Duration 2 days

Objectives
ASP - or Active Server Pages - is the name of the Microsoft Server scripting solution for building dynamic web applications using Access or SQL back-end databases. Through a series of in-depth practical examples, you will learn how to use ASP to connect to a remote database and display records on a web page. You will also learn how to build simple queries in SQL and display search results on a web page. Finally, you will build web pages that enable you to update, amend and delete records from the database. By the end of the course you will be fully familiar with the ASP programming language, its structure and the ASP object model.

Requirements
Ability to build a static web site, for example in Dreamweaver, using HTML, tables and frames. Ability to test and deploy a site on a remote hosting server. Prior programming knowledge not necessary.


Course Outline

Introduction
• What is ASP?
• Database integration and typical applications
• Client-side vs Server-side scripting
• Setting up IIS 5.0 to test ASP on your workstation

Writing Simple Scripts in ASP
• Editing ASP: a simple script
• Execution Order in ASP Scripts
• Writing a dynamic script
• Using ASP Variables within HTML text
• Using Numerical ASP Variables to format HTML

Writing Conditional Code in ASP
• Introduction to the ASP Object Model
• Using Branching in ASP: IF, Else and End IF
• Using Branching in ASP: Select Case
• Nested IF Statements
• Using IF and Select together
• Iterating and Looping through code

Using Forms and ASP
• Inputting, Processing and Outputting Form data
• Validating a Form Submission
• Changing Variable Types
• VBScript and Javascript: working together
• Sending Variables between ASP Pages
• About POST and GET Form methods

Arrays, Cookies and Sessions
• Defining a simple Array
• Writing and reading from a Cookie
• Applications and Sessions: an overview
• Password Protection and Session Variables

Debugging ASP Code
• Using Option Explicit
• Structured Code and Comments
• Variable Naming
• Response.Write and Response.End
• On Error Resume Next

Introduction to Databases
• What is a Database?
• What is a Table?
• Using MS Access for the Web
• Using SQL for the web
• Tables, normalisation and relationships
• Creating a simple database in Access

ASP and Databases
• Overview of ASP and Dynamic Web Pages
• Making the Connection: DSNs
• DSN-less Connections
• Connecting to Access
• Connecting to SQL
• Setting up an ODBC Connection

Database Manipulation
• Using a DSN to display a database on a web page
• Searching a database using a DSN-less connection
• Using the SQL wildcard sign: %
• Inserting data into a Database using a HTML Form
• Deleting data from a Databse using a Query String
• Updating a Database using a Query String

An Overview of SQL
• Writing complex queries in ASP and SQL
• Retrieving data from several tables using JOIN
• Identifying the number of rows in a database table

Tracking Visitors to Your Site in ASP
• The Log File Object
• Who is visiting your site?
• What platform are they using?
• When did they visit?
• Constructing a Visit Counter

Subprocedures and Functions
• What are Subprocedures and Functions?
• Writing a simple Function
• Writing a simple Subprocedure

Bringing it All together: Course Project
• A website for Users and Administrators
• Building the project
• Q and A