novice Web programmers through the process of planning, designing, and building a Web site using Active Server Pages. You will create an online magazine that has news, interviews, and archives, a small memorabilia store, person-to-person auctions, and personalized start pages. Topics include planning and designing a Web site, VBScript, connecting to databases, HTML forms, personalizing the user experience using cookies, building an auction system, and building an electronic storefront.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Planning and Designing a Professional Web Site	p. 11
Why Plan?	p. 11
Defining the Project	p. 12
The Project Goals	p. 13
Your Target Audience	p. 14
User Goals	p. 15
Content and Functionality	p. 15
Information Architecture	p. 16
How the Web Works	p. 19
Windows 2000	p. 20
Windows 95/98/NT	p. 23
Other Systems and Options	p. 23
Working With the Personal Web Manager	p. 24
Creating Directories	p. 27
Building a Shell	p. 29
Basic HTML	p. 29
Getting Ready	p. 30
Formatting Text	p. 30
Links	p. 32
Images	p. 33
Putting it All Together	p. 34
Interface Design	p. 36
Summary	p. 39
Next Steps	p. 39
Getting Started With Active Server Pages	p. 41
Using Visual InterDev	p. 41
Using an FTP Client	p. 44
Starting Our Interface	p. 45
What You're Shooting For	p. 50
ASP Basics	p. 57
Setting a language	p. 57
Objects	p. 59
Debugging Your Code	p. 62
Working Without a Debugger	p. 62
Where You Go From Here	p. 63
Summary	p. 64
Creating Interactive Web Content	p. 65
The User Interface	p. 65
Typical Content	p. 69
Server Side Includes	p. 75
The Importance of Being Consistent	p. 77
Digging a Little Deeper	p. 80
The Content Linking Component	p. 83
Creating the List	p. 84
Creating an Object	p. 84
Moving Among the Files	p. 87
Content Rotator	p. 89
Banner Ads and AdRotator	p. 90
Using AdRotator	p. 91
The Page Counter Component	p. 95
Next Steps	p. 95
Database Access Using ASP	p. 97
Creating The Database and ODBC DSN	p. 98
Inserting Records into the Database	p. 100
Creating a Connection to the Database	p. 102
SQL Basics: Insert	p. 104
Adding Interactivity with Forms	p. 106
Data Modeling	p. 115
Determining Entities	p. 116
The Actual Tables	p. 118
Inserting the data	p. 119
Error Handling	p. 120
Completing the Form	p. 123
Multi-purpose Forms	p. 125
Tidying Up--HTML Tables	p. 127
Summary	p. 130
Personalizing the Site Using Cookies and Database Information	p. 133
Why Personalize?	p. 133
Introduction to Cookies	p. 134
Cookies and Privacy Concerns	p. 135
Cookies and Collections	p. 136
Querying the Database	p. 139
Cookie Expiration Dates	p. 149
Other Cookie Properties	p. 152
Customizing mySpace	p. 154
Putting It All Together	p. 170
Summary	p. 178
Adding Person-To-Person Auction Capabilities	p. 179
Auction Data Model	p. 179
More on RecordSets	p. 197
Source	p. 197
ActiveConnection	p. 198
CursorType	p. 198
LockType	p. 199
Options	p. 200
Constants	p. 201
Moving On	p. 201
Seeing Our Auctions	p. 204
Personalizing Our Site Through myAuctions	p. 216
One More Step: Third Party Components and Emailing Users	p. 225
You've Been Outbid	p. 227
Next Steps	p. 230
Creating Electronic Storefronts and Implementing Shopping Carts	p. 231
Category Listings	p. 234
Searching For Products	p. 241
Taking Orders	p. 255
Adding a Product to Your Cart	p. 255
Counters	p. 268
Security in an Insecure World (Wide Web)	p. 271
Reviewing the Order	p. 273
System Administration via ASP	p. 291
Security	p. 292
Displaying a Table	p. 296
Storing myLinks Information in the Database	p. 298
Uploading myNews Files: From the Browser to the Server	p. 309
Creating Files on the Server: Formatting the News	p. 319
Reading a File: Importing Product Data	p. 326
Folders and Subfolders: Moving around in the Filesystem	p. 327
Reading a File from the Filesystem	p. 331
The Next Big Thing: eXtensible Markup Language	p. 340
Creating XML	p. 344
Importing XML	p. 345
Transactions and Errors	p. 347
Handling Errors in ASP	p. 359
Summary	p. 361
Next Steps	p. 361
Adding Professional Site Features	p. 363
Know Your Audience	p. 363
Discussion Groups	p. 366
Chat Rooms	p. 368
Upsizing the Database	p. 368
Bells and Whistles	p. 369
Browser Capabilities	p. 370
Dynamic HTML (DHTML)	p. 372
Java Applets	p. 373
Letting the World Know You're Out There	p. 373
Search Engines	p. 374
The Basics of Search Engines	p. 374
Stealth Advertising	p. 377
Link Exchanges and Partnerships	p. 377
Paid Banners, Sponsorships, and Affiliate Programs	p. 378
Press Releases and Testimonials	p. 378
The Real World	p. 378
Where Do We Go From Here?	p. 379
Keeping in Touch	p. 379
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.