Did you notice that many people are still using ASP? This is somewhat strange due to the popularity of.NET. Why are they still using the classic instead of the new and powerful ASP.NET? First of all,.NET has XML-based components, better language support and user authentication, and a huge set of new controls. It can also increase performance by running code that is already compiled. However,.NET code is not backward compatible with ASP code, making transitions somewhat time consuming.

Classic, unlike ASP.NET, is running under the IIS process space, otherwise knows as inetinfo.exe. It is prone to crashes and can also force the IIS to be restarted..NET has the entry point in the IIS, the process itself is separate from it. Classic does not know how to operate on non-Microsoft platforms (for example on the Apache server) whereas.NET is fully capable of doing so. Classic only supports JavaScript and VBScript as scripting languages while ASP.NET can work with all.NET languages. Classic ASP has limited support for debugging, making it a tough job while its competitor not only improves the performance of debugging, but also adds debugging tools for developers.

In ASP, if you have a script block that is marked as “runat=server” and this block contains a function, you are allowed to include executable code outside the scope of the function. ASP.NET does not allow this and instead uses the code-behind technique. There are a lot of pros and cons to this technique. Another strong side of classic ASP is the threading model. The threading model is Single Threaded Apartment (STA) and the older one’s worker thread is contained in its own STA. This ensures compatibility and also increases performance. ASP.NET uses the MTA (Multiple Threaded Apartment) which forces developers to take extra precautions.

So why do people still use ASP instead of the more powerful.NET? Well, one cause would be the knowledge. You need a lot more basic knowledge to work in.NET than you need in classic ASP. Even low level things seem hard to do in.NET. There are a lot of things you should learn and you should have a lot of free time if you truly want to master.NET. Many people recommend classic to average users because they don’t need any of the new features and the performance is almost the same. There are also a lot of applications, tips and tricks, and tutorials available for classic ASP. Only large corporations truly have to work with ASP.NET to gain scalability in their technology.

http://ezinearticles.com/

Social Solutions is the leading provider of performance management software for human services, connecting efforts to outcomes, people to social services, and service providers and communities to funders.  The company’s Efforts to Outcomes (ETO™) software goes beyond case management and electronic medical records, enabling public, private, and nonprofit organizations, to collaborate, save time and improve service quality and effectiveness. 

We are searching for a Software Developer for our Baltimore  (White Marsh/Middle River) Office

Day to Day Duties and Responsibilities will include:

• Develop & Maintain a multi-tenant  web application hosted in a SaaS environment using C#, Classic ASP,.NET Framework, and SQL Server 2005
• Design, Develop & Maintain the reporting platform using Webi, Excelcius, Crystal Reports, and the Business Objects Universes
• Debug, code and  test complex programs using Microsoft Patterns and Practices
• Work well in a SCRUM and Agile Methodology environment
• Ensure best practices procedures and processes are followed, or create them if they do not exist

Requirements / Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related discipline, or equivalent experience
• 3+ years development experience in a Microsoft environment
• Successfully developed and released multiple business critical applications in a Microsoft environment
• Classic ASP , ASP.NET, C#, , and SQL Server 2005
• Experience designing and debugging Crystal/Business Objects reports
•  Experience in SQL Server 2005 with stored procedures and triggers.
• Experience programming in an Object-Oriented environment
• Must have experience building dynamic objects (code defined, user defined, formatting, etc.)
• JavaScript skills, specifically using an AJAX framework
• Knowledge of prototype, jQuery, and the Microsoft AJAX library
• Experience in XML
• Experience using interfaces to define contracts between objects (UI)

The Developer we are searching for will have demonstrated the following Key attributes in prior work settings:

• Track record of improving system performance and functionality
• Understanding of business process engineering and relationship to systems engineering
• Appreciation for the merits of data-centric versus process-centric solutions
• Mature, positive, enthusiastic, creative, flexible, team player
• Strong initiative and ability to self-direct
• Ability to work on multiple projects
• Strong analytical problem-solving skills

If you possess the above experience and skills, please send a brief cover email and a copy of your resume to:

Resumes@SocialSolutions.com

Ok so while parameterising a load of legacy code I’ve come across the occasional use of ADO Recordset open method with string concatenated SQL. There are no parameters on the recordset object.

