Server-side includes (SSI's) are simple, HTML-embedded directives that instruct the Web server to execute a program or include data in an HTML document. As a shorthand alternative to CGI, server-side includes can be handy. However, like CGI, they should be used with caution and an eye for security risks. Since server-side includes are directives for the server, they must be parsed each time the document is delivered to a browser.
This page is a brief introduction to the Server-Side Includes supported by the LiveZone Web server. Much of this page is copied from the Stronghold Reference Manual © C2N, Inc. For a complete reference, we recommend that you refer to the original document.
The SupportZone MIME type page lists all MIME types currently known to the Web server. Using server-side includes is a quick and simple method for us to ensure that the MIME page is always up-to-date, without needing to edit the SupportZone HTML page when new types are added.
The HTML snippet above is the actual code from the MIME page that shows the current time and date, then includes the contents of the actual server configuration file that defines the MIME type extensions.
All SSI directives follow this format:
Directives can have more than one parameter, and multiple parameters are separated by white space. The valid SSI directives are as follows:
Syntax: echo var="environment-variable"
Echo inserts the value of one or more SSI environment variables.
Syntax: include file|virtual="path"
The include directive inserts the text of another document, specified either as a file or a virtual file. Path must be relative to the current document in the case of a file, or it can be a virtual path. For example:
Syntax: fsize file="path"
The fsize directive inserts the size of the file specified by path, in bytes. For example:
Syntax: flastmod file="path"
Similar to fsize, flastmod inserts the modification date for the file specified by path. For example:
Syntax: config errmsg|sizefmt|timefmt="string"
You can use the config directive to modify the default SSI behavior. The parameters are as follows:
errmsg: Sets the default error message. For example:
sizefmt: Sets the format for file size data returned by the fsize directive. Thestring for this parameter is either "bytes" for file sizes in bytes, or "abbrev" for file sizes rounded to the nearest kilobyte. For example:
timefmt: Sets the format for dates and times returned by the flastmod directive and the DATE_LOCAL and DATE_GMT variables. The possible values for this parameter are as follows:
| Format Code | Description |
| %a | Abbreviated day of the week, such as "Sun" for Sunday |
| %A | Unabbreviated day of the week |
| %b | Abbreviated month, such as "Jan" for January |
| %B | Unabbreviated month |
| %d | Two-digit, numerical day of the month, such as "01" |
| %D | Numerical month, day, and year, such as "01/24/97" |
| %e | Numerical day, such as "1" |
| %H | 24-hour clock hour, such as "17" |
| %I | 12-hour clock hour, such as "11" |
| %j | Numerical day of the year, such as "278" |
| %m | Numerical month, such as "11" |
| %M | Minutes, such as "08" |
| %p | AM or PM |
| %r | Time, such as "08:23:17 AM" |
| %S | Seconds, such as "56" |
| %T | 24-hour time, such as "23:54:56" |
| %U | Week of the year, such as "47" |
| %w | Numerical day of the week, such as "0" for Sunday and "7" for Saturday |
| %y | Year of the current century, such as "97" |
| %z | Abbreviated time zone, such as "PST" |
Syntax: printenv
This directive prints a complete list of all existing SSI variables and their values. It has no attributes. For example:
Syntax: set var="variable" value="value"
This directive sets the value of an environment variable. For example:
Stronghold 2.0 implements Extended SSI, which includes flow control elements much like the ones used in programming languages. With flow control, you can create more sophisticated SSI scripts. There are four flow control elements:
The test-condition is one of the following:
| Test Condition | Description |
| string | True if the string is not empty |
| string1 = string2 | True if string1 matches string2 |
| string1 != string2 | True if string1 does not match string2 |
| (test-condition) | True if test-condition is true |
| ! test-condition | True if test-condition is false |
| test-condition1 && test-condition2 | True if both test-condition1 and test-condition2 are true |
| test-condition1 || test-condition2 | True if either test-condition1 or test-condition2 is true |
In a server-side include string, you can use any environment variables available to the server, including the CGI variables listed in "Environment Variables" on page 7-2. SSI also has its own environment variables, listed here.
DOCUMENT_NAME
The filename of the current HTML document. For example:
DOCUMENT_URL
The URL of the current file. For example:
QUERY_STRING_UNESCAPED
An unencoded query string whose metacharacters are escaped with a backslash (\).
DATE_LOCAL
The local date and time. For example:
DATE_GMT
The current Greenwich Mean Time. For example:
LAST_MODIFIED
The date and time when the current file was last modified. For example:
 www.livezone.com |
Last Updated January 2007 |