Web Author Glossary

ASP (Active Server Pages): ASP is a specification for a dynamically created Web page having an .asp extension. ASP technology provides an open, compile-free application environment in which Web developers can combine HTML, scripts, and reusable Active Server components. Active Server Pages page uses VBScript or JScript code to access the ASP object model, which exposes functionality that is often used in Web application environments. When a browser requests an ASP page, the Web server passes execution to the ASP Server, which processes the scripts, generates an HTML page, and sends it back to the browser.

Root directory: A root directory is the point of entry into the directory tree in a disk-based hierarchical directory structure. Branching from the root are various directories and subdirectories, each of which can contain one or more files and subdirectories.

Server Side Includes: Server Side Includes or SSI allow the use of shared common code such as headers, footers, and left navigation created in one file and shared through the use of "includes" throughout the site. The advantage is that only one file needs to be updated when a global change is made. Our web servers do not allow "Parent Paths" anymore because Microsoft has determined that enabling this feature may constitute a security risk because an include path can access critical or confidential files outside the root directory of the application.

If your application contains a Web page that contains the #include server-side include directive and uses ".." notation to refer to a parent directory, your page will not load and an error message will be displayed. When you try to view an Active Server Pages (ASP) page that is running on Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, you may receive one of the following error messages in your browser:

• If the Show Friendly Http Error Messages check box in Microsoft Internet Explorer is not selected:
  
  Active Server Pages error 'ASP 0131'
  Disallowed Parent Path
  /<path>/<filename.ext>, line <number>
  <filename.ext> cannot contain '..' to indicate the parent directory.
   
• If the Show Friendly Http Error Messages check box in Microsoft Internet Explorer is selected:
  
  The Page Cannot Be Displayed
  HTTP 500-Internal server error

If linking to Server Side Includes within the same directory or folder use this include file statement shown in example 1. If linking to Server Side Includes outside the same directory or folder use this include file statement shown in example 2 which should point to the path where the file is located, which is from the Root down. More...

• Example 1: <!--#include file="sample.inc"-->
• Example 2: <!--#include virtual="/templates/sample.inc"-->

Paths: In a computer operating system, a path is the route through a file system to a particular file. A path name (or pathname in Windows) is the specification of that path, including the name of the file. An absolute path name (or fully qualified path name) specifies the complete path name. A relative path name specifies a path relative to the directory to which the operating system is currently set.

Absolute and Relative Paths: When you're creating links to documents and images on the Web, you need to think about how you're going to link to them. There are two standard ways to create links: absolute paths and relative paths.

• Absolute paths refers to a specific web location which includes the domain name. The absolute path to a Web element is also often referred to as the URL. For example, the absolute path to the main BNL Web page is: http://www.bnl.gov. You typically use the absolute path with the domain to point to Web elements that are on another domain than your own.
  
  If you're referring to a Web element that is on the same domain that you're on, you don't need to use the domain name in the path of your link. Simply leave off the domain, but be sure to include the first slash (/) after the domain name. For example, the Information Technology Division homepage has the URL: http://www.bnl.gov/itd/default.asp. If I were to link to this URL from another page on my site, I could link to it in this way: <a href="/itd/default.asp">...</a> It is a good idea to use absolute paths, without the domain name, on most Web sites. This format insures that the link or image will be usable no matter where you place the page as long as it is in the same domain.
   
• Relative paths change depending upon what page the links are located on. There are several rules to creating a link using the relative path: links in the same directory as the page have no path information listed filename, sub-directories are listed without any preceding slashes <images/filename>, links up one directory are listed as <../images>, links up two directories are listed as <../../images> and so on...

Steering Scripts: Many Brookhaven web pages are now using special steering scripts that determine which web page, local navigation bar or even individual links will be available to the user by way of their computers IP address. These scripts work automatically and if configured and used correctly will provide a seamless web interface to the hosts website. More...

Last Modified: April 6, 2009

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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