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Q: Why should I use ASP? A: Microsoft's Active Server technology, in specific the combination of Active Server Pages and components, is a technology ripe not only for your Web-To-Database interface, but one that can be used to web enable existing client / server applications. Having persisted in using Microsoft Active Server technology as the technology of choice, I have more than 10 reasons to continue using it as the platform of choice - here are some of them. - Active Server is Windows NT based. ASP can be used both with Windows NT 4.0 Server using Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0 (http://www.microsoft.com/iis) ; in the case of Windows 95 you can use Microsoft's Personal Web Server (http://www.microsoft.com/ie) with ASP to develop web applications for a ginger desktop. ASP can also be used on some UNIX based systems and NT system with Web servers other than IIS, using Chili!ASP (http://www.chilisoft.net ) - the functional equivalent of Microsoft's Active Server engine.
- ODBC compliant databases. ASP works with ODBC compliant databases. Developers can use Microsoft Access 97 on the desktop to develop or prototype the web application using the upsize tool from Microsoft to move the data from Access to SQL Server. And so, if and when you choose to migrate to another database your investment in ASP is not lost.
- Integration with desktop applications. This is also possible true for integration with other Microsoft NT Server based software. This point is a consideration for Web sites who want to offer users something to play with post a database query at a Web site. Say your site helps users make decisions in buying used cars. Would it not be a great idea if the results of a dynamic database query could be sent back to enable the user to "play" with the data. Using Web Queries its possible to do just that - information that can be presented to the user in the form of a HTML table can be directly sent into an Microsoft Excel 97 spread sheet.
- "Windows" like applications. With still some ways to go, Web sites are using the best that JavaScript and JScript has to offer to provide a "Windows Application" feel to Web sites. Dynamic HTML, especially the data binding aspect of DHTML with IE4 will go a long way in making the browser the accepted client interface for client/server applications.
- RAD tools. Visual Studio, Microsoft's flagship product that encompasses Internet Studio, Visual Basic, Visual j++ and Visual C++ is the most sophisticated tool that will enable the development of web applications. ASP can be considered the "glue" that pulls together components developed in programming languages optimized for the task at hand. For example, as the Active Server application grows you may want to replace the ASP scripts with a Java component developed using Visual J++ that is the functional equivalent.
- Costs.. Where hardware is concerned a spiced up Pentium based system could act as the server - other than Windows NT Server; most of the associated pieces that make up the Active Server are free of charge. Where personal is concerned developers in your department who have had exposure to Visual Basic will feel most comfortable with VBScript. Note that the methodology needs to create really interactive web applications differs from the paradigm that a Visual Basic developer is used to.
- Web IT applications. In-house departmental applications can get a new lease of life by using ASP to develop Web interfaces to these applications. ASP is also primed for multi-tier applications with dedicated servers optimized to run different sections of an application like user authentication, business logic etc. Since ASP runs on the server web applications can be developed which are browser independent.
- Developer control. Being a developer myself I have always preferred to work with actual code or the equivalent, rather than rely on some "tool". One reason is that your applications functional capability is dependent upon the flexibility of the tool. Once a developer hits a wall where the tool capability is concerned; alternative or kluge methods have to be adopted to get around the restriction. Secondly, for developers looking to extend the capability of a technology, intimate knowledge of the technology is necessary, in order to fully explore the possibilities of the technology. For example lets take the case of HTML - if a developer was to rely only on tools to develop Web pages - how is the developer going to be able develop dynamic responses from databases. ASP, while being limited in power can always be extended using either of-the-shelf components or developed easily using your choice of programming language (Visual Basic, Visual C++ or Visual J++) to extend the capabilities of your web application.
The "control" issue is also important when using ASP to develop Intranets. ASP offers the flexibility and power to customize your company or department's process - not the "tools" paradigm.
- Meet your project deadlines. Our experience is that ASP has enabled us to deliver database driven Web sites in 1/3 to 1/5 of the time than it used to take us. In addition to quick turn-around time the web applications are flexible and modifications are easy to make.
- Great Objects. ASP comes bundled with two extremely powerful objects. With the Application Object you can develop web applications that actually share memory. The Session object presents an opportunity to individualize content to each and every user of the web application. And, if you every need to create objects of your own to meet your business needs, you can roll them out using either Visual Basic, Visual C++ or Visual J++.
If you are looking for a Internet technology platform that is flexible and extendable; yet one that gives you control over application state and resource sharing, review that what ASP has to over. It is also an excellent choice if you are looking to web enable applications. - Alan Saldanha | Articles | | Jul 5, 2000 - Point the Way with Graphics | | IImages may also be used via the ASP Request Object. This article will
show you how the use the Request.Form("ImageName.X") property for such tasks as
record navigation (e.g. << Record 1 of 15 >>) or column headings for HTML tables
may use images rather than buttons.
type = "SUBMIT") are the common mechanism to allow the user to request actions from
your Web site. Images may also be used via the ASP Request Object. This article will
show you how the use the Request.Form("ImageName.X") property for such tasks as
record navigation (e.g. << Record 1 of 15 > >) or column headings for HTML tables
may use images rather than buttons.
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| | | Aug 5, 1999 - Writing ISQL_w in ASP | | In this article Christophe Berg show you how to build our own iSql with ASP and ADO 2.0. Using ASP you can build a database administration page that will allow you to modify your database from your browser. It’s both easy to implement and very useful, and it’s a good way to see how to work on a database with ASP.
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| | Jul 31, 1997 - Creating a Category Site with ASP | | In this issue 15 Seconds implements a catalog site that is build with Active Server pages and SQL Server. Along with the implementation there is source code and a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of creating a catalog site that gets its content from a database. Included are pages for displaying products, creating a menu page, category page, and running a search across a database.
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