Sams Teach Yourself Active Server Pages in 24 Hours is a step-by-step tutorial that teaches you how to create dynamic, fully functioning Web applications using Active Server Pages. Detailed coverage is provided for both Microsoft Personal Web Server and Microsoft Internet Information Server. Shows how to make sure your Web server is up and running correctly as well as how to build basic ASP applications. In addition to coverage of the basics of data access, you'll learn to send data, retrieve information, manage user sessions, use components, and work with files. Advanced topics include debugging ASP applications, building components, designing effective sites, adding security, and tuning ASP applications.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. Who Should Read This Book? What You'll Learn in the Next 24 Hours. What You Need. Downloading the Examples. Conventions Used in This Book. I. ASP FUNDAMENTALS. Hour1. Creating Your First Page. What You Need to Run ASP. Write a Little ASP Example. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour2. Introducing Internet Information Server. Choosing Your Development Platform. Creating a Web Site from Scratch. ASP Compared to Other Technologies. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour3. Working with ASP. ASP Architecture. ASP Development Tools. VBScript Crash Course. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. II. INTERACTING WITH THE USER. Hour4. Sending Data to the User. Combining VBScript and HTML. Buffering Output. Determining the Content Type. Redirecting the User. Formatting Locale-Specific Data. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour5. Retrieving Information from the User. Retrieving Environment Variables. Creating and Sending a Web Form. Validation of Data. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour6. Managing User Sessions and Applications. Web Applications Revisited. User Session Management. Use the global.asa to Specify Event Scripts. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour7. Persisting Information About the User. Cookie Basics. Setting Cookies. Retrieving Cookies. Checking the Cookie-Enabled State of the Client. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour8. Advanced Use of Intrinsic ASP Objects. Encoding Strings. Codepages and Character Sets. Mapping Server Paths. Limiting Script Timeout. Advanced Headers. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. III. EXTENDING THE REACH OF ASP WITH COMPONENTS ON IIS. Hour9. Working with Components. Creating Instances of Components. Working with the Dictionary Object. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour10. Using IIS's Installable Components. Automatically Linking Content Pages. Detecting a Browser's Capabilities. Adding Banners to Your Site. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour11. Sending and Receiving Email. The SMTP Service. Sending Email. Retrieving Email. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour12. Working with Files. Accessing a Text File. Reading Drive Properties. Performing Actions on Folders. Moving, Copying, or Deleting Files and Folders. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. IV. DATA-DRIVEN ASP PAGES. Hour13. Data Access Basics. Introducing the ADO Object Model. Creating and Configuring an ODBC Data Source. Accessing the Northwind Database. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour14. Retrieving Data from a Database. Opening a Recordset. Creating an SQL Statement. Preparing Recordset Options. Retrieving Multiple Recordsets. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour15. Inserting Data Into a Table. Adding Records to a Database. Handling Large Text or Binary Data Fields. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour16. Modifying Table Data. Updating Data in a Database. Deleting Data from a Database. Using Different OLE DB Providers. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour17. Paging Through Recordsets. Handling Server-Side Paging. Disconnecting a Recordset. Updating a Disconnected Recordset. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour18. Using Stored Procedures. Programming Stored Procedures. Invoking Stored Procedures. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. V. ADVANCED ASP. Hour19. Debugging ASP Applications. Debugging With Script Debugger. Debugging on Production Servers. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour20. Using XML. Understanding XML. Displaying XML. Creating XML On-the-Fly. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour21. Programming Windows Script Components. Introducing Windows Script Components. Creating a Hello World WSC Component. Advanced WSC Techniques. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour22. Securing Your ASP Applications. The IIS Security Process. Secure Connections with SSL. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour23. Tuning Your ASP Applications. Speed Up Database Queries. Accelerate Your ASP Script. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. Hour24. Foundations for a Web Store. Planning Your Store. Implementing a Shopping Bag. Summary. Q&A. Workshop. VI. APPENDIXES. Appendix A. Answers. Hour 1, “Creating Your First Page.” Hour 2, “Introducing Internet Information Server.” Hour 3, “Working with ASP.” Hour 4, “Sending Data to the User.” Hour 5, “Retrieving Information from the User.” Hour 6, “Managing User Sessions and Applications.” Hour 7, “Persisting Information About the User.” Hour 8, “Advanced Use of Intrinsic ASP Objects.” Hour 9, “Working with Components.” Hour 10, “Using IIS's Installable Components.” Hour 11, “Sending and Receiving Email.” Hour 12, “Working with Files.” Hour 13, “Data Access Basics.” Hour 14, “Retrieving Data from a Database.” Hour 15, “Inserting Data into a Table.” Hour 16, “Modifying Table Data.” Hour 17, “Paging Through Recordsets.” Hour 18, “Using Stored Procedures.” Hour 19, “Debugging ASP Applications.” Hour 20, “Using XML.” Hour 21, “Programming Windows Script Components.” Hour 22, “Securing Your ASP Applications.” Hour 23, “Tuning Your ASP Applications.” Hour 24, “Foundations for a Web Store.” Appendix B. ASP Information Resources. IIS/ASP-Related Information from Microsoft. ASP Information Resources. ASP Listserver and Newsgroups. Appendix C. ASP and Visual Development Tools. ASP Express. Drumbeat 2000. EasyASP. GASPY. HomeSite 4.0. Visual InterDev 6.0. Index.