Running the Solution

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The Helpdesk Reporting solution is a mixture of HTML and ASP pages. To run this solution, you must open the Default.htm page using an http:// URL, meaning that you cannot simply double-click the files on the companion CD. The easiest way to set up the solution is to follow these steps:

1. If you are using a Microsoft Windows NT Server machine with Microsoft Internet Information Server, use the IIS manager to add a virtual directory to your root web. Copy the Chap06 and Scripts directories on the companion CD to your machine's hard drive and specify these directories as the sources for peer virtual directories. Make sure you enable scripting support, and make sure you have designated the Chap06 folder as an application by choosing the Create button in the Application Settings section of the Folder Properties dialog box.
2. If you are running Personal Web Server (say on Windows 98 or Windows NT Workstation), use the Personal Web Manager to add a virtual directory as described in Step 1, but make sure that you check the Execute option in the Access section of the Add Directory dialog box.
3. Type the URL for the directory into your browser—for example, http://MyServer/Chap06. The Default.htm page should load unless you have configured your web site to use another default filename. If you have, simply type /Default.htm at the end of the URL.

Note that this solution does have a Global.asa file. If you do not set up the directory as a web application, the Global.asa file will never be invoked. If you forget to designate the directory as an application, you'll notice a large number of temporary files generated in the directory. That's because the Global.asa file is set up to delete the temporary GIF images produced by the server-side chart example when the session times out. If no application is defined, no session timeout occurs and the Global.asa file is never called.