Promotions 101: Using the Buy Now Feature of Microsoft Site Server, Commerce Edition

Alan Saldanha
SiteServer101.com

December 10, 1998

Contents
Introduction
What a Promotion Is
Using Commerce to Automate Promotions
Implementing the Buy Now Feature
Adding Buy Now to an Existing Site
Adding the Buy Now Templates to the Site Builder Wizard
Conclusion
About Alan Saldanha

Introduction

If you run an electronic commerce (e-commerce) storefront, you generally have one thing in mind--sell, sell, sell. You want your customer to buy more expensive products from your store (which hopefully have better profit margins) and buy them more often. Most of all, you want your shoppers to be loyal to your storefront, and not visit your competitor who is just a click away.

In the real world, stores offer incentives and promotions to entice and keep customers. On the Web, the components and features that come with Microsoft® Site Server, Commerce Edition allow electronic storefronts to automate the process of offering incentives to shoppers. Incentives enable your store to:

Have the shopper make more, and more expensive, purchases from your online store.
Cater to impulse buying.
Help the shopper navigate to a product that best fits their needs.
Suggest products to the shopper based on the buying patterns of other shoppers.

In this article, after a ginger introduction to promotions, you will be introduced to promotional engines available with Commerce Edition. Following that, you will introduced to the Buy Now feature in Commerce that caters to impulse buying. Two methods of adding the Buy Now feature to your site are covered:

Add Buy Now to an existing Commerce site.
Add Buy Now templates to the Site Builder Wizard.

You are likely to find the latter approach more interesting, since it not only allows you to turn out sites using Buy Now in a couple of minutes, but will introduce you to how the templates are used by the Site Builder Wizard to develop the sites.

What a Promotion Is

A promotion is an incentive used by merchants to attract new customers to a product and to reward loyal customers. As well, promotions serve to increase purchase and repurchase rates of the casual shopper. Promotions are an especially good way of getting shoppers to switch their brand or store, and to convert a onetime shopper into a loyal customer.

Using Commerce to Automate Promotions

Commerce allows you to automate the process of offering incentives to shoppers, which entices them to buy, and buy more, from your store. Commerce provides the infrastructure to add the following types of promotions to your site:

Sale promotion: Substitutes a reduced price for the list price of an item. For example, during January, a product that lists for $10.99 is offered for $9.99.

Figure 1. Appearance of a sales promotion during the period the promotion is valid

Price promotion: Applies price discounts and special offers based on attributes of the shopper, or on the purchase of the same or other products in the same category. For example, in the Volcano Coffee sample site (shipped with Commerce), if the customer orders a coffee grinder, a discount of 40 percent is offered on any flavored coffee.

Figure 2. The discount is detailed in the Promo Disc. column

Cross-sell promotion: Encourages the customer to consider purchasing a related product by following a link. For example, in the site loaded with data in the Site Builder Wizard, product name 33 is the cross-sell promotion for product name 1.

Figure 3. Product name 33 is cross-sold when product name 1 is viewed

Intelligent cross-sell: Suggests other items that a customer might be interested in by correlating items that the customer has ordered with a database of items that other shoppers have ordered. The Microsoft Press sample site (shipped with Commerce) uses this type of promotion on its Product.asp page. For example, when the user views the page for the book Inside Visual C++, other titles are offered, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Purchases are suggested based on the buying patterns of other shoppers.

Upsell promotion: Suggests that the customer buy a more expensive product instead of one in the shopping basket. If the customer agrees, the new item replaces the item in the basket. For example, in Volcano Coffee, if the customer orders a Volcano T-shirt, the basket.asp, which is responsible for displaying the contents in the shopping cart, suggests "Why not get something better for a change?", and links the customer to a more expensive product.

Figure 5. When the Volcano T-shirt is added to the shopping cart, a link to a more expensive product comes up.

Buy Now: Caters to the impulse buyer. This implementation is excellent in cases where you may be advertising your product using ad banners, and want the purchase process to be executed as quickly as possible for the shopper, without distracting them with additional products and links found in the main section of your site.

