What Is an ASP File? Files created with Active Server Pages have the extension .ASP. This story is an example; take a look at the address above. With ASP files, you can activate your Web site using any combination of HTML, scripting such as JavaScript or Visual Basic?

Is It Hard to Use? I don't know about you, but whenever people start talking about doing things on the server, I start to get nervous. I think a lot about threading issues, synchronization, and generally stuff without a user interface. I assume it's going to be hard to do. Well, using ASP is about as easy as anything I've come across in years.

Aw, Mom. Not Another Object Model! I really hate doing this to you, but I'm going to have to use that overused and overcomplex term "object model" again. Here's how it works. When a browser requests an ASP file from your Web server, your Web server calls Active Server Pages to read through the ASP file, executing any of the commands contained within and sending the resulting HTML page to the browser.

Files created with Active Server Pages have the extension .ASP. This story is an example; take a look at the address above. With ASP files, you can activate your Web site using any combination of HTML, scripting such as JavaScript or Visual Basic? Scripting Edition (VBScript) and components written in any language. This means your ASP file is simply a file that can contain any combination of HTML, scripting, and calls to components. When you make a change on the ASP file on the server, you need only save the changes to the file¡ªthe next time the Web page is loaded, the script will automatically be compiled. How does this happen? It works because ASP technology is built directly into Microsoft Web servers, and is thus supported on all Microsoft Web servers: Windows NT Internet Information Server (IIS) 3.0, Windows NT Workstation, and Windows 95 Personal Web Server.

A few examples of the use of Active Server Pages with IIS 3.0:

• Put your employee handbook online, rather than printing copies that are soon obsolete. An added benefit is the reduction of administrative costs when employees can access and update their own records, such as address and health-plan benefits. I know of several administrative assistants who would love this one!
• Tie your online store to your existing inventory database and order-processing system.
• Give every visitor to your site a personalized view of just the information he or she seeks, and automatically flag what is new since the last visit.
• I know what you're thinking: "So what? I can write CGI scripts right now that will let me update information and have it reloaded next time the page is loaded." That's true, but ASP runs as a service of the Web server and is optimized for multiple threads and multiple users. This means that it's fast, and it's easy to implement. If you use ASP, you can separate the design of your Web page from the nitty-gritty details of programming access to databases and applications. This frees up the programmer to do what she does best code like crazy and, conversely, frees the designer to worry about just the design rather than the database.

It all works together via scripting.

An example is a form that is used to pass a ticker symbol request in the URL to the ASP files. The first part of the ASP file calls a component that talks to a stock-price server. Properties of this object, such as opening and closing price, can then be easily inserted in the HTML. The programmer can work in any language, and need worry only about how to talk to the stock-price server. The HTML author need know only how to script the component, and does not care how the stock-price server works.