ecsl@netbloc.com: 6540: RE: [ECS] Web Page Questions

Subject:
From:
Date:
RE: [ECS] Web Page Questions
Dan Hoehnen
Fri, 4 Feb 2000 10:23:24 -0500
Don,

One way is to use Active Server Pages (ASP).  This is how the new web
interface for ACE works.  Using ASP, I am able to query ACE for the status
of each thing I am interested in and then generate html to reflect the
values/states.  I use a COM interface between ACE and my ASP page, which I
don't think ECS supports yet.  ASP can also read from a text file.  So, I
think if you can put the info from ECS into a text file, you should be able
generate a web page in html on the fly by using ASP.

If unfamiliar with ASP, it's pretty darn easy.  It is basically code that
you can embed in your html web page.  When the server displays the page, it
executes the code (VBScript usually, but I think it can be JScript too),
which generates the html page.  What gets sent to the browser is just html,
the code has been removed.  I don't have an exact example, but here is some
rough code so you get the idea.  Anything between <%  and  %>  is code, not
html.

<html>
<% Dim mystring %>
<% mystring = ReadFile(ecsinfo.txt) %>
<% If mystring = "ON" Then %>
     Light is ON
<% Else %>
     Light is OFF
<% End If %>
</html>

The above will generate a 1 line html web page with the appropriate text to
indicate if the light is on or off.  The ReadFile function is made up, but I
think you can undersatnd the concept.  I found the book "Active Server Pages
for Dummies" to be pretty good.  At least it't what got me going.

When I release the ACE web interface this weekend, you can check out the ASP
page for it, which is much more detailed, has comments and has actual code
that really works (what a concept).

Mark, I know you are working on a web interface for ECS too.  If you want to
pick what little is left of my brain, let me know and we can talk via phone.

Dan

> I'm trying to generate a dynamic web page using Items from ECS.
> I'm a total
> rookie at this. My plan is to have a html script on the page and update it
> with Items variables only. Can anyone suggest the syntax (html)
> to do this?
>
> Don
>
>