Figure 6. Impulse purchasing with Buy Now

Implementing the Buy Now Feature

Sample implementations of different types of promotions come with Commerce. The Volcano Coffee (http://yourservername/vc30) sample site is a good example of the Buy Now feature, price promotions, up-sell promotions, and cross-sell promotions. The Microsoft Press (http://yourservername/mspress30) sample site has a good example of intelligent cross-selling.

However, the implementations of some features at the sample sites are developed specifically for the sample and need to be adapted to the variations of your store. This article details the steps to take to add the Buy Now feature to your Web site if it's not based on Volcano Coffee. You will be shown two approaches to implementing the Buy Now feature at your store.

Enabling Impulse Purchases with Buy Now

The Buy Now feature of Commerce encourages shoppers to make impulse purchases. It allows a shopper to view an item directly from another Web site, through an ad banner or link. The shopper has the opportunity to make the purchase without having to navigate through your Web site.

Buy Now allows you to embed product information and order forms inline within most any context--such as an online ad banner--allowing businesses to promote and sell products at sites where the link or ad originates.

Figure 7. Buy Now enables purchasing in four easy steps

By incorporating Microsoft JScript® within the ad banner or link, the product can be displayed and sold from a pop-up window.

Figure 8. The shopper can make the complete purchase without leaving the host site.

There are a couple of approaches to adding Buy Now to your site, depending upon the stage you are at in the development of your site, and whether you used the Site Builder Wizard to develop your site in the first place.

If you have already created your site using the Site Builder Wizard, use the steps outlined in the section "Adding Buy Now To An Existing Site."

If you would like to add the Buy Now feature to a site as it's being developed using the Site Builder Wizard, see the section "Adding The Buy Now Templates To The Site Builder Wizard." This will take you through the steps to add the template files to your system.

Adding Buy Now to an Existing Site

In this section, the steps that you would need to take to manually add the Buy Now feature are outlined. Note that a number of the steps may not apply directly to your application (for example, your site may not use dept_id and pf_id to display product information), and some modifications will need to be made to meet your current application needs.

Developers should keep the following points in mind when adding Buy Now to an existing site.

Shopper ID - Shopper information per se is not collected--as it would be in the case of a store where registration was enabled. This means that you will generally have to change the way in which the shopper ID is initially created.
Wizard interface - A wizard interface needs to be implemented to help the shopper move from one page to another through the purchase process. At each point information like the shopper's ID needs to be persisted. The page object's methods will be used to do this.
Pass state information back and forth - Implementation of the wizard interface means that information about the process needs to be moved back and forth from one page to another. For example, a shopper at the payment stage may want to review the shipping information entered in the previous step. In order to do that, the shopper ID will have to be persisted using the methods of the page object.
JScript function for wizard buttons - JScript functions work with the wizard buttons that enable the shopper to navigate from one step to another. The buttons that are normally used, such as "Add to basket", will be replaced by form buttons. When clicked, these will invoke the JScript functions.
Order in which the pages are invoked - Usually when an item is added, the user is directed to basket.asp, a file which displays the contents of the shopping basket. In the case of Buy Now, the user skips that step and is taken directly to the shipping page.
Page display information - Modifications will need to be made such that only necessary information and links are displayed. This may include the sections of code dealing with cross-selling of other products. With Buy Now, just the information dealing with the product is displayed.
JScript needed to launch the Buy Now feature - This refers to the JScript function that is responsible for popping up a new window when the ad banner or link is clicked.

To create the directory

Create a new directory called BuyNow under the root directory of your store. In most cases that will be c:\inetpub\wwwroot\sitename, where sitename is the name of your store.

To make a copy of the needed files

Copy the following files from your existing site into the BuyNow directory. These files correspond to files that would be created by the Site Builder Wizard, and which you may have modified to suit your needs.

i_error.asp
i_mswallet.asp
i_selector.asp
i_shop.asp
i_util.asp
payment.asp
product.asp
receipt.asp
confirmed.asp
shipping.asp
xt_orderform_additem.asp
xt_orderform_prepare.asp
xt_orderform_purchase.asp

To change when the shopper ID is created

Open i_shop.asp, in the BuyNow directory.

