NAME
ASP - a Module for ASP (PerlScript) Programming
SYNOPSIS
use strict;
use ASP qw(:strict);
print "Testing, testing.<BR><BR>";
my $item = param('item');
if($item eq 'Select one...') {
die "Please select a value from the list.";
}
print "You selected $item.";
exit;
DESCRIPTION
This module is based on Matt Sergeant's excellent Win32::ASP
module, which can be found at
<
http://www.fastnetltd.ndirect.co.uk/Perl>. After using Mr.
Sergeant's module, I took on the task of customizing and
optimizing it for my own purposes. Feel free to use it if you
find it useful.
NOTES
Both of the print() and warn() standard perl funcs are
overloaded to output to the browser. print() is also available
via the $ASP::ASPOUT->print() method call.
$Request->ServerVariables are stuffed in %ENV to more closely
resemble CGI.pm
ASP.pm now exports the $ScriptingNamespace symbol. This symbol
allows PerlScript to call subs/functions written in another
script language. For example:
<%@ language=PerlScript %>
<%
use ASP qw(:strict);
print $ScriptingNamespace->SomeSub("arg1");
%>
<SCRIPT language=VBScript runat=server>
Function SomeSub (str)
SomeSub = SomethingThatReturnsSomething()
End Function
</SCRIPT>
INSTALLATION
This module can be installed via my PPM repository at
http://dichosoft.com/perl
USE
use ASP qw(:basic);
Exports basic subs: Print, Warn, die, exit, param, param_count.
use ASP qw(:strict);
Allows the use of the ASP objects under `use strict;'.
NOTE: This is not the only way to accomplish this, but I think
it's the cleanest, most convenient way.
use ASP qw(:all);
Same as `use ASP;'. Exports all subs except those marked 'not
exported'.
use ASP ();
Overloads print() and warn() and provides the $ASP::ASPOUT
object.
FUNCTION REFERENCE
warn LIST
`warn' (or more specifically, the __WARN__ signal) has been re-
routed to output to the browser.
FYI: When implemented, this tweak led to the removal of the
prototypes Matt placed on his subs.
print LIST
`print' is overloaded to write to the browser by default. The
inherent behavior of print has not been altered and you can
still use an alternate filehandle as you normally would. This
allows you to use print just as you would in CGI scripts. The
following statement would need no modification between CGI and
ASP PerlScript:
print param('URL'), " was requested by ", $ENV{REMOTE_HOST}, "\n";
Print LIST
Prints a string or comma separated list of strings to the
browser. Use as if you were using `print' in a CGI application.
Print gets around ASP's limitations of 128k in a single
$Response->Write() call.
NB: `print' calls Print, so you could use either, but print more
closely resembles perl.
DebugPrint LIST
Output is displayed between HTML comments so the output doesn't
interfere with page aesthetics.
HTMLPrint LIST
The same as `Print' except the output is HTML-encoded so that
any HTML tags appear as sent, i.e. < becomes <, > becomes
> etc.
die LIST
Prints the contents of LIST to the browser and then exits. die
automatically calls $Response->End for you, it also executes any
cleanup code you have added with `AddDeathHook'.
exit
Exits the current script. $Response->End is called automatically
for you. Any cleanup code added with `AddDeathHook' is also
called.
escape LIST
Escapes (URL-encodes) a list. Uses ASP object method $Server-
>URLEncode().
unescape LIST
Unescapes a URL-encoded list. Algorithms ripped from CGI.pm
method of the same name.
escapeHTML LIST
Escapes a list of HTML. Uses ASP object method $Server-
>HTMLEncode().
If passed an array reference, escapeHTML will return a reference
to the escaped array.
unescapeHTML LIST
Unescapes an HTML-encoded list.
If passed an array reference, unescapeHTML will return a
reference to the un-escaped array.
param EXPR [, EXPR]
Simplifies parameter access and makes switch from GET to
POST transparent.
Given the following querystring:
myscript.asp?x=a&x=b&y=c
param() returns ('x', 'y')
param('y') returns 'c'
param('x') returns ('a', 'b')
param('x',1) returns 'a'
param('x',2) returns 'b'
param_count EXPR
Returns the number of times EXPR appears in the request
(Form or QueryString).
For example, if URL is
myscript.asp?x=a&x=b&y=c
then
param_count('x');
returns 2.
AddDeathHook LIST
Allows cleanup code to be executed when you `die' or `exit'.
Useful for closing database connections in the event of a
fatal error.
<%
my $conn = Win32::OLE-new('ADODB.Connection');
$conn->Open("MyDSN");
$conn->BeginTrans();
ASP::AddDeathHook( sub { $Conn->Close if $Conn; } );
%>
Death hooks should be executed on a graceful exit of the
script too but this hasn't been confirmed. If anyone has any
luck, let me know.
AddDeathHook is not exported.
BinaryWrite LIST
Performs the same function as $Response->BinaryWrite() but
gets around Perl's lack of unicode support, and the null
padding it uses to get around this. Example:
ASP::BinaryWrite($val);
BinaryWrite is not exported.
SetCookie Name, Value [, HASH]
Sets the cookie Name with the value Value. HASH is optional,
and contains any of the following optional parameters:
-expires => CGI.pm style expires value
-domain => domain that the cookie is returned to; eg, ".domain.com"
-path => a path that the cookie is returned to.
-secure => cookie only returned under SSL if true.
If Value is a hash ref, then it creates a cookie dictionary.
(see either the ASP docs, or my Introduction to PerlScript
for more info on Cookie Dictionaries).
Example:
ASP::SetCookie("Options", { bg=>'white', text=>'black' }, (
-expires => "+3h",
-domain => ".dichosoft.com",
-path => "/perl",
-secure => 0 )
);
SetCookie is not exported.
AUTHOR
Tim Hammerquist <
[email protected]>
HISTORY
Version 1.00
The escapeHTML() and unescapeHTML() functions now accept
array refs as well as lists, as Win32::ASP::HTMLEncode()
was supposed to. Thanks to Matt Sergeant for the fix.
Version 0.97
Optimized and debugged.
Version 0.77
Overloaded warn() and subsequently removed prototypes.
Exported $ScriptingNamespace object.
Added methods escape(), unescape(), escapeHTML(),
unescapeHTML(). Thanks to Bill Odom for pointing these
out!
Re-implemented SetCookie and BinaryWrite functions.
Version 0.11
Optimized and debugged.
