How to Use ASP to Create a DHTML Table of Contents from an INI File

ID: Q232065

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Information Server version 4.0

SUMMARY

Microsoft IIS and Active Server Pages (ASP) can be used to create Dynamic HTML (DHTML) pages for use with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0 and later. This article explains how to create a dynamic table of contents from a .ini file with a list of URLs.

MORE INFORMATION

Note: Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft Support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/

The following example creates a DHTML table of contents from a .ini file, which is formatted as described in the steps below.

Save the following ASP code as "Links.inc" in the root of your Web server:


<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
function mouseOverLink(objLink) {
   objLink.style.textDecorationUnderline = 'True';
}

function mouseOutLink(objLink) {
   objLink.style.textDecorationNone = 'True';
}

function mouseClickLink(objItem)
{
   if (objItem.style.display =='')
      objItem.style.display = 'none';
   else
      objItem.style.display = '';
}
//-->
</script>

<%
   With Response
      .Write "<ul>" & VbCrLf
      Dim objLinkFSO, objLinkFILE, objLinkTEMP
      Dim objLinkSECT, objLinkTITLE, objLinkHREF
      Dim intLinkSectionCount
       Set objLinkFSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
      Set objLinkFILE = objLinkFSO.OpenTextFile(Server.MapPath("./") & "\links.ini", 1, FALSE, 0)
      intLinkSectionCount = 0
      Do While Not objLinkFILE.AtEndOfStream
         objLinkTEMP = Trim(objLinkFILE.ReadLine)
         If Left(objLinkTEMP,1) = "[" Then
            objLinkSECT = Trim(Mid(objLinkTEMP,2,Len(objLinkTEMP) - 2))
            If intLinkSectionCount Then
               .Write Chr(9) & Chr(9) & "</ul>" & vbCrLf
               .Write Chr(9) & "</li>" & vbCrLf
            End If
            intLinkSectionCount = intLinkSectionCount + 1
            .Write Chr(9) & "<li><span onMouseOver=""mouseOverLink(this);"""
            .Write " onMouseOut=""mouseOutLink(this);"""
            .Write " onClick=""mouseClickLink(LinkSection" & intLinkSectionCount & ");"">"
            .Write objLinkSECT & "</span>" & VbCrLf
            .Write Chr(9) & Chr(9) & "<ul id=""LinkSection" & intLinkSectionCount & """"
            .Write " style=""display:none"">" & VbCrLf
         ElseIf InStr(objLinkTEMP,"=") Then
            objLinkTITLE = Trim(Left(objLinkTEMP,Instr(objLinkTEMP,"=")-1))
            objLinkHREF  = Trim(Right(objLinkTEMP,Len(objLinkTEMP) - Instr(objLinkTEMP,"=")))
            .Write Chr(9) & Chr(9) & "<li><a href=""" & objLinkHREF & """"
            .Write " style=""text-decoration:none"""
            .Write " onMouseOver=""mouseOverLink(this);"""
            .Write " onMouseOut=""mouseOutLink(this);"">"
            .Write objLinkTITLE & "</a></li>" & VbCrLf
         End If
      Loop
      objLinkFILE.Close
      If intLinkSectionCount Then .Write Chr(9) & "</li>" & VbCrLf
      .Write "</ul>" & VbCrLf
   End With
%>

Create a directory or virtual directory in the root of your Web server named "Linktest" with at least Script Access enabled.

Save the following text as "Links.ini" in the "Linktest" folder:


[Section 1]
Home Page=/ 
Microsoft Corp=http://www.microsoft.com/ 

[Section 2]
Microsoft Network=http://www.msn.com/ 
IIS Documentation=/iishelp/ 

[Section 3]
Microsoft Investor=http://investor.msn.com/ 
HotMail=http://www.hotmail.com/

The format for the entries is as follows:

Section headings are in brackets as [Section Name].

URLs are listed as Title=HREF, and can be absolute or relative references.

Save the following ASP code as "Default.asp" in the "Linktest" folder:


<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT"%>
<html>
<body>
<table>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top" align="left" width="200"><!--#include virtual="/links.inc"--></td>
    <td valign="top" align="left">This is a test</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

When the example page is browsed, it will read the contents of the "Links.ini" file in the same directory and create the DHTML table of contents. Because the ASP code in the "Links.inc" file always searches the local folder for the "Links.ini" file, you can create a separate list of contents for each folder on your Web server.

To use the this code in any folder on your server, do the following:

Include the following line of code in an ASP page where you want the table of contents to be written:
```
 
```
This will include the code from the "Links.inc" ASP page from the root of your Web server into the current page.

Create a file named "Links.ini" in the same folder as the page from the previous step.

Additional query words:


Keywords          : 
Version           : winnt:4.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: June 1, 1999