Locate the following line:

REM -- Manually create shopper id
mscsShopperID = mscsPage.GetShopperId

Add the following code after the above line to create a shopper ID, if none is present, and assign it to the page object using the PutShopperID method.

REM -- Create the shopper id for the buy now shopper
if IsNull(mscsShopperID) then
    mscsShopperID = MSCSShopperManager.CreateShopperId()    
    mscsPage.PutShopperId(mscsShopperID)
end if

Save i_shop.asp.

To change the steps involved before and after the plan.pcf (the plan pipeline configuration file) is called

Open the file i_util.asp in the BuyNow directory.

Replace the current function UtilRunPlan with the following code. To locate the function search for "function UtilRunPlan".

function UtilRunPlan()

    REM Create a storage object for the order forms
    set mscsOrderFormStorage = UtilGetOrderFormStorage()

    REM Get the orderform
    set mscsOrderForm = UtilGetOrderForm(MSCSOrderFormStorage, created)

    REM Get the basic pipe context
    Set mscsPipeContext = UtilGetPipeContext()

    REM Create and run the pipe
    errorLevel = UtilRunPipe("plan.pcf", mscsOrderForm, mscsPipeContext)

    REM Save the order form in case running the pipe made changes to the order form
    if created then
        call mscsOrderFormStorage.InsertData(null, mscsOrderForm)
    else
        call mscsOrderFormStorage.CommitData(null, mscsOrderForm)
    end if

    Set UtilRunPlan = mscsOrderForm
end function

To change the way the order form is stored

Open the file i_util.asp.

Replace the function UtilPutOrderForm with the following function:

function UtilPutOrderForm(byRef orderFormStorage, byRef orderForm, byRef created)
if created = 0 then
Call orderFormStorage.CommitData(NULL, orderForm)
else
Call orderFormStorage.InsertData(NULL, orderForm)
end if
end function

Save the contents of i_util.asp.

To change the look and feel of the product display

Open the file product.asp.
Remove the lines that reference the include files i_header.asp and i_footer.asp.

To change the buttons in product.asp

At this point you have product.asp in the BuyNow directory open.
Add the following JScript to process an HTML form when the Next button is clicked, and the user is not using Microsoft Wallet. The ASP pages generated by the Site Builder Wizard include the JScript function needed if the user opts to use Microsoft Wallet.
```
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JScript">
function submitTheForm()
{
document.prodinfo.submit();
}
</SCRIPT>
```
Name the HTML form element with the names used in the JScript function; in the case above, that would be prodinfo. Also, make sure that xt_orderform_additem.asp is invoked from the BuyNow directory by supplying the directory path to the file. Both the changes are highlighted in this code:
```
<FORM METHOD=POST NAME=prodinfo 
ACTION="<%= pageSURL("buynow/xt_orderform_additem.asp") %>">
```
Delete the HTML for the "Add To Basket" image.

Add the HTML code for the "Next" and "Cancel" buttons. This is usually done close to the end of the page, with the following:

<FORM>
<INPUT TYPE=BUTTON VALUE="Next &gt;&gt;" onClick="submitTheForm()"> 
<INPUT TYPE=BUTTON VALUE="Cancel" onClick="self.close()" >
</FORM>

Remove the lines that reference the include files i_header.asp and i_footer.asp
Save the file product.asp.

To change the redirection, after the Next button is clicked at the product view page

Open the file xt_orderform_additem.asp.
Close to the end of the page comment the redirection to basket.asp, as follows.
```
'call Response.Redirect("basket.asp?" & mscsPage.URLShopperArgs())
```

Add the following line that will re-direct the user to shipping.asp instead.

call Response.Redirect(mscsPage.SURL( "buynow/shipping.asp", _
"pf_id", Request("pf_id"), _
"dept_id", Request("dept_id")))

Save the file xt_orderform_additem.asp.

