1. How would you process XML data/document in an ASP page, that is in a non-.NET, classic Active Server Page (ASP)?

The best approach would be to use the latest Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) COM object.

Here is an example of an ASP page (using JavaScript) that loads the following XML document on the server using MSXML DOM, updates the value of a particular node, and saves the updated XML file. The idea is to update the value of Hits node each time the ASP page is called.

AdCounts.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Ads>
   <Advertiser ID="1">
      <BannerURL>SomeImage.gif</BannerURL>
      <Hits>0</Hits>
   </Advertiser>
</Ads>

<script runat="server" language="javascript"> 
    //Disable caching on the client
    Response.CacheControl = "no-cache";
    Response.AddHeader ("Pragma", "no-cache");
    Response.Expires = -1;

    //Create DOM Object
    var xmlDOM = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument.4.0");

    //Set properties
    xmlDOM.async = false;
    xmlDOM.validateOnParse = false;
    xmlDOM.resolveExternals = false;

    //Load the XML file
    var bLoadResult = xmlDOM.load(Server.MapPath("AdCounts.xml"))

    if(bLoadResult)
    {
       //Document load succeeded, select Hits node and update it
       var nodeHits = xmlDOM.selectSingleNode("/Ads/Advertiser[@ID='1']/Hits");
       if(nodeHits)
       {
          nodeHits.dataType = "int";
          nodeHits.nodeTypedValue = nodeHits.nodeTypedValue + 1;
          Response.Write("Hits: " + nodeHits.nodeTypedValue);
       }
       //Save the updated document
       xmlDOM.save(xmlDOM.url);
    }
    else
    {
       //failed to load XML document. Do error handling using parseError.
    }
</script>

2. What is required to make sure that the client-side XSLT transformation works inside Microsoft Internet Explorer?

If the stylesheets are applied using the script code on the client side, installing atleast MSXML 3.0 in either replace or side-by-side mode is sufficient. If the stylesheet processing instruction (<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="somefile.xsl"?>) is used to associate the XSLT stylesheet with the XML document, MSXML 3.0 should be installed in the replace mode, so that Internet Explorer uses the version 3.0 while applying the stylesheet.

The reason we have to do this is because earlier version of Internet Explorer browser included the MSXML parser that supported XSL working draft standard (and not the current XSLT recommendation). One of the notable differences in these two is in the use of the namespace: as per the XSL working draft, the stylesheets used xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl" namespace declaration, however the XSLT recommendation suggests that stylesheets should use xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" namespace declaration. Internet Explorer 6.0 ships MSXML 3.0 SP2, which gets installed in replace mode, and hence the XSLT stylesheets should work right out-of-the-box with Internet Explorer 6.0. There is a tool available on MSDN that lets convert old XSL stylesheets into XSLT stylesheets. The two other important points to remember are that no version of Internet Explorer yet (as of Jan 19, 2003) ships the latest MSXML 4.0 (SP1) parser; and that MSXML 4.0 removed the support for old XSL standard (and namespace), it only supports the XSLT specification.

Let's look at an example of an XML document, an XSLT stylesheet, apply the stylesheet using the client-side script and finally use the XSLT processing instruction and let Internet Explorer automagically apply the stylesheet (it internally uses MSXML to do that).

sites.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Sites>
   <News>http://www.cnn.com</News>
   <Tech>https://perfectxml.com</Tech>
   <Dev>http://msdn.Microsoft.com</Dev>
</Sites>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
<xslt:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xslt="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xslt:output method="html" encoding="iso-8859-1" />

<xslt:template match="/">
   <xslt:apply-templates select="Sites" />
</xslt:template>

<xslt:template match="Sites">   
   <xslt:for-each select="child::node()">
      <ul>
         <li>
            <xslt:value-of select="name(.)" />: 
            <a href="{.}"><xslt:value-of select="." /></a>
         </li>
      </ul>
   </xslt:for-each>
</xslt:template>

</xslt:stylesheet>

<html>
<head><title>Sites</title></head>
<body><h1>Sites</h1><div id="favSites"></div>
<script language="JScript">
   <!--
      try
      {
         var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument.3.0");
         var xslDoc = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument.3.0");

         xmlDoc.async = false;
         xmlDoc.validateOnParse = false;
         xmlDoc.resolveExternals = false;
         xmlDoc.load("sites.xml");

         xslDoc.async = false;
         xslDoc.validateOnParse = false;
         xslDoc.resolveExternals = false;
         xslDoc.load("sites.xsl");
         
         favSites.innerHTML =  xmlDoc.transformNode(xslDoc);
      }
      catch(e)
      {
         //Error Handling
      }
   //-->
</script>
</body>
</html>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="sites.xsl" ?>
<Sites>
   <News>http://www.cnn.com</News>
   <Tech>https://perfectxml.com</Tech>
   <Dev>http://msdn.Microsoft.com</Dev>
</Sites>

