Mastering ASP 1

Mastering ASP 1

Full Description

This course serves as a way into HTML for those who are familiar with WYSIWYG compilers (Frontpage, Hotdog etc.) or a refresher for those who already know how to use it, and introduces ASP, getting you into the basics of ASP and the concepts behind it. You can learn HTML straight from this course, but it will require a bit of extra work in the first two weeks. You need windows 98/Me/2000/XP Professional and a text editor (e.g. Notepad) for this course.

Outcomes:

*Learn how to identify and adjust HTML tags (Text, pictures) *Learn to create forms and controls (buttons, etc.) *Learn how to place pictures, text etc. on a page properly (using tables) *Learn Dynamic HTML *Learn how to use Style Sheets. *Learn the basics of ASP (conditiononal statements, loops, object models and some useful functions)

Assessment:

One web page using ASP, to be completed in segments over various weeks.

Week 1 In the first two weeks, you will learn HTML (don't worry, it's very easy). This week, we will be going over various HTML tags, including the ones to adjust text and include pictures and controls (buttons, etc.). You will also learn the tags for forms. Week 2 This week we will be continuing with HTML. You will be learning how to implement tables and Dynamic HTML, and also how to create and use Style Sheets. Week 3 This will be the first week teaching ASP. This week will consist of an overview of VBScript (the language of ASP), as well as some examples for you to experiment with. Week 4 This week, you will be learning conditional statements ('if ... then' statements, etc.). You will learn various ways of implementing these, and various applications for them. Week 5 This week, you will be learning how to implement loops, using a similar plan to the one used last week. Week 6 This week, I will introduce the object model concept, along with various objects you can use in ASP. I will also introduce some useful functions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SAMPLE LESSON WEEK 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Due to the nature of this course and the unsuitability of book material, each lesson contains all the reference materials needed. Since this pans out to be eight pages of material, it is unrealistic, I feel, to post the entire Week 1 here. What I have done instead is to supply the headings, with a brief synopsis of what's covered, and then the Week 1 Assignment. Each section covers the material and provides examples.

Introduction to HTML
--------------------

Knowledge of HTML is essential for ASP. Because of this, the first two weeks of the course are devoted to HTML. This material is designed to be a good refresher if you've worked with HTML before. If you haven't, the learning curve can be steep, but HTML is really not hard to learn.

In this section, the absolute basics of HTML are introduced, introducing the concept of tags, the basic tags for an HTML page, the paragraph tag and the link tag.

Changing Text
-------------

This section goes over all the core HTML tags for changing text (bold, underline, font color, size and style). It also introduces HTML's method of storing color information in hexadecimal notation.

Using Images
------------

This section introduces the use of images in HTML. It introduces the image tag, as well as all the ways you can change the default behavior (defining the width, height and alignment).

This section also covers Image Maps, a useful and often overlooked tool whereby you can map an image to various links using a coordinate-based system.

Forms, Buttons and other Controls
---------------------------------

This section is fairly large, and covers forms and all the associated controls. It covers form creation (including options such as the submit type and target page), input boxes (which can be text fields, radio buttons, checkboxes and password fields among others), buttons (submit, reset and normal), selection lists (drop down lists, multiple-selection lists, etc.) and textareas (text boxes as opposed to text fields).

After all this, the student is ready for the first Assignment:

Assignment
----------

So, we have come to the end of this week's lesson, and now it's time to give you your homework. This week, I want you to create two web pages using the tools learnt so far. There are some requirements for your pages, however.

The first page I want you to create will be a user login screen. This will be done as a page for a fictional company. Use your imagination. Images are good, and different size and color text. The neccessary fields will be a UserName and Password field, with a "Login" button (the submit) pointing to the second page. I also want a link called "Forgot your password?", which at this stage, will also just link to the second page.

The second page will be an information gathering page. It should take user details (name, address, etc.) as well as a drop-down list for country (you don't need to make it long). One extra field is neccessary. This will be a question "How many contacts do you want to enter?", with a field to get the number.

This assignment, and all following assignments, do not have to be amazing efforts. It is worth the practise, but this is not a course on presentation, it is a course on ASP. As such, I don't need to know how pretty you can make things, just that you can learn what has been taught.

Zip (or otherwise compress) the pages and any image files, etc. and send them to me to be commented upon. Just one note: This goes towards your Continuous Assessment Grade, which means that you will have opportunity to improve your mark on this before the end of the course (provided you hand in, of course). I suggest you look at the Marking Guide for an idea of how much of what is asked for.

Contact Hours: 10