To add the buttons to the shipping information page

Open shipping.asp.
Add the following JScript code to process the form when the Next button is clicked (and the user is not using Microsoft Wallet).
```
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="Javascript">
function submitTheForm()
{
document.shipinfo.submit();
}
</SCRIPT>
```
Locate all form action statements that reference xt_orderform_prepare.asp and replace them with buynow/xt_orderform_prepare.asp. In addition, make sure that the FORM element used, when the user opts not to use Microsoft Wallet, is named "shipinfo."
```
<FORM METHOD="POST" name="shipinfo" 
ACTION="<%= pageSURL("buynow/xt_orderform_prepare.asp") %>">
```
Remove the lines that reference the include files i_header.asp and i_footer.asp

Search for the following code string:

strDownlevelURL = pageSURL("shipping.asp")

Replace it with:

strDownlevelURL = mscsPage.SURL("buynow/shipping.asp", _
"pf_id", Request("pf_id"), _
"dept_id", Request("dept_id"), _
"qty", mscsOrderForm.quantity)

Delete the HTML for the "Total" image and reset button. The HTML that you need to remove is as follows:

<TR>
<TD></TD>
<TD ALIGN="CENTER">
<INPUT TYPE="Image" 
VALUE="Total" 
SRC="<%= "/" & siteRoot %>/manager/MSCS_Images/buttons/btntotal1.gif" 
WIDTH="116" 
HEIGHT="25" 
BORDER="0" 
ALT="Total">
</TD>
<TD ALIGN="CENTER" COLSPAN="2">
<INPUT TYPE="reset" 
VALUE="Reset">
</TD>
</TR>

Add the code for the wizard buttons close to the end of the page.

<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="<% = mscsPage.URL("buynow/product.asp","pf_id",
   _ Request("pf_id"), "dept_id", Request("dept_id"),"qty",(mscsOrderForm.quantity)) %>" >
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE="&lt;&lt; Previous"  id=SUBMIT1 name=SUBMIT1> 
<INPUT TYPE=BUTTON VALUE="Next &gt;&gt;" onClick="submitTheForm()" id=BUTTON1 
   name=BUTTON1>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<INPUT TYPE=BUTTON VALUE="Cancel" onClick="self.close()"  id=BUTTON2 name=BUTTON2>
</FORM>

Save the file shipping.asp.

To add the buttons to the payment information page

Open the file payment.asp.

Add the following JScript code to process the form when it is submitted with payment information.

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="Javascript">
function submitTheForm()
{
document.payinfo.submit();
}
</SCRIPT>

Locate all form action statements that reference xt_orderform_purchase.asp and replace them with buynow/ xt_orderform_ purchase.asp. Name the FORM element "payinfo" as indicated here:
```
<FORM METHOD=POST name="payinfo" ACTION="<%= pageSURL("buynow/xt_orderform_purchase.asp") %>">
```
Remove the lines that reference the include files i_header.asp and i_footer.asp.
Delete the HTML for the Purchase button.

Add the following code close to the end of the page for the wizard buttons.

<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="<%=mscsPage.SURL("buynow/shipping.asp","pf_id",
_ Request("pf_id"), "dept_id", Request("dept_id"), "use_form", Request("use_form")) %>">
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE="&lt;&lt; Previous" > 
<INPUT TYPE=BUTTON VALUE="Next &gt;&gt;" onClick="submitTheForm()">&nbsp;&nbsp;
<INPUT TYPE=BUTTON VALUE="Cancel" onClick="self.close()" >
</FORM>

Save the file payment.asp.

To make changes in how the purchase is processed

Open xt_orderform_purchase.asp.

Locate the function OrderFormPurchase. Comment out the lines that make reference to the shopper object. The lines that need to be commented out are highlighted below.

function OrderFormPurchase(byRef errorList)
OrderFormPurchase = null

REM Create a Storage object for the shopper information
'   Set mscsShopperStorage = UtilGetShopperStorage()

REM Get the shopper from the shopper storage
'   Set mscsShopper = UtilGetShopper(mscsShopperStorage)
REM If the shopper is null, there is no sense in us going on
'   if IsNull(mscsShopper) then
'       errorList.Add("Invalid shopper.")
'       exit Function
'   end if

Search for the following line, and comment it out.
```
set mscsPipeContext.Shopper = mscsShopper
```
Save the file xt_orderform_purchase.asp.

To modify how the confirmation screen is generated

Open the file confirmed.asp.
Remove the lines that reference the include files i_header.asp and i_footer.asp.

