ASP is a very simple language if you know its syntax (in that way, it is much like every other programming language, albeit in ASP's case a bit more forgiving than some others).  This tutorial describes the construction of a very simple ASP quiz script, which works with just two files: quiz.asp and data.asp. Let’s start by looking at quiz.asp:

Quiz File (quiz.asp)

<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> <!--#include file="data.asp"--> <% if request.form("ProcessQuiz") = "" then call ShowQuiz() else call ProcessQuiz() end if %>

Yep, that’s it! So, what did we do? Well, we did three things:
- Told the server that we are using VBscript.
- INCLUDEd the data.asp file.
- Specified an IF switcher, which gives the script different outputs, depending on whether the form has been submitted or this is the first time the script has been run by the user.

With that out of the way, let’s break down data.asp:

Data File (data.asp) 

This little snippet of code is very simplem and defines the array 'Quiz' with 5 entries, which can be modified easily to include more or fewer questions. Then it defines each one, like this:

Quiz(Question number – 1) = “Question|CorrectAnswer|Answer1|Answer2|CorrectAnswer|Answer4”

So basically, Quiz with the key number – 1 is equal to a text string, which contains the question, the correct answer identifier, and then the rest of the answers, including the correct one.

Next up, our first function:

public Sub ShowQuiz() response.write("<form action='quiz.asp' method='post'>") for i = 0 to ubound(Quiz) - 1    Bits = split(Quiz(i) , "|")    response.write("<p>&bull; " & Bits(0) & "<br>")    response.write("<select name='question" & i + 1 & "' class='tb'>") for x = 2 to ubound(Bits)    response.write("<option value='" & Bits(x) & "'>" & Bits(x) & "</option>")    next response.write("</select></p>") next response.write("<p><input type='submit' name='ProcessQuiz' value='Check answers' class='tb'></p></form>") End sub

This function cycles through each array stream (each one is a question/answer set) and splits the text up into the Question, the Correct Answer Identifier, and then the list of possible answers. It then creates a selectbox, outputs all the answers as options into the selectbox, and then closes it properly.

Our second and final function checks the answer you submitted:

public sub ProcessQuiz() for i = 0 to ubound(Quiz) - 1   Bits = split(Quiz(i) , "|")   if Bits(1) = request.form("Question"&i+1) then      Result = "<font color='#009900'>Correct</font>"   else      Result = "<font color='#ff0000'>Incorrect</font> - The correct answer was " & Bits(1)   end if response.write("<p>&bull; " & Bits(0) & "<br>") response.write("You answered: " & request.form("Question"&i+1) & ". This was " & Result) response.write("</p>") next end sub %>

This function cycles through the streams again, splits up the data, checks the submitted answer against the Correct Answer Identifier in the string, then outputs the result accordingly.

And that’s it! If you want help, contact me on the forums and I will help out!  Until next time... have fun coding!

- Tutorial written by Scrowler

Automatic Translations: