Server Side Include (SSI) commands are executed by the server as it parses your
HTML file. Server side includes can be used to include the value of various server
environment variables within your HTML such as the local date and time. One might
use a server side include to add a signature file to an HTML file or company logo.
Note: SSI can only work on an account with CGI functionality enabled
(i.e. RS-Per and higher)
HTML files containing SSI must be named differently than normal HTMl files.
On our UNIX servers, SSI files must end in .shtml, whereas on NT servers files
can be named .shtml, .shtm, or .stm .
SSI commands are easy to add to your HTML, but you must follow the
syntax exactly:
- <!--#command cmd_argument="argument_value" -->
Be sure to leave a space after the ending quotation mark (") of the argument
variable.
Using the echo Command
The echo command can be used to display the content of the five server side
environment variables listed in the table below.
Variable
Description
Date_Localm Current date and time (determined by server location).
Date_GMT Current date and time in Greenwich Mean Time.
Document_Name File name of the main document.
Document_URI Path and file name of the main document
Last_Modified Date and time the main document was last modified.
Example:
Date and time determined by server location.
<!--#echo var="Date_Local" -->
output: Monday, 14-Jul-97 11:33:04 EDT
Using the config Command
The config command can be used to configure the standard output of various
environment variables. In the following example, two SSI commands are used in
conjunction to produce an alternative date and time format:
<!--#config timefmt="%A, %B %d, %Y %I:%M%p" -->
<!--#echo var="date_local" -->
output: Monday, July 14, 1997 11:33AM
Here is a breakdown date and time codes used in the example above:
%A Full weekday name
%B Full month name
%d Day of the month
%Y Year
%I Hour
%M Minutes
%p a.m. or p.m.
If the time does not show in your date command, you may need to preceed it
with the following command:
<!--#config timeframe="time options" -->
Other SSI Commands
The fsize command might be helpful if you were to include a thumbnail image and
want to display the actual file size of the original image.
<!--#fsize file="image.gif" --> output: 10.3k
The include command can be used to include a signature file or company logo
within an HTML document. The added document or image will appear as if it were
part of the original document.
<!--#include file="any.htm" -->
If the file to be included is in a different directory than the SSI document. use the
virtualcommand argument instead. In the following example, the SSI document
resides in a subdirectory but includes a file within account root directory:
<!--#include virtual="/any.htm" -->
The exec command can be used to execute a CGI script when the web page is
loading. In the following example, the script date.pl within the relative path /cgi-local
is executed.
<!--#exec cgi="/cgi-local/date.pl" -->
You could also use the
virtual</strong>commandinstead:</p><pre><!--#includevirtual=
"/cgi-local/script.pl?var1=value1&var2=value2"
-->