HTML Rich Text Area


	Home
	Requirements
	Whats New
	Features
	Architechure
	Security
	License Agreement


	Evaluation


	Deployment


	Using
	Interface
	ASP
	Submitting
	Customization
	Settings
	Programming
	DB Integration
	Image Library
	Custom Buttons
	Presentation


	Contact Us

ASP

With Active Server Pages or other server side technologies like .NET or ColdFusion, it is possible to write a function that simply creates a HTML Rich Text Area with one line of code. This is useful because it is simple to use and if you want to modify the way a HTML Rich Text Area is displayed then code need only be changed in one place.

All of the ASP code necessary to display a HTML Rich Text Area can be found in the inc/HTMLRichTextArea.asp file. This can be incorporated into your existing web site via a server side include (i.e. ) or by simply copying and pasting the code into your web site's existing code library.

The ASP code automatically ensures that the HTMLRichTextArea.js is only included once per web page and that all characters that interfere with javascript's syntax are escaped using a backslash (\). e.g. Javascript delimits strings by using the apostrophe ('). If the default string also includes an apostrophe then a javascript syntax error will occur as it will have prematurely found the string delimiter. The ASP code avoids these issues by escaping apostrophes, carriage return and line feeds and the escape character (\).

To display a HTML Rich Text Area using the supplied ASP code do the following:

Response.Write(DisplayHTMLRTA("MyHTMLRTA","<h1>Test</h1>This is a test web page", "../inc/", 80,200))

An example of this output is seen below in which all of the ASP's functionality has been exercised.

DisplayHTMLRTA accepts the following parameters:

strName	HTML Name Tag of the HTML Rich Text Area. Do not included spaces in the name.
strDefault	Initial HTML to display
strHTMLRTAPath	A path to the directory containing the HTMLRichTextArea.js file. Generally set to "/inc/" or "../inc/" or similar. It must end with a "/".
intWidth	Width of the HTML Rich Text Area. It is in percent if the HTMLRichTextAreaFactorySettings.js has SIZESINPERCENT set to true. Otherwise it is the size in pixels.
intHeight	Height in pixels of the HTML Rich Text Area
-
Returns	The HTML string representing the HTML Rich Text Area ready for Response.Write().

The ASP code generates a javascript variable called htmlrta[strName] that references the HTML Rich Text Area. e.g. If strName was passed in as 'Email' then a javascript variable is available called 'htmlrtaEmail'. This means that the HTML Rich Text Area's programmatic interface is available through javascript.

<%
   ...
   Response.Write(DisplayHTMLRTA("Demo",strText,"../../inc/HTMLRTA/",80,300))
%>

<input type="button" onclick="ChangeReadOnlyState()" value="Toggle Read Only">

<script LANGUAGE="javascript">

</script>;

For completeness the code found in HTMLRichTextArea.asp is displayed below. Be sure to edit this code to suit your environment.

<%
'*********
'    HTMLRichTextArea.asp
'    Purpose:    ASP code interface to display the HTML Rich Text Area.
'    License:    Given that you have satisified the HTML Rich Text Area licensing agreement
'            the you are free to edit this code and distribute to your web server.
'*********
%>

<%
'*** DisplayHTMLRTA ***
'Purpose:    To display the HTML Rich Text Area. 
'Inputs:    strName         - the HTML Name Tag of the HTML RTA
'           strDefault      - the initial HTML to display
'           strHTMLRTAPath  - A path to the directory containing the 
'                             HTMLRichTextArea.js file. Generally set to "/inc/" 
'                             It must end with a "/" 
'           intWidth        - the width in pixels of the HTML RTA
'           intHeight       - the height in pixels of the HTML RTA
'Returns:    The HTML string representing the HTML RTA ready for Response.Writing().
blnAlreadyCalledDuringThisPage = false
function DisplayHTMLRTA(byval strName, byval strDefault, byval strHTMLRTAPath, byval intWidth, byval intHeight)
                
    'Ensure that the client side include of the htmleditor.js file is made only once
    if blnAlreadyCalledDuringThisPage = false then
        strRet = "<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=javascript SRC='" & strHTMLRTAPath & "HTMLRichTextArea.js'></SCRIPT>" & vbcrlf
        strRet = strRet & "<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=javascript SRC="- & strHTMLRTAPath & -HTMLRichTextAreaFactorySettings.js"  & strHTMLRTAPath & "HTMLRichTextAreaFactorySettings.js"></SCRIPT>" & vbcrlf
    else
        blnAlreadyCalledDuringThisPage = true
    end if
    
    'Escape any characters that are incompatible with the 
    'javascript code that will be created.        
    strDefault = PrepareDataForHTMLRTA(strDefault)
        
    strRet = strRet & "<SCRIPT LANGUAGE='javascript'>" & vbcrlf
    strRet = strRet & "" & vbcrlf
    strRet = strRet & "</SCRIPT>" & vbcrlf

DisplayHTMLRTA = strRet
end function

'*** PrepareDataForHTMLRTA ***
'Purpose:   To escape any characters that are incompatible with the 
'           javascript code that will be created for the HTML Rich Text Area
function PrepareDataForHTMLRTA(byval strData)
    
    strData = Replace(strData,"\","\\")
    strData = Replace(strData,"'","\'")
    strData = Replace(strData,"""","\""")
    strData = Replace(strData,vbCrlf,"\n")

PrepareDataForHTMLRTA = strData

end function