CodeSOD: Classical Architecture

In the great olden times, when Classic ASP was just ASP, there were a surprising number of intranet applications built in it. Since ASP code ran on the server, you frequently needed JavaScript to run on the client side, and so many applications would mix the two- generating JavaScript from ASP. This lead to a lot of home-grown frameworks that were wobbly at best.

Years ago, Melinda inherited one such application from a 3rd party supplier.

<script type='text/javascript' language="JavaScript"> var NoOffFirstLineMenus=3; // Number of first level items function BeforeStart(){return;} function AfterBuild(){return;} function BeforeFirstOpen(){return;} function AfterCloseAll(){return;} // Menu tree<% If Session("SubSystem") = "IndexSearch" Then %> <% If Session("ReturnURL") = "" Then %> Menu1=new Array("Logoff","default.asp","",0,20,100,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Logoff"); <% else %> Menu1=new Array("<%=session("returnalt")%>","returnredirect.asp","",0,20,100,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Return to Application"); <% end if %> Menu2=new Array("Menu","Menu.asp","",0,20,100,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Menu"); Menu3=new Array("Back","","",5,20,40,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Back to Previous Pages"); Menu3_1=new Array("<%= Session("sptitle") %>",<% If OWFeatureExcluded(Session("UserID"),"Web Index Search","SYSTEM","","")Then %>"","",0,20,130,"#33FFCC","#33FFCC","#C0C0C0","#C0C0C0","","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","<%= Session("sptitle") %>"); <% Else %>"SelectStorage.asp","",0,20,130,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","<%= Session("sptitle") %>"); <% End If %> Menu3_2=new Array("Indexes","IndexRedirect.asp?<%= Session("ReturnQueryString")%>","",0,20,95,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Enter Index Search Criteria"); Menu3_3=new Array("Document List","DocumentList.asp?<%= Session("ReturnQueryString")%>","",0,20,130,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Current Document List"); Menu3_4=new Array("Document Detail",<% If OWFeatureExcluded(Session("UserID"),"Web Document Detail",Documents.Fields.Item("StoragePlace").Value,"","") Then %>"","",0,20,135,"#33FFCC","#33FFCC","#C0C0C0","#C0C0C0","","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Document Details"); <% Else %>"DetailPage.asp?CounterKey=<%= Request.QueryString("CounterKey") %>","",0,20,135,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Document Details");<% End If %> Menu3_5=new Array("Comments","Annotations.asp?CounterKey=<%= Request.QueryString("CounterKey") %>","",0,20,70,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Document Comments");<% Else %> <% If Session("ReturnURL") = "" Then %> Menu1=new Array("Logoff","default.asp","",0,20,100,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Logoff"); <% else %> Menu1=new Array("<%=session("returnalt")%>","returnredirect.asp","",0,20,100,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Return to Application"); <% end if %> Menu2=new Array("Menu","Menu.asp","",0,20,100,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Menu"); Menu3=new Array("Back","","",3,20,40,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Back to Previous Pages"); Menu3_1=new Array("Document List","SearchDocumentList.asp?<%= Session("ReturnQueryString") %>","",0,20,130,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Current Document List"); Menu3_2=new Array("Document Detail","DetailPage.asp?CounterKey=<%= Request.QueryString("CounterKey") %>","",0,20,135,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Document Details"); Menu3_3=new Array("Comments","Annotations.asp?CounterKey=<%= Request.QueryString("CounterKey") %>","",0,20,70,"","","","","","",-1,-1,-1,"","Document Comments");<% End If %></script>

Here, the ASP code just provides some conditionals- we're checking session variables, and based on those we emit slightly different JavaScript. Or sometimes the same JavaScript, just to keep us on our toes.

The real magic is that this isn't the code that actually renders menu items, this is just where they get defined, and instead of using objects in JavaScript, we just use arrays- the label, the URL, the colors, and many other parameters that control the UI elements are just stuffed into an array, unlabeled. And then there are also the extra if statements, embedded right inline in the code, helping to guarantee that you can't actually debug this, because you can't understand what it's actually doing without really sitting down and spending time with it.

Of course, this application is long dead. But for Melinda, the memory lives on.

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