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1、1Server-Side Scripting Languages as Tools for Collecting and Organizing Data AbstractServer-side scripting languages can provide educational institutions with the ability to create web-based applications, which efficiently collect data in an well-organized manner. This presentation covers Cold Fusio
2、n Markup Language (CFML) and Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), two popular scripting languages, which interact with databases. These languages provide an efficient and flexible means of building on-line assessment tools, questionnaires, and surveys. The data collected is automatically inserted into data
3、bases, and may also be sent as email. Several projects will be discussed, ranging from a simple web-based form, which sends data to a database, to a complex system, which not only collects data, but also allows authorized users to view the data online and to add comments which will be archived.Intro
4、ductionThe development of Internet and WWW presents us with a unique opportunity for on- line distance teaching and learning. This field has developed very rapidly in the past few years because of the many practical uses of the web. Among these practical uses is the ability of web-based fill-in form
5、s to efficiently gather data that can then be inserted into databases for later retrieval. Server-side scripting languages are one of the most effective ways to collect data on-line. They can also be used to query a database to retrieve data and dynamically create web pages. This paper will provide
6、some background into the development of these languages, describe how they function, and present some case studies showing real life uses of this technology at a large American university. First we need to examine some of the basic features of the web to see how these scripting languages developed.
7、A major feature of the WWW is the potential for developers to create links between text and other media, not only within an individual document but also between documents residing on any computers in the world which have access to the Web. Web documents are usually written in HTML (Hypertext Markup
8、Language), a simple markup language that describes the logical structure of the text. Very often, HTML is stored in static files on the servers hard disk. Such simple, static hypertext documents can convey a great deal of information, but eventually their limitations become clear. For example, what
9、if the author wishes to provide dynamic information, which could 2be based on the user inputs, interaction with the database etc.? Dynamic documents, unlike static documents, require the server to generate the documents on the fly. For example, dynamic documents can be generated from databases of al
10、l kinds, from video capture systems, and from scientific instruments such as various real-time monitoring systems. Such documents are often transmitted directly to the clients as they are created, without even being stored in the file system. In other cases, they may consist largely of fixed content
11、, with a small amount of dynamic content generated when a page is actually delivered.One approach to serving a dynamic Web page is through the “Server-side include“ technique. The HTML system makes it easy to link documents to each other. However, the current versions of HTML do not allow a single l
12、arge HTML document to be assembled from several smaller documents through simple reference in the documents unless it physically contains copies of the these smaller documents. But nothing prevents Web servers from providing their own extended version of HTML in which such included sections are perm
13、itted, as long as the server takes care of the task of including these documents and delivers the complete HTML documents to the client. This approach is called the server-side include mechanism. A server side script language extends the server side include interface normally used to insert entire d
14、ocuments and attempts a more natural feel as an “extension“ to HTML.There are many server-side scripting languages available. Here we will concentrate on Cold Fusion Markup Language (CFML) because of its wide usage. We will also introduce the Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) language because it is open
15、source and free to everyone. Our case study will be based on CFML.Cold Fusion (CF) and Hypertext Preprocesser (PHP)Cold Fusion is a scripting language that is used to write dynamic web pages. It lets you create pages on the fly that differ depending on user input, database lookups, time of day or ot
16、her criteria one can define. Cold Fusion pages consist of standard HTML tags such as FONT SIZE=“+2“ together with CFML (Cold Fusion Markup Language) tags such as CFQUERY, CFIF and CFLOOP. Cold Fusion was introduced by Allaire in 1996 and is currently in version 4.5.1.Cold Fusion is a complete Web application server for developing and delivering scaleable online applications which allow one able to do: Rapid Development - Intuitive visual t
