1 INTRODUCTION Introduction What do we really know about the Internet? The Internet is an unregulated band of computers that continuously share information. This information may contain fundamental truths, profound thoughts and visions, or integrated deceit and outright lies. How many people are under the impres- sion that because they found information on the Web, that the information is absolute truth? The only thing that can definitely be said about the Internet is that it is a network of computers that provides a vast distribution medium to a countless number of people. However, tapping into this vast resource base is only as effective as the communication mechanism between you and your target audience and the ability of the audience to receive and process the information. Speakers and televi- sion screens are useless without a transmitter to translate and receive radio and television signals. Likewise, the multitudes of thin-client browsers are rendered useless without an effective, application-oriented Web server. ■ 01.1389-6 Intro 1 10/26/98, 8:47 AM Brands3/Stone4 SEU Active Server Pages #1389-6 SRing 11/14/97 Intro lp#3 2 Introduction The Purpose of This Book With the integration of the Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0, the Microsoft Transac- tion Server, and Active Server Pages, the power of distributing worthwhile applications over the Web is a reality, which leads to the vision of this book. This book is solely dedicated to demonstrating the powerful functionality of Active Server Pages to deliver real-world applica- tions over the Web. In order to fully understand Web application development, you first have to recognize that this environment is not the traditional development environment you are used to. Even though the phrase “it’s just HTML,” echoed from many IS managers’ offices, many of the inherent develop- ment issues taken for granted in traditional application development are not available in the stateless world of HTTP. In addition, applications have become more content-centric rather than process-centric. The new development team now includes content creators, graphic art- ists, and network engineers, as well as traditional application developers, database program- mers, and project managers. Active Server Pages provide a powerful interface to develop programming logic that can be used to implement and distribute your information through applications across the Web. The book provides a systematic, hands-on approach to decrease the Web-based learning curve to implement Active Server Page technology. Who Should Use This Book This book is targeted for the existing application developer that has some experience develop- ing client/server applications, yet provides a basic foundation for newer developers. Remember, the goal of this book is to provide a knowledge transfer mechanism that enables application developers to transition their existing experience developing applications into building robust, scalable, Web-based applications using Active Server Pages. At the same time, this book pro- vides the foundation to help push beginning- and junior–level application developers into the more advanced developer roles. This book does not require developers to have experience developing applications with Active Server Pages. This book is intended to leverage developers with some Microsoft Visual Basic skills and database development skills and apply that knowledge to Web application develop- ment. However, to help those with less experience in Web development and Visual Basic to quickly come up to speed in developing Web-based applications, Parts I and II of the book are designed to give an architecture perspective and a primer of VBScript. This primer is intended not to teach every detail of VBScript, but is designed to show developers the needed program- ming functionality to rapidly produce ASP applications. 01.1389-6 Intro 2 10/26/98, 8:47 AM Brands3/Stone4 SEU Active Server Pages #1389-6 SRing 11/14/97 Intro lp#3 How the Book Is Organized 3 How the Book Is Organized This book is organized in a manner that demonstrates what it takes to build, develop, and de- liver Web-based applications. As you might expect, it starts with the basics and proceeds to the more advanced topics. This organization goal is intended to create an environment that pro- vides a smooth transition from the highly defined application development tools available today to the much broader development environment that forms Web-based programming. This book is separated into six parts, each part building off the preceding to demonstrate the technical evolution of Active Server Pages. Each part of the book ends with an example chapter that demonstrates the use of the various objects and tools covered in the preceding chapters. Even though the content of each part may be technically different, all of the examples focus on using Active Server scripts to build enterprise Web-based applications. ■ Part I Introduction to Active Server Pages ■ Part II VBScript: The Foundation of Active Server Pages ■ Part III Active Server Objects: The Essential Building Blocks ■ Part IV Active Server Components ■ Part V Database Management with Active Server Pages ■ Part VI Active Server Pages and the Enterprise Solution ■ Appendixes Part I Introduction to Active Server Pages Part I focuses on introducing the high-level, conceptual layers needed to understand Web- based application development. This part of the book describes the differences between static and dynamic Web sites and how delivering Web-enabled applications requires a host of inte- grated systems working together. Part II VBScript: The Foundation of Active Server Pages Part II introduces the primary scripting language driving Active Server Pages functionality. VBScript provides the interpretation or processing layer between the requesting browser and server-side data storage units. Active Server Pages use VBScript to convert coded processing logic into native HTML. The pure HTML output is then accessible to any HTML-compatible browser type. Part III Active Server Objects: The Essential Building Blocks Part III demonstrates the core functionality of Active Server Pages. Active Server Pages are comprised of six programmable objects that are used to manipulate, manage, and control the various aspects of Web processing. This part focuses on identifying the scope and composition of Active Server Pages applications and how each object can be utilized in delivering your Web- based applications. 01.1389-6 Intro 3 10/26/98, 8:47 AM Brands3/Stone4 SEU Active Server Pages #1389-6 SRing 11/14/97 Intro lp#3 4 Introduction Part IV Active Server Components Part IV discovers how components can be used to implement additional functionality on your Web site and Web server applications. These components can be used to perform application functionality that might not be made available through native VBScript. Furthermore, these components provide the basic links to tap into other information stores accessible to the Web servers. This part of the book closes with the creation of a sample Web site that uses most of the installed Internet Information Server components. Part V Database Management with Active Server Pages Part V focuses on using the ActiveX Data Object to provide a rich set of database functionality. Active Serve Pages can use the Active Data Object to insert, update, and delete information from any ODBC-compliant database. This section wraps up by adding database functionality to an online catalog Web site. Part VI Active Server Pages and the Enterprise Solution Part VI demonstrates how Active Server Pages technology is used within a variety of Web- based systems to help build, manage, and distribute your Web applications. This part of the book demonstrates using the Microsoft Transaction Server to maximize resource and database connection-polling features, how to use the Visual InterDev ASP development tool, and how to manage your site with the Internet Information Server 4.0. Further, this part of the book ex- plains the role of the Microsoft Message Queue Server and how to build intranet/extranet capabilities for your sites and applications. This part of the book ends with converting the sample Web online catalog registration system into a distributed n-tier application database- driven application. Conventions Used in This Book Que has over a decade of experience developing and publishing the most successful com- puter books available. With that experience, we’ve learned what special features help readers the most. Look for these special features throughout the book to enhance your learning experience. The following font conventions are used in this book to help make reading it easier: ■ Italic type is used to introduce new terms. ■ Screen messages, code listings, and command samples appear in monospace type. ■ Shortcut keys are denoted with underscores. TIP Tips present advice on a quick or often overlooked procedure. These include shortcuts. CAUTION Cautions warn you about potential problems that may cause unexpected results or mistakes to avoid. 01.1389-6 Intro 4 10/26/98, 8:47 AM Brands3/Stone4 SEU Active Server Pages #1389-6 SRing 11/14/97 Intro lp#3 Conventions Used in This Book 5 NOTE Notes present interesting or useful information that isn’t necessarily essential to the discussion. A note provides additional information that may help you avoid problems or offers advice that relates to the topic. ■ This is an exciting time to be an application developer. The new Web-based application