Introduction to JavaScript/ASP - The basic tools of an E-Commerce Web Site.
This course aims to provide the students with an overview of JavaScript and ASP (VBScript). This provides them with the tools to produce highly interactive web sites. JavaScript provides client-side interaction with the user. ASP provides a connection between the user and any server-side objects (i.e. databases, files, remote email etc.).

JavaScript allows the web page designer to interact with the user by accessing and manipulating objects on the client HTML page. The JavaScript code can be used to: -

* Validate the text contained in text-boxes (checking for correctly formatted dates or credit card numbers or postcodes, for example).
* Allow visual interaction based on the location and state of the mouse, i.e. changing images when the mouse cursor move over or is click on a menu option (provides feedback to user).
* Load different images based on some external variable (the time, date or number of visits to the web site).
* Create cookies on the client machine to monitor visits, store user and password information or to store user preferences.
* Allow dynamically created HTML to be introduced into the web page to display content that based on user interaction i.e. a dynamic quiz (questions are produced randomly and the answers are checked on the fly etc.).
ASP (Server-side VBScript) allows the web page designer to pass information to and from web pages. The data is generally stored in a database of some kind (Microsoft Access and SQL Server). ASP web pages can be considered to be data driven i.e. the content of the page is dependant on data held in a database.

ASP pages allow the web page designer to: -
* Take data such as name, address and financial information from the user and store it in a database for later use.
* Display data such as product lists (and availability) taken from a live database with up-to-date pricing and stock levels.
* Using the above lists, the user can order items which will be sent the correct name and address. The cost will be debited from the correct credit card.
* Cookies produced from ASP can store user IDs thus allowing following visits to be personalised (if the user requires this)
Combining JavaScript and ASP allows the web page designer to create web sites that provide client-side interaction (a pleasant "feel") with the data driven interaction that provides business to take place.

The course will be broken down into three sections, JavaScript, ASP and a combination of the two: -

This will be an introduction to JavaScript. Firstly, some simple examples to show how JavaScript can be incorporated into a Web Page and then an overview of the document object modal (DOM).

Week 1
In JavaScript, a Web Page is viewed as an object (a document) with the items on the page a sub objects. The document object and the objects that make up the page can be accessed in several different ways.
An object has properties and events i.e. a button has a value (the text on the button) this is a property. The button also has events, onClick is the event triggered when the user clicks on the button.
We shall look at some of the more commonly used objects and their properties and events during the first week.

Week 2
During this week, we will look at some of the basic JavaScript language constructs: - the use of conditional operations such as loops and conditional statements. We shall look at some of the built-in functions such as the alert function.

Week 3
We will cover some of the more commonly used JavaScript such as image swapping (used in menus and advertising), we shall also cover the management of framed Web Pages i.e. accessing objects across multiple Web Pages arranged in a Frameset.
This should allow us to produce profession looking Web Sites i.e. a menu at the top or side that allows control over the entire site.

Week 4
This week, we will cover Dynamic HTML. This allows us to write HTML and web content in JavaScript i.e. we can change the HTML content depending on the users actions or some other external action.

Week 5
This week, we will introduce ASP into the course. To keep the examples simple, JavaScript will be kept to a minimum.
Active Server Pages allow processing to be performed on the HTML before it is transmitted to the user. They are HTML pages with VBScript embedded into them. The VBScript is processed on the web server before the page is transmitted so the user receives only dynamically produced HTML, the VBScript is replaced by its output.

Week 5
In the first week of ASP, we will produce some simple examples. An example may produce a table of numbers (1 to 10) using a loop with the table contents dynamically inserted into the page i.e. all the table tags plus the data.
ASP pages must be accessed via a web server that can process ASP pages. ASP/VBScript usually runs on Microsoft's Internet Information Server or (for a test environment) Microsoft's Personal Web Server (which can run of a standard standalone PC).

Week 6
ASP pages are generally used to maintain sites that manage data, this data is usually held in a Database Management System such as Microsoft's SQL Server or (for testing purposes) Microsoft's Access.
We will cover the fundamentals of SQL (Structured Query Language) in an ASP environment. This language is used to process data stored one of the above DBMSs.
This can be a little confusing so the examples will be as simple as possible i.e. You will be using ASP (VBScript) to create SQL statements to retrieve data that will be displayed embedded into HTML - Can be complicated.

Week 7
This week, we will use the skills learnt last week to produce a working ASP site i.e. we will have pages that (using a menu) will add, display, change and delete data held in a table.

Week 8
This week, we will be looking at some of the built-in functions available in ASP/VBScript i.e. Date (Data) formatting, managing numbers, managing cookies etc.

Week 9 & 10
We will produce a working web site using JavaScript and ASP/VBScript. This will simulate a simple e-shop with a shopping basket, goods, managed stock levels and a final invoice. JavaScript will be used to validate data and manage the menu system