ASP in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

How This Book Is Structured

ASP in a Nutshell is divided into three parts. Part I, provides a fast-paced introduction to ASP that consists of three chapters. Chapter 1, places ASP within the broader context of the evolution of web application development, provides a quick example Active Server Page, and briefly examines the ASP object model. Chapter 2, examines the difference between client-side scripting and server-side scripting, takes a look at the structure and syntax of ASP pages, and examines the scripting languages that can be used for ASP development. Chapter 3, examines the general mechanism for incorporating external COM components into an ASP application and lists the components that are included with Internet Information Server (IIS).

Active Server Pages is an object model that features seven intrinsic objects (Application, ASPError, ObjectContext, Request, Response, Server, and Session) that are always available to your scripts. (Actually, the ObjectContext object is a Microsoft Transaction Server object that is available only if you're using ASP 2.0 or greater.) Part II, documents each of these intrinsic objects. These chapters are arranged alphabetically by object. In addition, Chapter 11, covers three major structural features of ASP that are not closely related to its object model.

ASP is extensible. That is, by calling the Server object's CreateObject method, you can instantiate external COM components that can be accessed programmatically just like any of the seven intrinsic objects. Part III, documents the components that are included with the IIS installation. These thirteen chapters are again arranged alphabetically by component name.

Finally, ASP in a Nutshell includes four appendixes. Appendix A, lists the properties, methods, and events of the built-in ASP objects alphabetically. Appendix B, shows what's involved in converting a simple application from Perl and Visual Basic to ASP and VBScript. It also includes two handy tables that list CGI and WinCGI environment variables and their equivalent ASP properties. Appendix C, examines some of the beta and released software that will allow you to develop ASP applications for software other than Microsoft's. Finally, Appendix D, covers the configuration details that you need to know about to get your ASP application to run successfully.