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Server Side Includes
If you are developing big web sites with parts of
the web pages having repetitive content, you absolutely must use
Server Side Includes(SSI). Notice in this site all the sections
have the same header, site search and left menu. If we were to
make a change any of these areas we would have to manually
change it in all the pages or if we were using templates or
libraries we would have to FTP all the pages every time we make
a change. As we are using Includes we need to make the change
only in the Include and it automatically gets reflected in all
the sites that are using that Include. Best of all it reduces
our FTP time by more than 200% as we only need to FTP one file
and not all the pages using the Include (If you are familiar
with using templates and libraries you will know that though
using templates and libraries cuts down your development time a
lot you still have to FTP all the files that use the library or
template. This is not the case when using SSI's).
What are Server Side Includes?
Server Side Includes allow you to write some
commonly used code once and have the server insert it into the
pages for you. In other words an include file has code that you
would like to reuse. Any ASP or SHTML page that wants to use the
code in the include file will have a special line that indicates
the place holder for the code.
This code looks like: <!--#include virtual="/path" -->
This results in the server taking the entire content of the
file and inserts it into the page, replacing the <! -- #include
..--> line.
How do you use Server Side Includes
Server Side Includes are very easy to use. All
you need to do is create a .htm, .html or .asp file which
contains the reusable code. Take the header in our site as an
example. We make the header an html file (Important: This should
not contain any HTML, HEAD or BODY tags). In this case the code
will start and end with the TABLE tag.
Very Important:
If you are using highly confidential ASP code (or any other web
technology), like your database connection string or some
business logic, in your include file then make sure the include
file is named .asp so that no one can open the include file and
see your code.
Once you have made the Include file all you need
to do is, include it in all the pages that will use this code.
Go to the page that will use this include and add the following
code in the appropriate place:
<!--#include virtual="/path" -->
Replace path with the path of the Include
file.
That's it! Its as easy as that! Now whenever you
make a change in the Include it will automatically get reflected
in all the pages using the Include and you will need to only FTP
one page instead of hundreds of pages.
Important points to remember while using Server
Side Includes
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All the pages using Server Side Includes must
be .asp or .shtml files.
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The Include itself must not have any < HTML>,
<HEAD> or <BODY> tags. The file should only contain the code
that has to be included into a file.
-
If you are using ASP code in your include file
then make sure the include file is named .asp so that no one
can open the include file and see your code.
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All paths used in the code of an Include file
(i.e. images, links, etc.) must be relative to Site root and
not relative to document.
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When you use an Include within a file it must
be included relative to Site Root and not relative to
Document.
Using Server Side Includes in Dreamweaver
It is very easy to use Server Side Includes in
Dreamweaver. Once you have made your Include file all you need
to do is Click on Insert > Server Side Includes, choose the file
you need, make sure the path is relative to Site Root and insert
it.
We hope you have found this time saving tip
useful. If you aren't already using Templates while developing
web sites you may interested in reading our article on
Using Templates in Dreamweaver (Another big Time saving
tip!).
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