Introduction to ASP: Building Interactive, Database-Driven Web Applications

Sharon E. Dennis and Susan Roberts

University of Utah

Abstract:

Tired of editing static Web pages? Are you interested in adding more interactivity to your educational Web sites? Using Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) technology, you can build interactive, dynamic, database-driven Web applications. This makes updating and maintaining your content much easier and less time consuming than manually editing static pages, so your content stays "fresh" and interesting for your students. Learn how to move from creating Web "pages" to creating Web "applications." (For a general comparison of various technologies to do the same thing, see the pre-workshop "Technologies to Generate Dynamic Database-Driven Web Sites: Features, Frustrations and Foibles.")

Participants in this hands-on workshop will learn:

Introductory concepts: how building a Web application is different from building Web pages.

What software is necessary to build and serve ASPs.
Introductory database concepts: how to create, edit, and retrieve information from a simple database.
How to display information from the database in a Web page.
How to allow the user to search the database using a variety of criteria and retrieve a result set from the database.
How to set up a login script so that users must log in to the application.
How to track and store user responses on the server.
How to find and utilize existing ASP scripts and components available for free download on the W

Prerequisites:

Intermediate knowledge of HTML is REQUIRED; you should have experience hand-coding HTML pages and understand the code, even if you have used a WYSIWYG editor. You should be able to code an HTML form or to quickly pick up on the coding; forms coding will be assumed and not explained in detail. Some experience with a scripting language such as HyperCard or JavaScript is recommended, but not necessary.

NOTE: Students may be required to share a computer.

Benefit in Attending Session:

Participants will learn enough basic concepts to be able to create a simple interactive Web application for delivering educational content. In addition, they will learn how to find resources on the Web to help them create more complicated Web applications.

PRIMARY AUTHOR'S INFORMATION

Sharon E. Dennis

Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library

Health Sciences Center

University of Utah

10 North 1900 East

Salt Lake City, UT 84112