Web Scripting
Secret Weapons

Copyright 1996 by Que Corporation.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Making copies of any part of this book for any purpose other than your own personal use is a violation of United States copyright laws. For information, address Que Corporation, 201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46290. You may reach Que's direct sales line by calling 1-800-428-5331.

ISBN: 0-7897-0947-3

About the Author

Scott J. Walter has been working in software development since 1986, moving from programmer to Director of Development for two different companies to freelance consultant, programmer, and Web Designer. Currently, he is Systems Administrator and Senior Programmer for Epic Media, a multimedia and online design firm. He coauthored the Complete Idiot's Guide to JavaScript, has written for BoardWatch magazine, and has been a contributing author to Special Edition Using JavaScript, Special Edition Using Backstage, JavaScript by Example, Special Edition Using Netscape Navigator 3.0, and other titles. When not surfing the Internet, Scott spends his spare time dabbling in (and writing about) Java, JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX, VRML, Perl, HTML, Shockwave, and other budding Internet technologies.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank a number of people for helping me with this book. At the top of the list is Philip Wescott, my acquisitions editor, who "cracked the whip" to help me keep this book in line. Jim Minatel deserves kudos for suggesting the idea of writing this book, as does Steve Schafer for suggesting me to write it. Finally, Matthew Walter, my brother, for putting up with some intense mood swings and occasional (okay-relatively frequent) calls in the night to check out one script or another.

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In addition to exploring our forum, please feel free to contact me personally to discuss your opinions of this book: I'm 76103,1334 on CompuServe, and I'm smiller@que.mcp.com on the Internet.

Thank you in advance-your comments will help us to continue publishing the best books available on computer topics in today's market.

Stephen L. Miller
Product Development Specialist
Que Corporation
201 W. 103rd Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46290
USA

You've made the pilgrimage to your favorite bookstore on a regular basis and scanned the shelves, searching and hoping that somewhere you'll find a book on scripting. There are literally tons of books available-JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX Script, Perl, CGI, HTML. The list continues to grow as fast as the presses can pump out new titles. Each new venture has its good points and bad but none seem to supply everything.

Until now.

As the arsenal available to Web site developers continues to grow, it becomes essential to converse in multiple languages. You now need to know a little of everything-a little client-side and a little server-side, much like a dash of Perl mixed with a helping of image animation. It's the only way to stay ahead of the game, keep up with the market, and make people want to visit your exciting pages again and again.

What This Book Is

Each chapter in Web Scripting Secret Weapons looks at a different facet of scripting the Web. As often as possible, more than one method of implementing a Web extension is presented, such as scripting an online store in Perl versus JavaScript. Each chapter in this book can stand on its own; however, you'll also find there may be references to other chapters for further exploration as well as suggestions and ideas on how to take the principles demonstrated and expand on them.

The Companion CD-ROM

This book is packed with source code examples, but before you start doing finger exercises in preparation for hours for typing, pop the companion CD-ROM in your drive. All source code listed within these pages (and much more) is available on the CD, so you shouldn't need to type a single line-simply download the files from the disk, edit them as you see fit, and you're off and running.

In addition, the companion CD-ROM contains:

• Alternative scripts (sometimes in different languages or using different techniques) that may not directly be covered within a chapter, but are included for your experimentation
• A collection of tools to simplify the design process
• On-disk versions of several other Que references
• Links to other resources, documentation, and places of interest to the Web scripter

What This Book Is Not

This is not a beginner's book, in the sense of teaching how JavaScript or Perl work, for example, and several assumptions are made:

• You're familiar with HTML, including some of the new features and extensions.
• You have an understanding of Perl, JavaScript, or VBScript.
• You've created your share of Web pages experimenting with the things you've learned so far.

This book doesn't intend to teach you about any particular scripting language; it is designed to show you how you can implement various Web technologies with these languages. There are plenty of books available that go through all the minute details of Perl, JavaScript, ActiveX, and so on; but, few take the next step and say, "Okay, now that you know what X is, this is what you can do with it."

Trademarks

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks have been appropriately capitalized. Que Corporation cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

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