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Introduction to Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP)


A standard web page is very much like a word processor document.
The file is created, saved and can then be viewed by other people.

Web pages are written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and saved as .htm or .html files. When stored on an Internet web server computer they can be viewed by anyone knowing the address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator ) of the file.

The disadvantage of .htm pages is that their content is fixed at 'Save' time and cannot easily be updated (if information changes) without a webmaster remaking the page.

To show information that is up to date, Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) pages were introduced by Microsoft in late 1996. ASP technology provides a framework for building dynamic HTML pages which enable Internet and Intranet applications to be interactive. ASP's are implemented using server side scripting that can be performed in any Microsoft language allowing interaction with compliant databases on the web server, such as; Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server.

ASP pages start their life as an .htm page but are saved as an .asp file. This .asp file is stored in a special directory on an Internet web server computer. The file acts as a template or framework and includes instructions to the web server to 'go get the latest information and write it into the page'.

The user sees the information that is correct 'up to the second', so that, for example, stock information that is changing all the time can be correctly displayed in the web page.

Sources of information are usually databases (e.g. Microsoft Access, SQL Server etc.) but could also be spreadsheets, text files or an email program. Your service provider will need to run a copy of the appropriate software on the server that holds your web site.

Both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers, as well as other browsers, can view ASP pages because the ASP is executed on the server and delivered to the client computer as simple HTML.