Dr Design 2 - From Popunders to Rollovers

As always there are new patients wandering into my offices all the time -- and there's never a shortage of ailments for me to treat. So let's dive right into this week's diagnoses (check out last week's consultation if you missed it)! And don't forget - if you have a problem, the Doctor is here to help. Send your questions to drdesign@sitepoint.com.

ASP and IIS-itis

Dr Design,
I'm a teacher, and HTML and ASP amateur. I made a site and tested it in PWS and it worked perfectly, with database stuff and even a forum. It all worked well.

Then I copied the folders and used them in IIS (about which I know practically nothing) and the ASP functionality doesn't work at all (I have the folders in the same places I used in PWS - I even made a virtual directory). I get lost when trying to understand the IIS material. The machine I'm referring to is a 2000 server. Can you help me? Rafael

Rafael, let me start by welcoming you to the world of server side programming! There are many great languages out there for you to learn and ASP is definitely a worthy choice. If ASP at any point does prove to be too much, you may want to check out PHP or ColdFusion as well, as you do want to pick one which suits your needs and with which you're comfortable.

That said, this isn't so much an ASP issue as it is a Webserver issue. Personal Web Server (PWS) is a great platform to develop on and you seem rather lost about IIS. Let me ease some of your pain: they are nearly the same. PWS is simply a cut-down version of IIS which many developers use during the early stages of Web development before they transfer their sites to IIS, much as you've done.

I believe the issue in this case is likely to be that ASP may not yet be enabled on your copy of IIS. If it's hosted on a Website hosting account you'll either need to ask the host to enable it on your site, or switch hosts. If the server is a corporate server, speak with MIS to ensure they install the software properly.

If, on the other hand, you're actually running the server and it's still not working, let's run some quick tests. Create this test.asp page:

<%
Response.Write("Spread the Love -- Dr. Design!")
%>

If the page appears properly, then our problem lies in the actual code. If it is as I suspect, though, ASP is not properly se up. ASP is installed on IIS as the default setting and it actually takes a force of effort to not have it enabled. My suspicion then is that you probably don't have execute permissions enabled on the Web. So, right click on your new Web, hit Properties, go to the Home Directory tab and look near the bottom for "Execute Permissions". If it is set to "none", as in Figure 1, you will get an error message much like Figure 2 (over).

Figure 1: Execute Permissions Disabled