Two questions: File I/O and Printing from ASP???

[ssrp]

Question 1:
How do I read a file into an ASP variable so that I can output certain sections of it to a web page? (I am familiar with doing this in VB/VBS but not ASP)

Question 2:
When I create "Printable version" of a web page is it possible to insert page breaks so that the page will stop at the end of a paragraph and continue printing the next paragraph on another page. I can create the "Printer friendly version" just fine but I don't like the way it breaks up the content of the page when begins printing the next page (pg. 2, pg. 3, etc). In short, I would like to control where one page ends and the next begins.

Thanks!

[CreoN]

Answer 1:

Dim filesys, txtfile, line
set filesys = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set txtfile = filesys.OpenTextFile("c:\mytextfile.txt",1,0)
Do
  line = txtfile.ReadLine
Loop Until txtfile.AtEndOfStream
txtfile.Close

Answer 2:
I have no idea...

[ssrp]

What is the 1,0 for?

set txtfile = filesys.OpenTextFile("c:\mytextfile.txt",1,0)

Thanks

[CreoN]

1 = To read from the file (could also be 8... append to the file)

0 = Open it as ASCII (could also be 1 (Unicode) or 2 (system standard)

[JoshT]

Q2. I believe controlling how a page will print has been added to CSS. Although it's probably currently supported with IE 5.5.

[ssrp]

I have heard several people say that web developers should stay away from CSS (they actually mentioned another method to use but I can't remember it right now). What do you think about that, should I try to find an alternative or will CSS solve my problem (for all browsers). I currently use it to solve this same issue but I was hopeing for a different alternative.

Thanks!

[JoshT]

CSS is an official web standard. Browsers will eventually fully comply with it. I think it's the only way to format for printing, and it deliberately has the features added because there was a need for this.