Choosing a Scripting Language

Both JScript and VBScript enable you to script Web pages. Both languages are full-featured and nearly interchangeable in the scripting environment. See VBScript Features and JScript Features for their respective functionality.

Consider the following requirements when choosing a scripting language:

• VBScript in server scripts (ASP pages) requires that the server be Microsoft Internet Information Server or a third-party equivalent.
• VBScript in browser scripts (client scripts) requires that the browser be a version of Internet Explorer. Other browsers might not support VBScript.
• JavaScript and JScript are identical on Microsoft browsers. Other browsers may only recognize JavaScript.

The requirement of Internet Explorer for client script could be an issue when dealing with a public Web site where you cannot control what browsers people have. Because the CML is an intranet application, however, specifying an Internet Explorer browser is realistic and doable. The CML application can target a particular Web browser to exploit its specific strengths.

For the most part, you can mix and match scripting languages on the same page without any problems. A script in one language can call routines in another language and share global variables. CML pages use both scripts to take advantage of language-specific features when those features are required. A section of the ASP page may well be in one script while the rest of the ASP page is in another script.