ASP Web Development with Macromedia

Dreamweaver MX 2004

RACHEL ANDREW AND ROB TURNBULL WITH

AlAN FOLEY AND DREW MCLELLAN

APress Media, LLC

ASP Web Development with Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Copyright© 2004 by Rachel Andrew and Rob Turnbull with Alan Foley and Drew Mclellan Originally published by Apress in 2004

All rights reserved No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-59059-349-3 ISBN 978-1-4302-0722-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4302-0722-1

Trademarked names may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.

Technical Reviewer: Matt Machell

Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Dan Appleman, Gary Cornell, James Cox, Tony Davis, John Franklin, Chris Mills, Steven Rycroft, Dominic Shakeshaft, Julian Skinner, Jim Sumser, Karen Watterson, Gavin Wray, John Zukowski

Assistant Publisher: Grace Wong

Project Manager: Sofia Marchant

Copy Editor: Nancy Depper

Production Manager: Kari Brooks

Production Editor: Noemi Hollander

Proofreader: linda Seifert

Compositor: Diana Van Wmlde, Van Wmlde Design Group

Indexer: Carol Burbo

Cover Designer: Kurt Krames

Manufacturing Manager: Tom Debolski

In the United States: phone 1-800-SPRINGER, email orders@springer-ny. corn, or visit http: //lroWW. springer-ny .corn. Outside the United States: fax +49 6221 345229, email orders@springer. de, or visit http: 1 !"tMW. springer. de.

For information on translations, please contact Apress directly at 2560 Ninth Street, Suite 219, Berkeley, CA 94710. Phone 510-549-5930, fax 510-549-5939, email info@apress. corn, or visit http:/ /"tMW.apress.corn.

The information in this book is distributed on an "as is" hasis, without warranty. Although every precaution bas been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author(s) nor Apress shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this work.

Contents at a Glance

About the Authors ............................................................................................. xiii About the Technical Reviewer ...................................................................... xv Acknowledgments ................................................................................................. xvii

Chapter 1 Introducing Dreamweaver MX 2004 ..................................... 1

Chapter 2 Web Standards in Dreamweaver .......................................... 23

Chapter 3 Accessibility and Dreamweaver MX 2004 ...................... 89

Chapter 4 Introducing ASP .................................................................... 115

Chapter 5 Databases Overview ............................................................. 171

Chapter 6 The Application Panel ....................................................... 233

Chapter 7 Code Reuse in Dreamweaver .............................................. 285

Chapter 8 Dreamweaver MX 2004 Extensions ................................... 321

Chapter 9 Debugging and Error Handling ........................................ 347

Chapter 10 Final Case Study .................................................................. 379

Index ...................................................................................................................... 407

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Contents

About the Authors ............................................................................................. xiii About the Technical Reviewer ...................................................................... xv Acknowledgments ................................................................................................. xvii

Chapter 1 Introducing Dreamweaver MX 2004 ......................... 1

Static to Dynamic ................................................................................................ 2 Server-Side Technology in Dreamweaver MX ................................................... 2 Why You Need Dreamweaver MX 2004 ............................................................. 3

Moving Around in Dreamweaver MX 2004 ....................................................... 6 TheMDI ............................................................................................................... 6 The Panels ............................................................................................................ 9

Summary .................................................................................................................... 2o

Chapter 2 Web Standards in Dreamweaver ............................... 23

Authoring Valid XHTML ...................................................................................... 24 The Rules ofWriting XIITML ............................................................................ 26 Best Practices for Markup ................................................................................. 31

XHTML in Dreamweaver MX 2004 ...................................................................... 36 Setting Preferences ............................................................................................ 36

Authoring Valid CSS .......................................................................................... 37 Why Use CSS? .................................................................................................... 37 The Basics of CSS .............................................................................................. 40 Redefining How HTML Tags Look in the Browser ......................................... .42 Creating CSS Classes ......................................................................................... 42

CSS Tools in Dreamweaver MX 2004 ............................................................ .42 Setting Preferences ............................................................................................ 43 The CSS Panel .................................................................................................... 45 The Property Inspector ..................................................................................... 48 Design Files: Pre-Made CSS Stylesheets .......................................................... 50 Design Files: Page Designs (CSS) ..................................................................... 51 Design-Tinle Stylesheets .................................................................................. 52 Integration with TopStyle CSS Editor .............................................................. 53 Creating Valid Markup ...................................................................................... 53 The Layout ......................................................................................................... 58 Moving to XIITML Strict ................................................................................... 67

