Active Server Pages

ASP stands for Active Server Pages. As with CSS, let me start by referring you to some outside references -- 

• Joe Burns' ASP overview at HTML Goodies (starting point)
• LearnASP.com by Charles Carrol (in-depth, many links) 

The summary that follows will get you started with the new Business School site, hopefully with all the information you need on: 

• What are Active Server Pages and include files? 
• Why are we using them? 
• Are they hard? 
• How do you get the ASP code for the site? 
• How do you link include files correctly with ASP? 
• How can I get my ASP questions answered? 
• What about advanced ASP capabilities? 

What are Active Server Pages and include files?
Active Server Pages (ASP) are pages that take some of the work done by a client/browser and put it into the hands of your Web server. Hence the name, active server. 

Include files are pages which are called from an ASP page, and thus "embedded" into it when the page is viewed in a web browser. The code for calling an include file looks like this:

<!--#INCLUDE VIRTUAL="/incs/topbar.htm"--> 

This code, which is at the top of the current page, embeds the "topbar.htm" include file into the page to make the top bar. Instead of each page containing the code for the top bar, the ASP code inserts it into each page from a single file. This makes it very easy to update elements that appear throughout the whole site or any subwebs. 

All the ASP pages on the site use include files for the top bar, footer, and left navigation links.

You don't need to worry about the code at all, except for how to link to specific files, a simple operation we cover below.

First, though, you may want to know...

Why are we using Active Server Pages? 
Because they make site management easy and they offer great flexibility. 

Active Server Pages have many capabilities. For instance, if you get into more advanced programming, they work extremely well with databases. (We use them on this site, for instance, to tabulate the results of our site evaluations.) 

On a more basic level, they make it really easy to make changes across an entire site. For instance, see that McCombs School of Business logo on the top right of this page? Well, when the School unveiled its new, official logo, all we had to do was make ONE CHANGE to the top bar file and it would instantly change across the site. Likewise, when the school was renamed after Red McCombs for his generous donation, only ONE CHANGE was required! This saves a lot of time by eliminating tedious hard-coding changes and massive find and replace searches across the site.
 

Is ASP hard to work with? 
It's not hard, at least not at the beginner's level you need to know for this site. From the experience of a Web amateur who hates programming, it was confidently said that working with ASP is: 

As easy as working with HTML 
Easier than HTML when you have to make site changes 
And, did I say, easy. 
My point is that you should not in anyway feel intimidated by ASP, at least not in our user-friendly application. Our resident ASP gurus, have written the hard stuff. You can sit back and use the ASP tools built into the existing templates. And if you want to learn more or try advanced techniques, the site is ready. 
 

How do you get the ASP code for the site?
You don't have to get or duplicate the ASP code, since you will be building pages from the templates, which have the code right there, built in, where it needs to be.

A word of warning: You cannot get the code for a template by using the "view source" option in your browser.

Why not? Because the browser has already taken the coding for the include file and "embedded" the include file's code, you will not see the ASP coding. Therefore, instead of seeing this ASP instruction which is actually on the page: 

<!--#INCLUDE VIRTUAL="/incs/footer.htm" ---> 

you will see the HTML code from that included document, footer.htm: 

 <a href="http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/resources/suggestions.asp">Suggestions</a> | <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/policies/privacy/">Privacy Policy</a> | <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/web/guidelines/accessibility.html">Accessibility</a> | <a href="http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/resources/siteindex.asp">Index</a> | <a href="http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/google/search">Search</a> | <a href="http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/resources/contacts.asp">Contact Us</a><br>
&copy;2004 <a href="http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/">McCombs School of Business</a>, <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/">The University of Texas at Austin</a>

You will only be able to see the ASP code when you open the HTML view of the document in your web editing program.

How do you link include files correctly via ASP?
Here's a typical include file: 

<!--#INCLUDE VIRTUAL="/incs/footer.htm" ---> 

This tells the server where to find the include file known as "footer.htm." 

The address starts with a "/" which takes the server all the way back to the root directory of the server (www.mccombs.utexas.edu). 

So, all you have to do is start from the root directory and direct the server to the appropriate file from there. For most of the include files, you won't even have to do this, since they are the same files used by everyone across the School. You should only have to direct the server to your lefthand navigation links. 

You will  have your own include folder. There you will keep your own lefthand navigation links and any other custom include files for your site. So, if you manage the Students site, for instance, your include file for your lefthand navigation links might read: 

<!--#INCLUDE VIRTUAL="/students/incs/leftnav.htm"--> 

The coding for the left-hand navigation is already included in the template, so the most you'll probably need to do is to change the location to which it's directing to to your specific file.

A final note on include code: When you learn about ASP, you may also hear about another way to do includes, where you write INCLUDE FILE instead of INCLUDE VIRTUAL. If you're that far advanced, you don't need our help. We recommend, however, that you stick with INCLUDE VIRTUAL. 
 

How can you get your ASP questions answered?
Try the resources mentioned at the top of this document, then contact Communication Services. 

What about advanced ASP capabilities? 
For the time being, departments are on their own if they want to take advantage of ASP's advanced capabilities, such as its facility with databases. (For an example, see the new Faculty Expertise Guide.) 
We have several employees who are excellent ASP resources: Robert Fernandez and Linda Fay. You will have to contact these employees individually for help with advanced projects. Try them, but understand that their time may be limited. 

As we add more resources to Web development, we will try to meet the demand for advanced ASP programming. 

Next, on to Using the Template  ->