ESP Directives › ESP Directive Types

ESP Directive Types

The very first character after the start delimiter is the directive indicator, which identifies the type of directive. The valid directives types are:

• <%= (Output Directive)

  Use this directive to specify data to be placed into the page. The directive indicator is an = character after the start delimiter.

• <%@ (Processing Directive)

  Use this directive to specify the general processing controls (such as the CONTROL statement). The directive indicator is an @ character after the start delimiter.

• <% (Scripting Directive)

  Use this directive if you want to use language statements that control logical processing of the page. The directive indicator is a blank character after the start delimiter.

Notes:

• Directives can be specified across multiple lines and extraneous blanks between keywords are ignored. Keyword values must be quoted in order to keep the text as is.
• The directive start and end delimiters must not appear in the unsubstituted data of a verb; you must use a built-in variable for this.
• All error and trace messages are inserted into the resulting page.