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Contents

CSS for Layout ..................................................................................................... 72 Creating the Banner .......................................................................................... 73 Create the Navigation ....................................................................................... 75

The Content Area .............................................................................................. 79 Browser and Device Issues ............................................................................... 81

Working with Dynamic Data ............................................................................. 85

What to Watch Out For ...................................................................................... 85 Validating Dynanrlc Pages ................................................................................ 86

Summary .................................................................................................................... 86 Resources ................................................................................................................ 87

Chapter 3 Accessibility and Dreamweaver MX 2004 ........ 89

Accessibility Overview ................................................................................... 90 Why Is Accessibility Important? ....................................................................... 91 Defining Disabilities ......................................................................................... 93 Assistive Technologies ...................................................................................... 94 Accessibility Standards ..................................................................................... 95

Accessibility in Dreamweaver MX 2004 ..................................................... 99 Accessibility Preferences Options .................................................................... 99 Adding Images ................................................................................................. ] 00 Adding Media .................................................................................................. 1 02 Adding Frames ................................................................................................. l 03 Adding Forms .................................................................................................. ] 04 Adding Tables .................................................................................................. 106 Accessibility Validation .................................................................................. . 1 08 Accessibility Reference ................................................................................... 11 0 Cascading Style Sheets .................................................................................... lll Accessible Authoring Environment ............................................................... 112

Summary .................................................................................................................. 113

Chapter 4 Introducing ASP .............................................................. 115

No More Static ................................................................................................... 116 What's Wrong with HTML? ............................................................................. 116 Static vs. Dynamic ........................................................................................... 116

Exit Free CGI Hunting, Enter ASP ........................................................... 118 Getting Started ................................................................................................. 118

What You Need To Get Started ........................................................................ 119 Creating a Virtual Directory ............................................................................ 121 Setting Up Dreamweaver for ASP Development .......................................... 123

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Contents

ASPIVBScript Basics ........................................................................................ 124 Specifying Your Scripting Language .............................................................. 124 The Delirniters ................................................................................................. 124 Variables ........................................................................................................... 126 Writing Data to the Page ................................................................................. 129 Commenting Code .......................................................................................... 130 Concatenation Using the Ampersand(&) ..................................................... 131

Data Types: String, Integer, and Boolean ...................................................... 133 VBScript's House of Built-In Functions ......................................................... 134 Operators ......................................................................................................... 137 Conditional Logic ............................................................................................ 143 Controlling the Flow ofYour Programs .......................................................... 148

Applying Your ASP Knowledge ...................................................................... 150 Cool Web Forms .............................................................................................. 150 Dummy Login Form ........................................................................................ 151 Cookies (Not Made ofDough) ........................................................................ 157 Session Variables ............................................................................................. 162 Environment Variables ................................................................................... 165

Summary .................................................................................................................. 168 Resources .............................................................................................................. 169

Chapter 5 Databases Overview ....................................................... 171

How Do I Create a Database? ......................................................................... 171 Preparing a SQL Server Database for Internet Use ....................................... 175 Creating the IUSR Account in SQL Server ..................................................... 176 Database Design .............................................................................................. 178 Object Naming Conventions .......................................................................... 179 Creating Tables ................................................................................................ 180 Creating Tables Using Access ......................................................................... 181 Creating a Table in SQL Server ....................................................................... 183

Relational Databases and Referential Integrity ............................. 187 Creating a Relationship in Access ............................................................ ...... 188 Creating a Relationship in SQL Server ........................................................... 190 SQL Server Views and Access Queries ........................................................... 192

Simple SQL ............................................................................................................ 194 Selecting All Records from a Table ................................................................. 194

Selecting All Records That Meet One Criterion ............................................ 195 Selecting All Records That Meet Several Criteria ........................................ .. 196 Selecting Records That Meet One or More of Several Criteria ..................... 196 Useful SQL Keywords ...................................................................................... 197 Going on a DATE ............................................................................................. 205

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Contents

Making the Connection .................................................................................... 206

Setting Up a DSN to an Access Database ...................................................... 206

Setting Up a DSN to a SQL Server Database ................................................. 207

Connecting to Dream weaver MX 2004 ..... ..................................................... 208

The Simple Recordset Builder ........................................................................ 209

The Advanced Recordset Builder ................................................................... 214

Using Commands ............................................................................................ 217

Inserting a Record ........................................................................................... 219

Updating a Record ........................................................................................... 222

