Subscribe to
the Possibilities Ezine

Subscription Terms of Service
Privacy Policy

RSS feed links

Blog Article Categories

Automation

CGI

Content Protection

CSS

Debugging

HTML

JavaScript

Perl

PHP

Recommendations

Related Sites

Statistics

Web Development

Web Site Maintenance

Misc

JavaScript-Delivered Ads

By Will Bontrager

Use JavaScript to deliver ads to web sites where you are advertising at. I'll show you how.

The BontragerConnection.com "Run of Site" advertising opportunity allows you to serve the ad from your own server. It gives you a lot of control.

One of the ways the ad can be delivered is with JavaScript.

The way I show you to do it for BontragerConnection.com can also be used to deliver ads to other web sites that allow you to do so (even your own web sites).

Two files will be on your server:

1. A text file with the ad.
2. A CGI script to convert the ad to JavaScript and send it to our server.

The text file with the ad can contain any code a web page could contain, even JavaScript, so long as the content is acceptable to the publisher and the size is correct for the ad. Here is an example:

<h1>Hello</h1> <a href="http://example.com/"> Click here</a> <h3>Bye</h3>

Here is the CGI script. Save it as text2js.cgi (or other appropriate file name). After the one modification (see below), it is ready to install on your server.

#!/usr/bin/perl # # text2js.cgi # Version 1.0 # July 20, 2007 # # Read text file, convert to JavaScript, send to browser. # # Before using this software, the license agreement at # http://www.willmaster.com/master/LicenseAgreement.html # must be agreed to. # # Programmer: William Bontrager # Website: http://flowto.info # Email: will@flowto.info # # Copyright 2007 Bontrager Connection, LLC. # #=============================== # Specify the location of file with the ad. $TextFileToRead = "text.txt"; sub PrintLine { my $line = shift; $line =~ s/[\r\n]+//gs; $line =~ s/\\/\\\\/g; $line =~ s/\'/\\\'/g; $line =~ s/window/wi'+'ndow/g; $line =~ s/(sc)(ript)/$1'+'$2/gi; $line =~ s/document/docu'+'ment/g; print "document.writeln('$line');\n"; } print "Content-type: text/javascript\n\n"; open R,"<$TextFileToRead"; while(<R>) { PrintLine $_; } close R; # end of script

The only place you need to modify the script is to specify the location of the text file with the ad.

If the text file with the ad is in the same directory as the script, only the file name needs to be specified. Otherwise, include the server location with the file name.

See the FAQ or use the forum if you experience installation problems.

If you add your own tracking code to the script, put it at the end of the script. Then the ad can be delivered without any delay that might be caused be the tracking code.

Now, test what you have. There are two steps:

1. Test the CGI script.
2. Test the ad in the JavaScript.

To test the CGI script, type its URL into your browser's address bar.

If JavaScript displays in your browser window, you're good to go. Otherwise:

1. If you get a blank screen, the script can't find the text file with the ad.
2. If you get an Internal Server Error, this "Internal Server Error" FAQ entry might help resolve the issue.

To test the ad in the JavaScript, put this JavaScript on a web page:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://example.com/cgi-bin/text2js.cgi"> </script>

Replace the http://example.com/cgi-bin/text2js.cgi URL in the JavaScript with the URL that was in your browser's address bar when you tested the CGI script. It must be the complete http://... URL.

When the page with the testing JavaScript displays your ad the way you want it, copy the testing JavaScript and paste it into an email to us.

We can then use that very same JavaScript to display your ad at BontragerConnection.com

July 20, 2007

Please note: Articles on this website are presented "as is". However -

If you have a question about a CGI script, HTML, CSS, PHP, or JavaScript
Ask one of our Experts and you'll have your answer!
Click here for details.

© 1998-2001 William and Mari Bontrager
© 2001-2008 Bontrager Connection, LLC