((((((((((((((((( WEBREFERENCE UPDATE NEWSLETTER )))))))))))))))))
January 13, 2000
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Now with over 93000 subscribers!
http://www.webreference.com <- link to us today
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http://www.webreference.com/new/submit.html <- article submission
New this week on WebReference.com and the Web:
1. CONTEST: Submit & Win!, New Subscribe & Win! Contest
2. FEATURED ARTICLE: Mix & Match: VBScript and JavaScript
3. HELP WANTED: Design Columnist
4. NET NEWS:
* U.S. Sets Looser Encryption Export Rules
* MetaCrawler Gets New Legs
* Macromedia Flash Surges To Become Second Most Popular Plug-In
* Tired of Waiting for the "New Domains"? Blame ICANN
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1. Submit & Win!, New Subscribe & Win! Contest
>Submit & Win!
Every Thursday the Update features a new article contributed by our
readers through our Open Publishing Initiative. We encourage you
to submit your own article ideas. Those that make the cut receive
a free copy of Adobe GoLive 4.0!
This week, writer Jerry Gray shows us how to "Mix and Match", using
VBScript and JavaScript together on Active Server Pages.
http://www.webreference.com/new/submit.html
>New Subscribe & Win! Contest
Starting this week, a brand new giveaway! We've teamed up with
SoftQuad and Ulead to give you a trio of hot Web building software:
SoftQuad's HoTMetal Pro 6.0, Ulead PhotoImpact 5.0, and Ulead COOL
3D 2.5. Each week we'll draw new winners from our new subscribers -
you could be next. Already a subscriber? Not a problem - just
fill out the form, and you'll be automatically entered to win.
And don't miss the announcement of the last 3 winners from the
Macromedia giveaway in next Monday's newseltter!
http://www.webreference.com/new/contest.html
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2. FEATURED ARTICLE: Mix and Match: Using VBScript to define and
control JavaScript on Active Server Pages
In the course of my Web page work I often have used JavaScript and
VBScript on Active Server Pages (ASP). While searching the Web for
references to help solve programming problems, it is easy to find
pages to give examples on using one or the other, but rarely do you
see information regarding using them both together.
Using VBScript to control JavaScript can be as simple as using the
VBScript to determine whether the JavaScript will be presented to
the client browser at all. For instance, you may decide that
unless a browser is at least compatible with Mozilla version 4, a
given JavaScript function will not be written. In this example, we
check the browser information sent by the client before writing our
function.
<%strUA = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_USER_AGENT")
If InStr(strUA,"Mozilla/4") then%>
Function fnMyNewFunction(){
document.write("This is not a test.");
}
<%End If%>
Those of you familiar with VBScript know that the tags <% %> mark
the beginning and end of a VBScript, the contents of which are
interpreted at the time the page is presented to the browser. If
the client browser is not Mozilla 4 compatible, then the
fnMyNewFunction is never written, and the client browser never
even sees that it exists.
I recently had a more difficult challenge where I was asked to
create a bar chart that displayed customer account history. The
constraints were 1.) spawn a new page, and 2.) use an existing
object that had already been populated with data. Since the
project was written specifically for a client, I can't give you
the full code listing, but I can walk you through the logic of
the development process.
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I decided I would populate a JavaScript array with data from the
existing VB object, then use that array to determine the height of
my images in my bar chart. Then using JavaScript, I would display
the chart in a new window. (For more on creating new windows see
"Window Spawning and Remotes" - http://webreference.com/js/column7).
First, using JavaScript, I declare the array I want to populate:
var arryTotAmt = new Array;
Then, using a VBscript For-Next loop, I populate the array with
the values from my VB object. In this example, my VB object is
named "PaymentHistory". It has already been created, and populated
with values from my database, and has two important properties:
"Count", which contains the total number of records in the object,
and "Item", which is the nth instance of a record. Our
PaymentHistory object contains many different fields associated
with customer accounts, but for the purposes of our graph we are
only interested in a property called "Charge". The Charge property
of my PaymentHistory object contains the actual monthly value I want
to put into my JavaScript array.
<% for i = 1 to PaymentHistory.Count%>
arryTotAmt[<%=i%>]=<%=Cstr(PaymentHistory.Item(i).Charge)%>;
<%next%>
Let's say the Charge value in our Payment History object is 35; at
runtime the first time through the loop, the line will evaluate to:
ArryTotAmt[1] = 35;
The For-Next loop will continue to run, writing lines of JavaScript,
incrementing the array counter, until PaymentHistory.Count is
reached. For example, assuming the 2nd Charge item in our
PaymentHistory object has a value of 18, then the 2nd time through
the loop
arryTotAmt[<%=i%>]=<%=Cstr(PaymentHistory.Item(i).Charge)%>;
will evaluate to:
ArryTotAmt[2] = 18;
Once my JavaScript array has been populated, I can then spawn a
window and draw my graph.