• News: http://www.cnn.com

• Tech: https://perfectxml.com

• Dev: http://msdn.Microsoft.com

7. While creating an Intranet Web site, it is required that one of the pages periodically refreshes part of the page (instead of loading the entire page). The Web page needs to get the updated data from the server. All the departments have Internet Explorer 6.0 installed. How would you do implement periodically refreshing part of (let's say a particular section on) the page?

<%
  Response.CacheControl = "no-cache"
  Response.AddHeader "Pragma", "no-cache"
  Response.Expires = -1

  'Print the current date and time
  'Just to illustrate that the entier page is not refreshed
  Response.Write "Date & Time: " & Now()
%>
<br><br>MSFT Stock Value (Will refresh every 15 seconds).<div id="divTime"></div> <br><div id="msftStock"></div>
<br><a href="javascript:" onClick="stopTimer();">Stop Refreshing</a>

<script language="JScript">
<!--
  var iTimerID;
  function stopTimer()
  {
    window.clearInterval(iTimerID);
  }
  
  function getCurrentStockValue(tickerSymbol)
  {
    try
    {
      var strSOAPReq = "<SOAP-ENV:Envelope " + 
        "xmlns:SOAP-ENV='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/'  " + 
        "xmlns:xsi='http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema-instance'  " + 
        "xmlns:xsd='http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema'> " + 
        "<SOAP-ENV:Body> " + 
        "<ns1:getQuote  " + 
        "  xmlns:ns1='urn:xmethods-delayed-quotes'  " + 
        "  SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/'> " + 
        "  <symbol xsi:type='xsd:string'>" + tickerSymbol + "</symbol> " + 
        "</ns1:getQuote> " + 
        "</SOAP-ENV:Body>" + 
        "</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>"
  
      var objXH = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP.3.0");
      objXH.open ("POST", "http://66.28.98.121:9090/soap", false);
      objXH.setRequestHeader("SOAPAction", "urn:xmethods-delayed-quotes#getQuote");
      objXH.send(strSOAPReq);
      
      //alert(objXH.status + " " + objXH.statusText);
      if(objXH.status == 200)
      {
        return(objXH.responseXML.selectSingleNode("//Result").nodeTypedValue);
      }
      else
      {
        alert(objXH.status + " " + objXH.statusText);
      }
    }
    catch(e)
    {
      //Error handling
    }
  }
  
  function refreshQuote()
  {
    //alert("Refreshing the stock quote");
    divTime.innerHTML = "<i>updated: " + Date() + "</i>";
    msftStock.innerHTML = "<b>" + getCurrentStockValue("MSFT") + "</b>";

    if(iTimerID)
      window.clearInterval(iTimerID);
    iTimerID = window.setInterval("refreshQuote()", 15000);
  }

  refreshQuote();
//-->
</script>

9. Describe the XML support in ADO 2.7.

Dim objADORS As New ADODB.Recordset
objADORS.Open "SELECT * FROM [Customers]", _
    "PROVIDER=SQLOLEDB.1;SERVER=.;UID=sa;PWD=;DATABASE=Northwind"

objADORS.Save "c:\ADOCustomers.xml", adPersistXML
objADORS.Close
Set objADORS = Nothing

<%
Option Explicit
Response.CacheControl = "no-cache"
Response.AddHeader "Pragma", "no-cache"
Response.Expires = -1

Const adExecuteStream = 1024
Dim adoConn
Dim adoCommand

Set adoConn = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
adoConn.Open "PROVIDER=SQLOLEDB;SERVER=.;UID=sa;PWD=;DATABASE=Northwind"

Set adoCommand = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Command")
Set adoCommand.ActiveConnection = adoConn

adoCommand.Dialect = "{C8B522D7-5CF3-11CE-ADE5-00AA0044773D}"

adoCommand.CommandText = _
   "SELECT [CompanyName],[ContactName],[Phone] FROM [Customers] FOR XML RAW"

adoCommand.Properties("Output Stream") = Response
adoCommand.Properties("XML Root") = "NWContacts"
adoCommand.Properties("XSL") = Server.MapPath("NWContacts.xsl")

adoCommand.Execute ,,adExecuteStream

adoConn.Close
Set adoConn = Nothing

%>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
<xslt:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xslt="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xslt:output method="html" encoding="UTF-16" />

