See Also: Active Page Generator Documentation Introduction to APGen APGen Object Reference

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APGen 2.x includes a number of refinements, new features, and new and improved examples compared to APGen 1.0. 

Refinements

• Improved support for running APG scripts in ASP and service processes.
• Improved support and documentation for running APG scripts from SQL Server triggers.
• Improved for use with XML and XSL.
• Improved for use with MTS/COM+:
  • Context - MTS/COM+ context is propagated, so objects created in an APG script inherit the context the APG script was created in.
  • MTS/COM+ Configuration - Information is included on how best to use APGen with MTS and COM+.
• Properties Script.RootScriptFilename, Script.RootScriptDir, and Script.RootScriptPath were changed to Script.Filename, Script.Dir, and Script.Path respectively.
• The APGScript.Interface property is deprecated - use the new APGScript.Globals property instead.
• An optional argument was added to Util.ConcatPath() and to Util.BuildRelativePath() to make it easier to handle directories.

New Features

• Can be used with ASPCache for page fragment caching in Active Server Pages.
• The new ObjectContext intrinsic object provides access to ASP objects when an APG script is run in an ASP page.
• The new APGen intrinsic object supports data sharing between APG scripts (similar to the ASP Application object), and easy execution of other APG scripts.  Shared values can be stored in the new APGen.Values collection.
• The new APGen.Logon, Output.Logon, and Log.Logon objects allow the programmer to set the user account used for creating or modifying files.
• The new APGen.WriteIffChanged and Output.WriteIffChanged properties set whether output files are overwritten only when their contents change.  This provides more accurate "Last Modified" dates and more efficient use with caching, replication, and content distribution systems.
• The new APGen.Version property returns the version of APGen that is running.
• The new APGen.BufferOutput property allows the programmer to set whether child APG scripts buffer output.
• The new Output.BufferContents property allows manipulation and transformation (including XSLT transformation) of generated content before it is written to the output file.
• The new Output.LastModified, Script.LastModified, and APGScript.LastModified properties give easy access to the last time the output file or any of the script files were modified.
• The new Util.XMLEncode() method supports XML encoding of a text string.
• Enterprise System Architecture - New documentation on how to use APGen with replication and content distribution systems, web farms, and security considerations.
• Scheduled Execution - New documentation on how to schedule execution of APG scripts.

Examples

For more information on the examples included with APGen 2.x, see APGen Examples.

Improvements to existing examples:

• The AdventureWorks E-Commerce Examplewas improved to use page fragment caching in catalog_type.asp, and to rebuild the web site using a build.asp page.
• The Web Authoring Examples were improved to demonstrate multiple templates and multiple content file formats.  This provides a more powerful system for managing and maintaining a web site.

New examples:

• The new ASPToAPG Example provides automated conversion of ASP files to APG scripts.
• The new Discussion Board Example demonstrates a rich newsgroup-style web interface with outstanding performance.  It demonstrates how on-the-fly updates of static pages using APGen provides superior performance and user experience to dynamic pages.
• The new SQL Trigger Example demonstrates how to perform automatic page updates when a database table changes.
• The new MSMQ Example demonstrates how to implement a distributed content update system with MSMQ and APGen.  Content update messages are sent from ASP and from SQL triggers, and can be handled on a separate server using MSMQ and APGen.

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