Change the link path to point to the file receipt.asp in the BuyNow directory as follows:

<A HREF="<% = baseURL("buynow/bnreceipt.asp") & mscsPage.URLShopperArgs("order_id",
_ Request("order_id")) %>"><STRONG><% = order_id %></STRONG></A>.

To modify how the receipt is displayed

Open receipt.asp.
Remove the lines that reference the include files i_header.asp and i_footer.asp.

Add the following code to close the current window when the user is finished.

<FORM>
<INPUT TYPE=BUTTON VALUE="Finished" ONCLICK="window.close()" >
</FORM>

To add a link to simulate Buy Now

Add a new ASP file, named test.asp, to your project.
Add this JScript function. The function is used to control how the page appears to the shopper; in this case, the URL is hard coded as part of the hyperlink itself, as it would be if it was an ad running at another site. The following script is for a product with pf_id equal to 001, and dept_id equal to 1.
```
<SCRIPT>

</SCRIPT>
```
Add the following HTML, which calls the JScript function just added. In turn, the function invokes the Buy Now feature.
```
<A HREF="javascript:popUpWindow()">BuyNow Test</a>
```
Save the file.

Adding the Buy Now Templates to the Site Builder Wizard

This section discusses adding the Buy Now templates to the Site Builder Wizard. This involves modifying an ASP file that is part of the Site Builder Wizard, as well as making changes that affect the Site Foundation Wizard.

Before you get started making all these changes, make sure that the changes are being made on a server used for development rather than production, and that you have created a back-up of files in c:\Microsoft Site Server\SiteServer\Admin\commerce\Site Builder Wizard\StoreBuilderBluePrints.

Since this section involves the creation of templates used by the wizard, here is a brief overview of how it works. The Site Builder Wizard works with the ASP files located in the directory c:\Microsoft Site Server\SiteServer\Admin\commerce\Site Builder Wizard\, indicated in the figure below. As is the case with the Site Foundation Wizard, each screen of the wizard is developed by an ASP script and serves the purpose of collecting information from the user about the store being created.

Figure 9. Directory location of the Site Builder Wizard ASP files

Once all the information is collected, the ASP file finish_post.asp uses a number of templates to develop the files for the site. The template files used by the Site Builder Wizard are located in the subdirectories under c:\Microsoft Site Server\SiteServer\Admin\commerce\Site Builder Wizard\. The template files are interpreted based on the file extension. Files have an extension of .ast for ASP files, .sqt for script files used with the database, and .pct for files related to the Pipeline configuration files.

The templates for the sample sites are kept in c:\Microsoft Site Server\SiteServer\Admin\commerce\Site Builder Wizard\CopyBluePrint\Default, as indicated by the figure below. This is the directory in which you could keep copies of other Commerce sites (Volcano, Microsoft press, and so on) that use the Site Builder Wizard.

Figure 10. Directory that contains the blueprints for sample sites

The templates that come with Commerce have not been modified to implement Buy Now; there are no templates that allow a person to add the Buy Now feature again and again. Buy Now is implemented as part of a sample site, Volcano in specific. However, you would have to copy the templates that come with Volcano, and then modify the copies to suit your site.

Included here is a ZIP file with templates that are modified for the Buy Now feature. They allow the user to add Buy Now to any site using the custom option of the Site Builder Wizard.

Click here to download the templates (zipped, 30 KB).

In order to use the templates in the ZIP file, do the following:

To create a BuyNow directory for your site while running the Site Foundation Wizard

Create a directory called BuyNow in c:\Microsoft Site Server\SiteServer\Admin\commerce\foundation\template.

To add the templates

Unzip the template files with extension ast, and place them into the directory c:\Microsoft Site Server\SiteServer\Admin\commerce\Site Builder Wizard\StoreBuilderBluePrints. The following files are added:

bni_error.asp
bni_shop.asp
bni_util.asp
bni_mswallet.asp
bni_selector.asp
bnpayment.asp
bnproduct.asp
bnreceipt.asp
bnconfirmed.asp
bnshipping.asp
bnxt_orderform_additem.asp
bnxt_orderform_prepare.asp
bnxt_orderform_purchase.asp

The template files added are similar to those in the directory c:\Microsoft Site Server\SiteServer\Admin\commerce\Site Builder Wizard\StoreBuilderBluePrints. They are preprended with "bn", so bnxt_orderfrom_additem.asp is based on xt_orderfrom_additem.asp

To have the templates used by the Site Builder Wizard

Make a backup copy of the file finish_post.asp located in c:\Microsoft Site Server\SiteServer\Admin\commerce\Site Builder Wizard.
Open finish_post.asp.