<xslt:template match="/">
   <xslt:apply-templates select="NWContacts" />
</xslt:template>

<xslt:template match="NWContacts">   
   <table width="100%" border="1">
   <xslt:for-each select="row">
      <tr>
         <td><xslt:value-of select="@CompanyName" /></td>
         <td><xslt:value-of select="@ContactName" /></td>
         <td><xslt:value-of select="@Phone" /></td>
      </tr>
   </xslt:for-each>
   </table>
</xslt:template>

</xslt:stylesheet>

11. Does .NET support writing the RPC-type XML Web services as per section 7 in the SOAP specification?

<%@ WebService Language="C#" class="MathsWebSvc" %>
 using System;
 using System.Web.Services;
 using System.Web.Services.Protocols;

 [WebService(Namespace="SomeTestURI")]
 public class MathsWebSvc : WebService {

      [ WebMethod(Description="Add two numbers.") ]
      public int AddTwoNos(int iA, int iB) {
       return iA+iB;

      }
  }

<%@ WebService Language="C#" class="MathsWebSvc" %>
 using System;
 using System.Web.Services;
 using System.Web.Services.Protocols;

 [WebService(Namespace="SomeTestURI")]
 public class MathsWebSvc : WebService {

      [ SoapRpcMethod(Action="SomeActionURI", 
           RequestNamespace="SomeRequestURL",
           RequestElementName="AddTwoNosRequest",
           ResponseNamespace="SomeResponseURI",
           ResponseElementName="AddTwoNosResponse")]
      
      [ WebMethod(Description="Add two numbers.") ]
      public int AddTwoNos(int iA, int iB) {
       return iA+iB;

      }
  }

<%@ WebService Language="C#" class="MathsWebSvc" %>
 using System;
 using System.Web.Services;
 using System.Web.Services.Protocols;

 [SoapRpcService()] 
 [WebService(Namespace="SomeTestURI")]
 public class MathsWebSvc : WebService {

      [ SoapRpcMethod(Action="SomeActionURI", 
           RequestNamespace="SomeRequestURL",
           RequestElementName="AddTwoNosRequest",
           ResponseNamespace="SomeResponseURI",
           ResponseElementName="AddTwoNosResponse")]
      
      [ WebMethod(Description="Add two numbers.") ]
      public int AddTwoNos(int iA, int iB) {
       return iA+iB;

      }
  }

12. What are Updategrams, and what is their application?

<ROOT xmlns:updg="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-updategram<.b>">
   <updg:sync>
      <updg:before>
         <Authors au_id="172-32-1176" /> 
      </updg:before>
      <updg:after>
         <Authors contract="0" /> 
      </updg:after>
   </updg:sync>
</ROOT>

14. Is it possible to access a XML Web service from a client-side script, without using MSXML (XMLHTTP class), assuming all clients have Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher.

<html>
<head><title>Find Best Selling Pocket PC</title>
  <script language="JScript">
  <!--
    function init()
    {
      amazonSvc.useService
        ("http://www.PerfectXML.net/WebServices/AmazonBestSelling/amazon.asmx","bestSelling");
    }
        
    function showResults()
    {
      //alert(event.result.value.xml);
      amazonSvc.innerHTML = "Best selling Pocket PC is: <b>" + 
        event.result.value.selectSingleNode("//product/title").nodeTypedValue + 
        "</b>";
    }
    
  //-->
  </script>
</head>

<body onload="init();">
  <button 
    onclick='amazonSvc.bestSelling.callService("ByKeyword","Pocket PC","electronics");'>
    Find Best Selling Pocket PC
  </button>

  <div id="amazonSvc" style="behavior:url(webservice.htc)" onresult="showResults();">
</div>

</body>
</html>

18. Explain how to process XML documents using DOM in an ASP.NET page?

 using System.Xml;
 . . . .
 . . . .

 XmlDocument WebConfigHelper = new XmlDocument();
 WebConfigHelper.Load(Server.MapPath("Web.Config"));
 
 string defLang = 
   WebConfigHelper.SelectSingleNode("//compilation/@defaultLanguage").Value.ToString();

 string authMode = 
   WebConfigHelper.SelectSingleNode("//authentication/@mode").Value.ToString();

 Response.Output.Write("Language: {0}
Authentication Mode: {1}",
        defLang, authMode);