Have any of you guys out there hooked a webpage up to a SQL Server 7 backend? I've got several ways I'm thinking about doing it, but what I'm wondering is what tools did you use? VB with ActiveX controls? Macromedia Ultradev/Drumbeat 2000? The faster the better. I need to be able to do fairly complex queries, but nothing too wild (like um, a 6 page stored procedure... ). I would prefer if the tool generated ASP. Anywho... just curious. Thanks. I think I'll make way to the newsgroups now... ------------------ I got nothin'.
'generated asp'... you some sort of add-in freak? If you're already using SQL Server, and using IIS and .asp, just right an activeX component like a vb .dll with ado to serve up a recordset or your own custom collection classes that you can display on your page. I've been pulled into the world of servlets and jsps because most businesses are java bigots, but there's no reason given your SQL Server design that COM won't work. As a matter of fact, it's preferential since jdbc sucks. Have you done database programming before? Definitely used stored procs... you can just use an ado command against a stored proc so that you can maintain the SQL (as your schema changes) outside of having to recompile. IMO, the one thing bunk about IIS and asp is that you have to have control over the box in the development environment (if you're not already coding against your own machine) since most nt admins are idiots and mismanage filters/directory security, etc. I hear IIS5 makes most .asp coding cake though. ------------------ "Everyone I know has a big but... come on Simone, let's talk about your but."
LOL! Hey, I'm looking for an easy way out of this. I know FrontPage generates some ASP output with very basic database functionality. What I'm doing is nothing really complex. I just need something uh, a bit more complex than what FrontPage 2000 seems to be able to do (at least from what I've seen). Yes, but I'm no expert by any stretch. I want this to be a learning experience as well as a new "hobby" for the team I love. I'm definitely using SQL Server and will also be using stored procs (I've been warned already and from my experience in IT know the terrors of db schema changes; I'm going through it as we speak at work. ). Thanks for the input, HEB, it's much appreciated. ------------------ I got nothin'. [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited October 07, 2000).]
If you have an active university card and a 100 bucks I suggest grabbing Visual Interdev for the academic price (if you don't already have it). It's a great tool for development of the simplest active server pages all the way up to robust enterprise solutions. If you want complete control of an active server page, there's nothing prohibiting you from merely creating a reference to your component and managing it to the bear bones in your pages... particularly if you're like me and would rather wrap any db recordset in a collection class so you can program against themes (and pretend that vb is OO) rather than having to delve into recordsets for each row that you want to play with. Visual Interdev is still a MS tool, though, so it has all of the built in wizards to get hobby oriented sites up really fast too (sites that you basically don't have to worry about user modification, etc.). In fact, you can drop a control onto a page in Interdev, point it to a database/table and then bind specific elements such as text fields or cbos to particular fields. Pretty cool stuff. Have fun! I've worked on 1/2 dozen asp projects so if you have any questions, let me know (if I don't remember the answer, I'll just make something up ) and I'll try my best to help out. p.s. the first question w/ a particular provider is always re: the connection string, therefore this ought to help out... strConn = "Provider=sqloledb;Data Source=greatw;Initial Catalog=tpet;User Id=matt;Password=password;" Nothing to interesting to note other than the 'Initial Catalog' for the specific db instance. ------------------ "Everyone I know has a big but... come on Simone, let's talk about your but."
How about writing the HTML/ASP code yourself using ActiveX Data Objects(ADO) to query SQL Server? You don't need Visual Interdev to do that. To me, that is the easiest way. Just find a ASP book that talks about querying databases. Actually, if you went to Microsoft's site and did a search on something similar to "how to query SQL Server using ASP/ADO"...you would probably get an example. If you can code HTML and SQL, the rest is a piece of cake . I am sure you can hack your way through a little server-side VBScript with an example. Surf ------------------
I'll be using ADO. I went out and bought a couple of books on it, and it looks pretty simple especially for the stuff I'll (hopefully) be using it for. I also bought a book on ASP as well. I've done JavaScript and VBScript looks even simpler since it's based on BASIC, so that'd be no problem. Thanks for the input Surf... see ya in the chat room on the 10th! (right?) ------------------ I got nothin'.
by all means you can use a textpad or notepad or whatever to write your active server pages... but Interdev has intellisense (like VJ and VB) so it has auto-complete while you're coding... it helps out alot for type exceptions, etc. or just figuring out an API w/o documentation... ------------------ "Everyone I know has a big but... come on Simone, let's talk about your but."
DoD, I have a license for NetObjects that I'm not using anymore if you want it...I'd be more than happy to send it to ya. It as pre-built ASP "connectors" that help generate HTML tables from databases. All you need is a database like Access and, of course, IIS installed. It also has built-in connectors from Cold Fusion. You are right is assuming this will help produce simple tables out of queries faster. I'd say you'd have something in hours that you could publish. Sounds like you are going to give us your Stat tables in HTML...sounds great. Let me know if you need ANY software. I have several unused licenses, because I buy and evaluate a lot of software for my job.
Weird... my friend just let me have an older copy of NetObjects Fusion and ScriptBuilder that I'll be looking at in the next couple of weeks. I know you use Macromedia products; have you gotten the chance to look at Dreamweaver Ultradev? It used to be Drumbeat. I'm trying to use a "tool" as opposed to just handcoding simply because I want the updating/generating done quickly as opposed to me handcoding. Anyway, thanks for the offer. ------------------ I got nothin'. [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited October 08, 2000).]
