If you plan to create and administer lessons in the .HTM type only, you may skip this chapter. You do not need to install any of the software described in this chapter.
In the Introduction, we explained that the Digital Teacher web-based lesson created as the .ASP file type must be deployed on an ASP-capable web server software (such as Microsoft Internet Information Server) running on a Windows-based (such as NT or 2000) server machine. Also, the system must be running the MDAC (Microsoft Data Access Components) drivers. MDAC is a package of a number of files that support data access on the Internet. However, you do not really need to concern yourself about installing all these packages because they come with the NT and 2000 servers as part of operating system files. You only need to pass your Digital Teacher lesson files to your network administrator.
Most of the time, however, you will also want to preview your Web-based lessons (of the .ASP type) on your local computer. This is when you must install
on your Win9x or NT workstation.
Personal Web Server (PWS) is a compact version of
IIS (Internet Information Server).
It is available for a free download from the Microsoft web site at:
www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/recommended/NT4OptPk/default.asp
www.microsoft.com/NTServer/web/exec/overview/option_pack4.asp
www.microsoft.com/NTServer/web/exec/feature/PWS.asp
The software is available as Personal Web Server 4.0 for Windows 95 contained in the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack.
Note: Before you continue reading this chapter, we suggest that you read an article written by Alexander Haneng at www.asp101.com. The article, which should be available at http://www.asp101.com/resources/haneng/042199.asp, contains helpful information on how to obtain and install PWS.
c:\InetPub
\wwwroot
\dteacher dtCodes.js
dtCookies.js
dteach40.dll (Also see Chapter 13.)
dtGradeBook.asp
dtGradeSelect.asp
dtLoginNT.htm
dtLoginSurvey.htm
dtMedia.js
\database dtsys40.dac (Also see Chapter 13.)
sample_exam.wsd (database for sample_exam.asp)
sample_survey.wsd (database for sample_survey.asp)
\Lesson sample_exam.asp (sample lesson)
sample_exam.js (sample lesson content)
gourmet.gif (image used in sample_exam.asp)
devour.wav (sound used in sample_exam.asp)
sample_survey.asp (sample survey)
sample_survey.js (sample survey content)
\program_images back.gif (background image)
other general image files
Now, we need to configure our PWS. Configuring PWS involves
- Enabling web service - Creating our virtual web directory - Setting access rights
The installation procedure will have added a new icon on your task bar - usually next to the time display at the bottom right of your Windows Desktop. Double click the icon to start your PWS. Or you can start PWS by choosing Start | Programs | Microsoft Personal Web Server | Personal Web Manager.
In order for our ASP lessons to be executed, we need to start web services up by clicking the Start button. This makes all of the ASP pages under the wwwroot folder visible on the Web. Once the server is running, the Start button becomes a Stop button.
When Personal Web Manager is displayed, notice that your virtual web site named http://YourComputerName is displayed in the Publishing frame. PWS takes the name of your web server from the name of your computer. Please ensure that this name does not contain spaces.
Now, it's time to create your Digital Teacher web application's web directory and add it to your virtual web site.
We have now created a virtual web directory for the Digital Teacher web application. The URL is http://YourComputerName/digitalteacher. This directory is "virtual" because it doesn't physically exist, but represents an actual (physical) directory c:\InetPub\wwwroot\dteacher on your hard disk.
Once we create a virtual directory on the server, ASP files placed in the physical directory are visible to the server. That means we must use the virtual directory name to load our ASP type lessons. For example, to load and view An_ASP_file.asp file saved in c:\InetPub\wwwroot\dteacher\lesson\, we must
- Run the browser (by loading an ordinary .HTM page).
- Type in http://YourComputerName/digitalteacher/lesson/An_ASP_file.asp in
the address box.
Note: Alternatively, you may replace your_computer_name with "localhost." Please see Specifying path information for preview (ASP type only)
We cannot view an ASP simply by double clicking the file name from our physical directory. Or we cannot open it by choosing the File | Open menu from our browser, and selecting c:\InetPub\wwwroot\dteacher\lesson\An_ASP_file.asp. For more details, please refer to Chapter 4: Previewing Web Lessons Locally.
Aside from the ASP file, your Digital Teacher Web-based (ASP) lesson also consists of a lesson database (.WSD) file. Accessing this database requires MDAC on your computer. The MDAC consists of a number of Mircrosoft data access technologies, such as ADO and OLEDB. Without these components installed on the machine, the Digital Teacher lesson database cannot be read from and written to.
Unless you have a Windows system with a "clean" installation with no applications installed, the system might already have these components installed by another application such as Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or higher. Installing PWS also adds a short version of MDAC as briefly expliained in the Install PWS topic of this chapter.
So you may or may not need to install MDAC again although updating the current MDAC, if any, on your system to the latest version is highly recommended. MDAC is available from the Microsoft web site at http://www.microsoft.com/data/download.htm. Read each version note carefully and make sure that you download a version that includes ADO and OLE DB.
Before you decide to download and install a latest version, you might want to check to
see if there is a version of MDAC currently installed on your system. You can do this using
a small Microsoft tool called Component Checker, available from the same site.
The Component Checker tool helps you determime installed version information and diagnose
installation issues with MDAC.
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