Here is another example of embedding a VbScript variable in a
JavaScript function. I need to pass the URL of the window that is
going to be spawned, but the location is determined by which server
and virtual root the page is run from. We hold that information in
a variable called "baseurl". So the JavaScript line to spawn the
new window looks something like this:
var remote = open("<%=baseurl%>/Scripts/graph.asp","Graph",
"fullscreen=yes, location=no, menubar=yes, resizable=yes, status=no,
toolbar=yes, dependent=no, scrollbars=yes");
Again note the special tags <% %> used to mark the beginning and
end of our embedded VBscript variable.
To draw my simple bar chart, I now simply use my array value to
determine the height of a holder image.
fnDrawGraph(){
remote.document.write("<table border='1'><tr>");
//write the graph images
for (k=arryTotAmt.length - 1; k>0; k--){
remote.document.write("<td align=bottom align=center>
<img src='../images/graph.gif' width=30 height=" +
Math.round(parseFloat(arryTotAmt[k])) + " alt=" +
arryTotAmt[k] + "></td>>);
}
remote.document.write("</tr><tr>");
}
The actual graph function I eventually used has a few more features,
but the above code was the core of the solution. An
example of the graph that was actually spawned can be found at
http://www.webreference.com/art/000113bargraph.gif
So, as we have seen here, not only can VBScript be used to write
standalone functions, it can be used to extend, and determine the
characteristics of JavaScript.
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Author Jerry Gray works on the Internet Application Development
Team at Consumers Energy in Jackson, MI. Jerry is married, with
two daughters, and holds a BS in CIS/Mgt. and a MS in Admin. Science.
When not writing code, Jerry says that you can find him "playing
Multi-Player BattleTech or Legends of Kesmai at Gamestorm. ;-)"
Contact Jerry at: grgray@cmsenergy.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. HELP WANTED: Design Columnist
The contenders are out of the gate, but the race isn't over yet!
Webreference.com is looking for a new design columnist - could you
be the one to fill the voluminous shoes of our design columnist
Dmitry Kirsanov? Only serious contenders need apply. You should
have top-notch writing and design skills, and be dependable and
timely.
For more information, check out the writer guidelines at:
http://www.webreference.com/writers.html
Or contact us directly: ecook@internet.com
Don't forget to check out the archives of Dmitry's Design Lab:
http://www.webreference.com/dlab/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. NET NEWS: U.S. Sets Looser Encryption Export Rules, MetaCrawler
Gets New Legs, Macromedia Flash Surges To Become
Second Most Popular Plug-In, Tired of Waiting for the
"New Domains"? Blame ICANN
>U.S. Sets Looser Encryption Export Rules
U.S. Companies selling everything from e-mail software to computer
networking equipment will be able to export products containing
far more powerful encryption security features starting on Friday
under new rules released by the Clinton administration.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000113/tc/tech_encryption_3.html
Yahoo.com, 000113
>MetaCrawler Gets New Legs
Looking to regain its status as a leading search engine, Go2Net's
Metacrawler search engine relaunched Thursday with a new interface,
customization tools and expanded categories.
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,1087,3_282391,00.html
InternetNews.com, 000113
>Macromedia Flash Surges To Become Second Most Popular Plug-In
Web audience analysts WebSiteStory reported that the installed base
of Macromedia's Flash application has risen nearly 23 percentage
points in the past year and now ranks as the No. 2 plug-in.
http://www.internetwire.com/technews/tn/01986342.dsl
InternetWire.com, 000112
>Tired of Waiting for the "New Domains"? Blame ICANN
Are we getting dealt a fair hand by Internet Corp. for Assigned
Names and Numbers in regards to new top-level domains that can
compete with NSI's dot com? Not according to Internet analyst
Milton Mueller, who says ICANN's creation and the ensuing Internet
domain name war has delayed the introduction of the new top-level
domains.
http://www.internetnews.com/wd-news/article/0,1087,10_279641,00.html
InternetNews.com, 000111
That's it for this week, see you next time.
Andrew King
Managing Editor, WebReference.com
update@webreference.com
Eric Cook
Assistant Editor, WebReference.com
ecook@internet.com
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