ASP Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - v5.10, by Dr. Herong Yang
Mixing VBScript Statements with Static HTML Text
This section provides tutorial examples on how to mix VBScript statements with static HTML text.
Here is an ASP page example to show you how in-line statements and expressions can be mixed with static HTML text:
<%@ language="vbscript"%> <!-- inline_syntax.asp Copyright (c) 2003 by Dr. Herong Yang This program shows how to use inline scripting statements and expressions. --> <html><body> Good <% if 0 <= hour(time) and hour(time) < 12 then %> moring, <% elseif 12 <= hour(time) and hour(time) < 18 then %> afternoon, <% else response.write("evening,") end if %> Herong.</br> <% response.write("The current server time is: ") %> <% = Time %> on <% = Date %> </body></html>
Output:
Good evening, Herong. The current server time is: 10:01:56 PM on 5/24/2003
In the previous example, I was able to break the "if" statement into two parts and use in-line script for one part and static text for the other.
In the next example, I will show you the difference between in-line scripts and script blocks:
<!-- output_sequence.asp Copyright (c) 2002 by Dr. Herong Yang Verifying output sequence of scripts and HTML text. --> <html><body> <script language="vbscript" runat="server"> response.write("Text line 1.<br/>") </script> Text line 2.<br/> <script language="vbscript" runat="server"> response.write("Text line 3.<br/>") </script> Text line 4.<br/> </body></html>
Output:
Text line 2. Text line 4. Text line 1. Text line 3.
Surprised? I was surprised before I learned that execution rule about script blocks mentioned in the previous section. The output also tells us that the default language on IIS 5.0 is set to VBScript. Otherwise, text line 1 and 3 would be displayed first. The problem can be avoided by using the in-line scripts:
<%@ language="vbscript"%> <!-- output_sequence_corrected.asp Copyright (c) 2002 by Dr. Herong Yang Verifying output sequence of scripts and HTML text. --> <html><body> <% response.write("Text line 1.<br/>") %> Text line 2.<br/> <% response.write("Text line 3.<br/>") %> Text line 4.<br/> </body></html>
Now you know the different ways to use VBScript in ASP pages. But which way is better?
In-line script, <%...%>, is very flexible in mixing dynamic data with static HTML text. But the syntax is not so XML friendly.
Script block, <script ...>...</script>, is not useful at all if you want to keep static HTML text in your page. It can only be used, if you want to write the entire page in a single block, and output all HTML text with response.write() calls.
Personally, I prefer script block syntax, because I could easily manipulate it with XML tools. So I will be using script blocks most of the time for my sample ASP pages in this book. Note that even HTML comment tag <!-- --> must be moved into the script blocks.
Table of Contents
ASP (Active Server Pages) Introduction
IIS (Internet Information Services) 5.0
►Mixing VBScript Statements with Static HTML Text
Variables and Expressions in VBScript
"Collection" Class in VBScript
Managing Sessions with and without Cookies
scrrun.dll - Scripting Runtime DLL
Managing Response Header Lines
Calculation Speed and Response Time
Working with MS Access Database