Introduction

Active Page Generator™ (also referred to as APGen™) is the leading programming environment for pre-rendering web content and optimizing dynamic pages.  APGen enables developers to use their ASP skills (including VBScript, JScript, and COM components) to generate HTML, XML, ASP, and more.  Developers write APG scripts, which direct the generation of output documents.  The APGen COM component allows APG scripts to be run in many environments, including ASP, SQL Triggers, during scheduled events, and using MSMQ.

For the latest news on Active Page Generator, see http://www.webgecko.com/products/apgen/

Active Page Generator 2.x includes a number of enhancements and new examples, including better support for running APG scripts in ASP, MSMQ, and SQL Server triggers.  APGen 2.x includes new and enhanced examples, including automated conversion of ASP files to APG scripts, a discussion board example, and enhanced versions of previous examples.  For more information on the new features in APGen 2.x, see New Features in Active Page Generator 2.x.

APGen 2.x is ideal for use with WebGecko ASPCache™.  ASPCache is a high-performance component for data caching and page fragment caching in Active Server Pages.  The AdventureWorks E-Commerce Example demonstrates using APGen to generate page fragments, and ASPCache to cache those page fragments.  A free trial of ASPCache can be downloaded from http://www.webgecko.com/trial/.  For additional information on ASPCache, see the ASPCache web site.

Active Page Generator, ASPCache, and related optimization techniques enable richer, better performing, more cost effective web sites.  For more information, see Web Site Optimization Techniques and Automating Web Page Authoring.

This documentation describes how to use APGen, including how to write and execute APG scripts.  If you are new to APGen, we suggest starting with our Introduction and Quick Start topics.

Table Of Contents

• Active Page Generator Documentation
• New Features in APGen 2.x
• Introduction to APGen
  • Installing Active Page Generator
  • Quick Start
  • APGen Data Flow
  • Comparison of ASP to APGen
  • APG Scripts
    • Editing APG Scripts
    • Debugging APG Scripts
    • Guidelines for Writing APG Scripts
      • When to Open the Output Stream
• APGen Developer's Guide
  • APGen Object Model
  • APG Script Intrinsic Objects
  • Executing APG Scripts
    • Executing APG Scripts within Windows Explorer
    • Executing APG Scripts from the Command Line
    • Scheduled Execution of APG Scripts
    • Programmatic Execution
      • Passing Data to APG Scripts
      • Executing APG Scripts in Active Server Pages
        • File Permissions in ASP
        • Accessing ASP Objects in APG Scripts
        • APG Script Status Reporting in ASP
      • Executing APG Scripts in SQL Server Triggers
      • Executing APG Scripts in Visual Basic
      • Executing APG Scripts in C++
      • Executing APG Scripts in MTS and COM+
  • Error Handling
    • Default Error Handler
    • Script Language Error Handling
    • Using Script.OnError
    • Script Error Events
  • Logging in APGen
  • Pluggable Streams
  • Sinking COM Events in APG Scripts
  • Developing with XML
  • Using Other Script Languages
  • Mixing Script Languages
• Web Site Optimization Techniques
  • Static Page Generation
  • Two-Phase Content Generation
  • Page Fragment Caching
  • Dynamic Pages
• Automating Web Page Authoring
• System Architecture
  • Security
  • Web Farms
  • Replication
• APG Script Syntax Reference
  • APG Script Brackets
  • The SCRIPT Tag
  • APG Output Expression
  • Include Directive
  • @LANGUAGE Directive
• APGen Object Reference
  • APGen Object
    • APGen.Values Collection
    • APGen.Version
    • APGen.OutputDir
    • APGen.LogDir
    • APGen.StatusDlg
    • APGen.Debug
    • APGen.BufferOutput
    • APGen.WriteIffChanged
    • APGen.Logon
    • APGen.Run()
    • APGen.RunArgs()
    • APGen.OpenScript()
  • APGError Object
    • APGError.Number
    • APGError.Description
    • APGError.Severity
    • APGError.FilePath
    • APGError.LineNumber
    • APGError.Source
    • APGError.Handled
    • APGError.Script
    • APGError.Clear()
  • APGScript Object
    • APGScript.Values Collection
    • APGScript.Arguments Collection
    • APGScript.Error Event
    • APGScript.Filename
    • APGScript.Dir
    • APGScript.Path
    • APGScript.LastModified
    • APGScript.Debug
    • APGScript.Waiting
    • APGScript.OnError
    • APGScript.APGen
    • APGScript.Output
    • APGScript.Log
    • APGScript.Util
    • APGScript.StartInDebugger
    • APGScript.Globals
    • APGScript.Abort()
    • APGScript.CreateObject()
    • APGScript.ConnectEvents()
    • APGScript.DisconnectEvents()
    • APGScript.GetLastError()
    • APGScript.Wait()
    • APGScript.StopWait()
    • APGScript.Run()
    • APGScript.RunArgs()
  • Collection Object
    • Collection.Count
    • Collection.Item
    • Collection.Remove()
    • Collection.RemoveAll()
  • Log Object
    • Log.Class
    • Log.Filename
    • Log.Dir
    • Log.Path
    • Log.Append
    • Log.Unicode
    • Log.Logon
    • Log.Stream
    • Log.Flags
    • Log.Write()
    • Log.LogEvent()
  • Logon Object
    • Logon.User
    • Logon.Password
    • Logon.Domain
  • ObjectContext Object
    • ObjectContext.Item
    • ObjectContext.InContext
  • Output Object
    • Output.Class
    • Output.Filename
    • Output.Dir
    • Output.Path
    • Output.Append
    • Output.Unicode
    • Output.Logon
    • Output.Stream
    • Output.CanCreateDirs
    • Output.Buffer
    • Output.BufferContents
    • Output.WriteIffChanged
    • Output.LastModified
    • Output.Write()
    • Output.BinaryWrite()
    • Output.ClearBuffer()
    • Output.FlushBuffer()
    • Output.Open()
    • Output.Close()
  • Script Object
    • Script.Values Collection
    • Script.Arguments Collection
    • Script.Error Event
    • Script.Filename
    • Script.Dir
    • Script.Path
    • Script.LastModified
    • Script.Debug
    • Script.Waiting
    • Script.OnError
    • Script.Abort()
    • Script.CreateObject()
    • Script.ConnectEvents()
    • Script.DisconnectEvents()
    • Script.GetLastError()
    • Script.Wait()
    • Script.StopWait()
  • ScriptArguments Object
    • ScriptArguments.Count
    • ScriptArguments.Item
    • ScriptArguments.Add()
    • ScriptArguments.FindString()
    • ScriptArguments.Remove()
    • ScriptArguments.RemoveAll()
  • Util Object
    • Util.ConcatPath()
    • Util.BuildRelativePath()
    • Util.OpenFileDialog()
    • Util.HTMLEncode()
    • Util.URLEncode()
    • Util.XMLEncode()
  • ApgLogFlags Enum
  • ApgLogSeverityEnum Enum
  • ApgScriptWaitEnum Enum
  • ApgStatusDlgEnum Enum
  • OpenFileDialogFlags Enum
• APGen Examples
  • AdventureWorks E-Commerce Example
  • Web Authoring Examples
    • Part 1: Automating Common Content
    • Part 2: Navbars and Menus
    • Part 3: Site Builds
    • Part 4: Creating New Pages
    • Part 5: Multiple Templates and Multiple Content Types
• Glossary
• Legal Information