Microsoft® Active Server Pages (ASP) is a server-side scripting environment that you can use to create and run dynamic, interactive Web server applications. With ASP, you can combine HTML pages, script commands, and ActiveX components to create interactive Web pages or powerful Web-based applications. ASP applications are easy to develop and modify.
If you are an HTML author, you will find that ASP scripts are an easy way to begin creating interactive pages. If you have ever wanted to collect information from an HTML form, personalize an HTML document with a customer's name, or use different HTML features based on the browser, you will find that ASP provides a compelling solution. Previously, to collect information from an HTML form, you would have had to learn a programming language to build a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) application. Now you can collect and analyze data from a form by using simple instructions that you embed directly into your HTML documents. You do not need to learn a full programming language or compile programs separately to create interactive pages.
As your skill with ASP and scripting languages grows, you can create increasingly complex scripts. With ASP, you can easily use ActiveX components to perform complex tasks, such as connecting to a database to store and retrieve information.
If you already know a scripting language, such as VBScript, JavaScript, or PERL, you already know how to use Active Server Pages. In your ASP pages you can use any scripting language for which you have installed a scripting engine that follows the ActiveX Scripting standard. ASP comes with scripting engines for Microsoft® Visual Basic® Scripting Edition (VBScript) and Microsoft® JScript™ so that you can immediately begin writing scripts. ActiveX Scripting engines for PERL, REXX, and Python are available through third-party developers.
If you already know a programming language, such as Visual Basic, you will find ASP a flexible way to quickly create Web applications. By adding script commands to HTML pages, you create an HTML interface for your application. By creating your own ActiveX components, you can encapsulate your application's business logic into reusable modules that you can call from a script, from another component, or from another program.
Web computing with ASP translates into tangible benefits, enabling Web providers to provide interactive business applications rather than merely publishing content. For example, a travel agency can do more than just publish flight schedules; it can use ASP scripting to enable customers to check available flights, compare fares, and reserve a seat on a flight.
Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), which is included in the Windows NT Option pack, reduces the complexity and cost of building applications on the server. MTS handles the complexities of developing secure, scalable, and reliable Web applications.
An ASP script begins to run when a browser requests an .asp file from your Web server. Your Web server then calls ASP, which reads through the requested file from top to bottom, executes any script commands, and sends a Web page to the browser.
Because your scripts run on the server rather than on the client, your Web server does all the work involved in generating the Web pages that you send to browsers. You need not worry whether a browser can process your scripts: your Web server does all the script processing, transmitting standard HTML to the browser. Server-side scripts cannot be readily copied because only the result of the script is returned to the browser. Your users cannot view the script commands that created the page they are viewing.