Updating Multiple Records (Simple Example) ............................................. 223

Deleting a Record ........................................................................... ................. 225

Deleting Multiple Records (Simple Example) ............................................... 226

Stored Procedures ........................................................................................... 227

The Stored Procedure Command .................................................................. 230

Summary .................................................................................................................. 231

Chapter 6 The Application Pane1 ............................................... 233

Connections ......................................................................................................... 233

Custom Connection String ............................................................................. 234

ODBC ............................................................................................................... 235

OLEDB ............................................................................................................. 235

Password-Protected Access Database ........................................................... 236 Connect to a Database .................................................................................... 236

System Data Source Name ............................................................................. 239

Bindings ................................................................................................................ 239

Request Variables ............................................................................................ 240

Creating Request Variables .................... ......................................................... 240

Creating Request Form Fields ..................................................................... ... 242

Creating Request Cookies ........................................................................... .... 242

Creating Request Server Variables ................................................................. 243

Creating Session Variables .............................................................................. 243

Server Behaviors .............................................................................................. 243

Recordset (Query) ............................................................................................ 244

Repeat Region ..................................................................................................... 246

Go to Detail Page ............................................................................................ 248

Master Page ...................................................................................................... 249

An Alternative Way to Generate a Master Page ............................................. 250

Detail Page ....................................................................................................... 253

Using Dynamic Images ................................................................................... 255

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Contents

Recordset Paging .............................................................................................. 258 Displaying a Few Records at a Time ............................................................... 258 Moving to Previous Record ............................................................................. 259 Moving to Next Record .................................................................................... 260

Show Region ......................................................................................................... 261 Show Region If Not First Record .................................................................... 261 Show Region If Not Last Record ..................................................................... 261 Recordset Navigation Bar ............................................................................... 262 Show Region If Recordset Is Empty ............................................................... 262 Show Region If Recordset Is Not Empty ........................................................ 263

Insert Record ..................................................................................................... 263 Using the Record Insertion Form WIZard ...................................................... 266

Update Record ..................................................................................................... 269 Delete Record ..................................................................................................... 273 User Authentication ........................................................................................ 275

Log In User ....................................................................................................... 275 Log Out User .................................................................................................... 279 Restrict Access to Page .................................................................................... 280 Check New Username ..................................................................................... 281

Summary .................................................................................................................. 284

Chapter 7 Code Reuse in Dreamweaver ..................................... 285

Dreamweaver Templates .................................................................................... 285 Creating a Simple Template ............................................................................ 286 Template Tips and Tricks ................................................................................ 294

Library Items ..................................................................................................... 296 Creating a Library Item ................................................................................... 297 Inserting a Library Item into Your Document ............................................... 299 Editing Library Items ...................................................................................... 299

ASP Includes ....................................................................................................... 301 A Basic Include ................................................................................................ 301 File or VIrtual Includes .................................................................................... 303 Using Includes for Items That Appear on Every Page .................................. 303 Templates vs. Includes .................................................................................... 307 Displaying Includes Conditionally ................................................................ 308

Snippets ................................................................................................................ 313 Snippets That Ship with Dreamweaver ......................................................... 313 Third-Party Snippets ....................................................................................... 317 Creating Your Own Snippets ........................................................................... 318

Summary .................................................................................................................. 320

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Contents

Chapter 8 Dreamweaver MX 2004 Extensions ........................ 32I

Finding Extensions .......................................................................................... 322

Installing Extensions ....................................................................................... 324

Importing Extensions ..................................................................................... 326

Building an Extension (or Two) ................................................................ 326

The Anatomy of an Extension ........................................................................ 327

The Extension Code ........................................................................................ 327

The Interface .................................................................................................... 328

Distributing Extensions ............................................................................... 335

Writing the MXI File ........................................................................................ 336

Packaging (from MXI to MXP) ........................................................................ 338

Distributing Your Extensions .......................................................................... 340

The Dynamic Web Address Server Behavior ............................................ 340

The Code .......................................................................................................... 340

Building the Server Behavior .......................................................................... 341

Editing the Interface ....................................................................................... 344

Add the Help Button ....................................................................................... 345

Summary .................................................................................................................. 346

Chapter 9 Debugging and Error Handling ............................. 347

Errors .................................................................................................................... 347 Viewing Error Messages .................................................................................. 347

ASP Errors-Script Errors ............................................................................... 348

ODBC Errors .................................................................................................... 354

SQL Errors ........................................................................................................ 358