Locate the function GetShopFileDict by searching for "function GetShopFileDict".

Add the following lines to the function. This code copies the template files into the BuyNow directory of your site that was created using the Site Foundation Wizard.

var BuyNow = "BuyNow\\";

shopFileDict.bnproduct    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnxt_orderform_additem  = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_error    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_shop     = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_util     = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_mswallet    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_selector    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_selector    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_selector    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnpayment    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnreceipt    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnconfirmed     = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnshipping    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnxt_orderform_prepare  = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnxt_orderform_purchase  = BuyNow;

The lines added to the function are highlighted in the listing below.

function GetShopFileDict()
{
var shopFileDict = Server.CreateObject("Commerce.Dictionary");
var root = "";
var closed = "closed\\";

var BuyNow = "BuyNow\\";

shopFileDict.bnproduct    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnxt_orderform_additem  = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_error    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_shop     = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_util     = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_mswallet    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_selector    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_selector    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bni_selector    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnpayment    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnreceipt    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnconfirmed     = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnshipping    = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnxt_orderform_prepare  = BuyNow;
shopFileDict.bnxt_orderform_purchase  = BuyNow;


shopFileDict.about     = root;
shopFileDict.basket    = root;
shopFileDict.closed    = closed;
shopFileDict.confirmed = root;
shopFileDict.dept      = root;
if (g_store.product.find_enabled) {
shopFileDict.find = root;
}
shopFileDict.i_error    = root;
shopFileDict.i_footer   = root;
shopFileDict.i_header   = root;
shopFileDict.i_mswallet = root;
shopFileDict.i_selector = root;
shopFileDict.i_shop     = root;
shopFileDict.i_util     = root;
if (g_store.product_groups.dept.level == "multiple") {
shopFileDict.listing = root;
}
shopFileDict.payment = root;
shopFileDict.product = root;

if (g_store.accept_orderhist_enabled) {
shopFileDict.receipt  = root;
shopFileDict.receipts = root;
}
shopFileDict.shipping = root
if (!isGuestReg) {
shopFileDict.shopper_lookup = root;
shopFileDict.shopper_new    = root;
shopFileDict.shopper_update = root;
}
shopFileDict.xt_orderform_additem        = root;
shopFileDict.xt_orderform_clearitems     = root;
shopFileDict.xt_orderform_delitem        = root;
shopFileDict.xt_orderform_editquantities = root;
shopFileDict.xt_orderform_prepare        = root;
shopFileDict.xt_orderform_purchase       = root;

return shopFileDict;
}

Save the file finish_post.asp.

To try it out

Create a new foundation for a Commerce site using the Site Foundation Wizard. On completion make sure that the BuyNow directory was created under C:\inetpub\wwwroot\sitename.
Create a new site on the foundation using the Site Builder Wizard. Then, try the Buy Now feature out for the product with pf_id equal to 001, and dept_id equal to 1. Note that the arguments in the URL may vary (sku instead of pf_id) according to the options you selected while running the Site Builder Wizard.

http://yourservername/sitename/buynow/bnproduct.asp?dept_id=1&pf_id=001

Conclusion

The Buy Now feature of Microsoft Site Server, Commerce Edition is a great tool for adding revenue to your online store. An important by-product of this article is that it reveals the tremendous potential that template creation and modification have for developing re-usable Web applications--after all, once the templates have been created and tested, you can turn out customized versions of the same core application.

About Alan Saldanha

Alan provides consulting and training in ASP and Site Server Commerce. He was featured in a Microsoft video for his use of COM on the Campbell's Soup Web site, and runs a site devoted to Site Server at http://www.siteserver101.com . He can be reached alan@siteserver101.com