WEB SERVER SCRIPTING

INTRODUCTION:

      WEBSITE SCRIPTING

Web site scripting is a technique used for incorporating interactivity to web-pages and it is a major concept of dynamic HTML

There are basically two types of website scripting

• client-side scripting
• server-side scripting

The basic difference between client and server side scripting lies in the aspect of where the script is getting executed. Server side script gets executed on the server before displaying the information while the client side scripting gets executed on the client computer.

Based on this post emphasis will be laid on the server side scripting

    WHAT IS WEB-SERVER SIDE SCRIPTING?

This is a technique used in web development which involves embedding scripts on a web server which produce response to customize for each user request to the website.

                HOW WEB SERVER SCRIPTING WORKS

                 

                           

WEB SERVER SCRIPTING LANGUAGES:

There are several types of web server scripting languages which include:

                      

• ASP- Which is an acronym for Active Server Pages is a web server scripting environment owned by Microsoft released in 1996 which can be ran only on a window based server.ASP in the real sense is not a scripting language but an environment which allows you to combine more than one scripting language and the most popularly combined is VBScript and JavaScript.
• PHP-This is a recursive acronym for hypertext pre-processor which was originally known as personal home pages and was developed by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995 and it is one of the most popularly used server side scripting language and it is free and open source.
• Perl-A high level interpreted language which is closely related to C. Perl is free and open source and can be used in web applications where access to a database will be needed. And it was originally developed by Larry wall in 1987.
• Cold fusion-Originally developed by Adobe systems in 1995 is a server side scripting language that enables web developers to embed databases and other scripting elements within an HTML or XHTML document to create web applications.
• Python- this is general purpose high level language which can also be used as a scripting language to develop web based application.
• ASP.net-An extension of ASP that supports .NET languages like the VB.net
• JSP (Java server pages)-Similar to ASP is a server side scripting language that uses  Java instead of  VB script to create dynamic generated webpages

FUNCTIONALITY OF WEB SERVER SCRIPTING:

Web server scripting has a wide range of functionalities and its importance to web application cannot be over-emphasized. Below are some of its functionalities

Shopping Carts – In E-commerce sites web server scripting is used to manage shopping carts. This happens because data stored in a variable in one page can be used in another page because web server scripts supports sessions. A user Item can be saved to a login session and retrieved in session.

Web Content Management – Related to the profile management, the content of a website can be stored in a web server database. This can then be displayed to the users of the site dynamically using server side languages. 

Reserve Order – The ability for customers to reserve other is greatly dependent on the Web server-side. This is done using cookies and sessions to detect when the user comes back to the webpage.

Website Analysis – This can be done by getting a server side language such as PHP to access a database. Each time a webpage is loaded, a record of the visit will be put into this database table. A list of page visits can then be shown to the website owner using server scripting to access and display the contents of the database.

User Profile Management – With web server scripting, user’s information can be stored in a database on a webserver which a server side language such as PHP can be used to access this information through a database management system and this information can be displayed to user for update or retrieval. The user interface can be designed using HTML forms linked to PHP files.

File Upload & Download – Server side languages come with functions to deal with uploading files to the server. This is done by using a multi-part encode HTML form which stores the file in the servers temporary folder. Web server scripting is then used to move this file to a permanent location where it can be used again when needed. 

FEATURES OF SERVER-SIDE SCRIPTING:

• executed in the server
• code are not viewable to users
• uses server  resources
• multi-platform 
• supports all types of browser

ACCESSIBILITY

• can redirect to alternative text version
• readable fonts
• support for user adjustable fonts
• support for resizable font

CLIENT SIDE VS SERVER-SIDE SCRIPTING

                      

ADVANTAGES OF SERVER SIDE SCRIPTING OVER CLIENT SIDE SCRIPTING

• Improved security as code are not viewable to users compared to the client-side scripting
• Unlike the client side scripting it does not make use of the user system resources
• less danger of attack on the host computer unlike the client- side scripting where script can be attached to gain access to the host computer.
• It does not require the user to download plugins like Java or flash
• You can create a single website template for the entire website. Each new dynamic page you create will automatically use it.

DISADVANTAGES OF SERVER-SIDE SCRIPTING

• One of the most significant disadvantage of server side scripting is that scripts can be used by attackers to gain access to the server by changing the URL to something that exploits a security hole can give the user server access sometimes even as root and this is as a result of scripts responds to URL.
• It requires scripting software to be installed on the server
• Many scripts and CMS tools require database in order to store dynamic data
• cases where they is traffic on the site and the memory space of the server is limited it may take time processing scripts and giving replies to users

ADVANTAGES OF CLIENT-SIDE OVER SERVER-SIDE SCRIPTING

• Allow for more interactivity by immediately responding to users' actions
• Execute quickly because they don't require a trip to the server
• May improve the usability of Web sites for users whose browsers support scripts
• Can give developers more control over the look and behaviour of their Web widgets (note that this can be an advantage or disadvantage)
• Can be substituted with alternatives (for example, HTML) if users' browsers do not support scripts

DISADVANTAGES

• Not all browsers support scripts, therefore, users might experience errors if no alternatives have been provided
• Different browsers and browser versions support scripts differently, thus more quality assurance testing is required
• Scripts can be viewed by users

CONCLUSION   

   However websites needs both types of website scripting for increased functionality, while server-side handles logging-in, personal information and preferences and provides the specific data which the user wants and allows new data to be stored.

Client side scripting gives the user a more exciting web experience by its interactivity and ease of access

Also to combat with the flaws of  server-side attacks, system administration should keep all server-side scripts up to date to their latest secure versions and also use an application firewall such as mod security.

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