Bugs ......................................................................................................................... 370

Re-Creating the Problem ................................................................................ 370

Coding to Avoid Bugs ...................................................................................... 372

Comment Your Code ....................................................................................... 372

Use Option Explicit ......................................................................................... 372

Naming Variables ............................................................................................ 374

Including Repeated Elements in Variables .................................................... 375

Display Errors on the Screen .......................................................................... 376

Where to Get Help ............................................................................................ 376

Web Resources ................................................................................................. 376

Newsgroups and Forums ................................................................................ 377

Summary .................................................................................................................. 378

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Contents

Chapter 10 Final Case Study ............................................................ 379

Setting Up the Site ........................................................................................ 380 Configuring a Dreamweaver Site ................................................................... 380 Setting Up the Web Server .............................................................................. 381 TestingYour Setup ........................................................................................... 383 Building the Page Framework ........................................................................ 384

Creating a Database ........................................................................................ 386 Defining Tables ................................................................................................ 387 Setting Up a DSN ............................................................................................. 388 Defining a Connection .................................................................................... 388

Creating a Login Module ............................................................................... 389 Error Messages ................................................................................................ 390 Display Logic ................................................................................................... 391 Storing Login Details Using a Cookie ............................................................ 391

Assembling the Admin Pages ......................................................................... 392

User Management ........................................................................................... 393 Content Management ..................................................................................... 397

Constructing the Home Page ......................................................................... 398 Adding News Items ......................................................................................... 398

User Registration ............................................................................................ 400 Registration ...................................................................................................... 400

Editing User Details ...................................................................................... 402 Contact Form ....................................................................................................... 404 Summary .................................................................................................................. 405

Index .................................................................................................................... 407

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About the Authors

Rachel Andrew is a director of edgeofmyseat.com, aUK-based web solutions company, and is an experienced web developer. Rachel is a member of the Web Standards Project on the Dreamweaver Task Force, and she hopes to encourage best practices in the support and use ofW3C Standards in Dreamweaver. In addi­tion to coauthoring several books, Rachel writes for various magazines and resource sites, both online and offline.

When not writing code or writing about writing code, Rachel spends time with her daughter, tries to encourage people to use Deb ian GNU /Linux, studies with the Open University, and enjoys a nice pint of beer.

Rob Turnbull is the senior developer for Lighthouse, an established new media design and marketing company based in Shrewsbury, England. Clients across Europe, from small businesses to blue-chip companies, provide an increasing workload, which includes the development of SQL Server database-driven web sites, multimedia presentations, interactive CD-ROMs, promotional videos and DVDs, and 3D artwork in both animated and still form.

Rob's personal web site, www. robgt. com, is primarily focused on offering help and guidance to fellow Dreamweaver users, including tutorials and links to helpful resources and some useful extensions.

Alan Foley is an assistant professor of instructional technology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he teaches graduate classes in the College of Education. Alan holds a Ph.D. in educational technology from the University ofWisconsin-Madison. His current research interests include web accessibility and pedagogy, and accessible multimedia production.

Prior to completing his Ph.D., Alan was a high school English teacher. While teaching, he was introduced to the world of instructional technology and web design. He has taught web design in a variety of educational and corporate settings, and consults for schools and universities on accessibility and usability issues.

Drew McLellan is an experienced and knowledgeable web developer with over 7 years' experience designing and developing for the web. Among his strengths he counts a good awareness of design, team leadership, and the ability to communi­cate technical issues and concepts to nontechnical people. Drew is the author of Dream weaver MXWeb Development (New Riders, 2002).

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About the Authors

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Drew fights for standards in browsers and development tools with the Web Standards Project (www.webstandards.org), and he can often be found working on the sharp edge of his industry's technologies, always seeking to push the bound­aries. He is an advocate of modular design and reusable code. Drew recently served a 4-year term as a Team Macromedia representative, and he has written a number of technical articles for www. macromedia. com and other online publications.

About the Technical Reviewer

A man of many talents, Matt Machell has been a web developer, technical editor, author, market researcher, and jewelry picker. He is currently freelancing and lurks on more web design-related discussion lists than is healthy. His personal web site is www. eclecticdreams. com. He lives in Birmingham, England, with his girlfriend, Frances, and lots of books.

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Acknowledgments

THANKs MUST GO TO the Apress team, to all those whose brains I have picked on mailing lists and Usenet over the years, to Drew for his constant love and support, and to my daughter Bethany.

Thank you, Rachel Andrew

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