Platinum Edition Using HTML 4, XML, and Java 1.2
(Publisher: Macmillan Computer Publishing)
Author(s): Eric Ladd
ISBN: 078971759x
Publication Date: 11/01/98

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NOTE:  If you outsource the hosting of your Web site, be sure to check with your provider to see if it supports FrontPage server extensions before you start developing in FrontPage.

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If you use Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS) 3.0 or above, you’re in luck because FrontPage’s server-side components are already built in to IIS. When you direct your client-side components to work with an IIS server, the integration between the two is seamless.

If you use any other server software, you have to compensate by installing the FrontPage Server Extensions on your server. The Extensions enable a non-IIS server to

•  Understand the code that the FrontPage Editor places into an HTML file when placing an automated function on a page.

•  Act on that code by substituting an HTML tag, launching a program, downloading an applet, or performing whatever action is appropriate.

Microsoft has made FrontPage Server Extensions available for a wide variety of server platforms. Table 10.1 gives you the details on which servers have FrontPage Server Extensions available. After the extensions are installed, FrontPage’s client-side components will work seamlessly with your server.

When you install the FrontPage server extensions, you are placing several executable files on your server so that the FrontPage Editor can build calls to these executables into the HTML code it writes. This is the mechanism by which FrontPage supports the FrontPage Components you’ll read about next.

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CAUTION:  

Because the FrontPage server extension files are installed below the root directory of your HTTP server, you leave your server vulnerable to attack by hackers who can try to run one of the executables in an attempt to overwrite content on your server.

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What Are FrontPage Components?

FrontPage Components are objects you place on a Web page that represent a piece of programming. You can drop a FrontPage Component anywhere you want on a page using the FrontPage Editor. It is up to the server to identify and interpret the component as it serves a page containing a component. How the server handles the component varies with what the component is supposed to do. A server may invoke the programming represented by the component when, for example,

•  The file is published to the server.

•  The file is served to a browser.

•  The user performs a certain action.

The main thing is that the user never detects that you didn’t have to do any programming to put program-like functionality on your Web pages. All you have to do is drop the component onto the page and let the server handle the rest.

FrontPage Components come in many flavors. Some are specific to certain types of HTML constructs, such as forms or imagemaps. Others handle routine tasks, such as counting how many visitors have accessed a page or maintaining a table of contents. The following list outlines the components discussed in this chapter. By reading subsequent sections of the chapter, you’ll learn how to place each component on the page, what the component looks like in the raw HTML listing, and how a server processes the component.

•  Comment Component

•  Insert HTML Component

•  Timestamp Component

•  Include Page Component

•  Scheduled Image Component

•  Scheduled Include Page Component

•  Table of Contents Component

•  Hit Counter Component

•  Substitution Component

•  Confirmation Field Component

•  Page Banner Component

•  Navigation Bar Component

In addition to covering the preceding components, you’ll also see how FrontPage uses a component to handle imagemap processing and how FrontPage supports many other compelling effects, such as banner ads, page transitions, and hover buttons.