 Your Web Browser must support Cookies, and you
must allow them to be accepted in order for the Telephone Directory's On-Line Search
Function to work. Otherwise, the Search Results will likely be blank or indicate a error.
What Are Cookies ?
A Cookie is:
A very small text file placed on your hard drive (with your permission) by a Web Page
server. It is essentially your identification card, and cannot be executed as code or
deliver viruses. It is uniquely yours and can only be read by the server that gave it to
you. Cookies are files consisting essentially of elements of information that Web servers
collect from each client visiting their site. Most widely-used and later version browsers
(e.g. Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer) support cookies.
A Cookie's Purpose is:
To tell the server that you returned to a particular Web page. In general, cookies enable
a host Web site to record certain facts about its users, such as specific pages looked at,
time spent looking at pages, and site-related preferences. Cookies cannot interpret your
name, address, e-mail address, nor see data which you may have provided to another site
earlier in the same session.
How a Cookie Helps You:
It saves you time. We would like to stress that visitors should consider cookies to be a
positive element and not a threat to security. In fact, they are used in ways to enhance
the time users spend at a site.
How a Cookie Helps Us:
It allows us to be more efficient. With respect to the Telephone Directory Web site,
cookies in particular allow us to use Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP).
| Question
: What are ASP pages and why use them ? |
Answer: |
| One of the challenges
faced by Web developers is creating a coherent application out of a series of independent
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages. This problem is a particular concern in Web
development because Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a stateless protocol. Each
browser request to a Web server is independent, and the server retains no memory of a
browser's past requests. Microsoft Active
Server Pages ( which are files containing an .asp extension ) are a newer file
format for developing Web Sites. While anyone can create an ASP file; they are more often
used by advanced developers and programmers.
With ASP files, you can combine HTML, programming scripts
(VBScript or JScript) and ActiveX server pre-programmed components. Active Server Pages
enable people to create server-side Web applications (where all code is executed on the
Server first before being sent to the user) as opposed to client side applications in
which code is executed on the users local workstation. |
Application developers
often require a technique to provide consistent user sessions on the Web. Active Server
Pages (ASP) provides powerful and flexible Web session management that requires no special
programming. The Session object, one of the intrinsic objects supported by ASP, provides a
developer with a complete Web session management solution. ASP session information is stored in memory on the Web server. ASP uses HTTP cookies
to send users unique session keys. While the user is using the application, all requests
will return to the same Web server on which the session is running
With respect to the Telephone Directory Web Site, this allows
us to track what Search Criteria is Submitted by a given user and thereby allow that user
to view only the information requested within the search results screens of the
application. The user can move from one list of names to the next and the server remembers
the criteria enter as part of that users search. |
Another benefit to
Cookies is that they allow us to record the type of browser used by visitors to view our
World Wide Web site. Used only internally, this knowledge assists us in the management of
our site and in providing users with a better degree of service adapted to their tools of
choice. We can learn what information is important to our visitors, and what isn't. We can
focus our efforts on information you need.
If You Want to Control Which Cookies You Accept:
You can order your browser to accept all cookies or to alert you every time a cookie is
offered. Then you can decide whether to accept one or not.
To enable cookies, follow the instructions below for the browser version you are using.
Mozilla Firefox (1.0 final release and earlier)
- Go to the "Tools" menu.
- Select "Options".
- Select the "Privacy" icon in the left panel.
- Check the box corresponding to "Allow sites to set cookies".
- Click "OK" to save changes.
Netscape 7.1/Mozilla 5.0
- Select "Preferences" from the Edit menu.
- Click on the arrow next to "Privacy & Security" in the scrolling window to expand.
- Under "Privacy & Security", select "Cookies."
- Select "Enable all cookies".
- Click "OK".
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+
- Select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu.
- Click on the "Privacy" tab.
- Click the "Default" button (or manually slide the bar down to "Medium") under "Settings".
- Click "OK".
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x
- Select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu.
- Click on the "Security" tab.
- Click the "Custom Level" button.
- Scroll down to the "Cookies" section.
- To enable:
- Set "Allow cookies that are stored on your computer" to "Enable".
- Set "Allow per-session cookies" to "Enable".
- Click "OK".
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x
- Select "Internet Options" from the View menu.
- Click on the "Advanced" tab.
- Scroll down to find "Cookies" within the "Security" section.
- To enable:
- Select "Always accept cookies".
- Click "OK".
Netscape Communicator 4.x
- Select "Preferences" from the Edit menu.
- Find the "Cookies" section in the "Advanced" category.
- To enable:
- Select "Accept all cookies" (or "Enable all cookies").
- Click "OK".
How to See the Code in a Cookie:
Just click on a cookie to open it. You'll see a short string of text and numbers. The
numbers are your identification card, which can only be seen by the server that gave you
the cookie.
|