Solution – create a command object as previously with parameters and pass that to the recordset open method.

myRecordset.open cmd

Simples

Surprised melihat banyak komentar di blog yang lama pada topik tutorial pemrograman asp untuk pemula, ternyata masih banyak developer yang tertarik untuk memakai classic asp dalam development project mereka, berhubung blog itu sudah lama tidak terupdate lagi maka saya decide untuk memindahkan topik tersebut ke blog asp utnuk centralisasi topik dan memudahkan saya untuk men-rak komentar yang ada disana.

So topik ini akan saya lanjutkan lagi tetapi di blog yang berbeda yang memang fokus untuk ASP dan .NET programming.

Sometimes ago I need to add classic asp relative dates functionality on my Classic ASP Twitter Library, I know that there are more than one possibilities to get this done but i decided to fully convert my PHP relative dates function, its maybe more complicated than the one available out there but i believe this is more flexible and customizable.

I use unix timestamp format do calculate the time margin via classic asp timestamp function, so it is easy to extend the functionality for different purposes for example display relative date for upcoming dates, just give a try.

I am still running a blog which is built in Classic ASP and I need to integrate twitter status on it, there are several solutions for this in PHP but i found none in Classic ASP, so I decided to write my own scripts for this purpose.

It is currently support few twitter API methods, such as:

• Twitter User Timeline, display your tweets
• Twitter User Show, display your twitter detail profile
• Twitter Friends Timeline, display your twitter friends tweets
• Twitter Statuses Update, to update your tweets using ASP Script

If you interested to use this script you can download it at Classic ASP Twitter API, it comes with sample implementation also.

I am intend to add more twitter api implementation on it, so stay tuned.

I have written a tutorial to create your own shortening URL on the fly using free shortening services:

1. TinyURL
2. is.gd
3. hex.io
4. tr.im
5. bit.ly

in both version shortening URL via PHP and shortening URL via Classic ASP/VBScript, it is fully OOP approach and it will be easy to add more shortening URL services to the library.

Soap doesn’t like relative paths, but I want to create a path string so that my code runs both locally and on the server.

when i am redesign-ing my official web design service website i decided to keep using classic asp for SEO purpose because some pages which are already written in classic asp (VBscript) has already a good pagerank and link popularity, but i added latest web technology in it such as ajax and javascript effects to make it more interactive.

For the portfolio section as I already uploaded many screenshots of my prior web design project in flickr, then i decided to use them instead rather than re-upload it in my own server. To achieve this goal i need to write an asp script to get, format and display those photos from flickr in my portfolio page, and here i share it to you, in action demo could be found at my web design portfolio page or another portfolio at bali web design studio.

Read more detail at asp programming blog

Sending email from classic asp (vbscript) is simple but since its depend on what email components that you have in your own server makes it sometimes confusing, i have written a simple list of sample script implementation to send email within classic asp script base don several email components includes: CDONT, CDOsys, Persits AspEmail, JMail, MailEnable, ServerObjects AspMail, and EasyMail.

Chec it out in my dedicated asp programming blog

After finishing baliwebdesign.us, couple days ago I decided to redesign my official web design service website, re-uses a lot of functionality used in baliwebdesign.us but with many coding optimization and more interactive effects.

1. Fully built in Classic ASP
2. SEO friendly and Accessible ajax
3. New design and new color scheme
4. Classic ASP RSS parser
5. Simple Classic ASP Flickr API
6. Lot of javascript effects rely on the top of jquery framework

Please visit and give me some feedback guys

A week ago i decided to re-work on baliwebdesign.us, my old domain which is aimed to be my official web design service website, but then never finished. Now it has new design web 2.0 stylish web design with fully ajax support and lots of javascript effects added.

baliwebdesign.us given a title as a bali web design company since it is a reflection and temporary realization of my old dreams to rule my own web design company here in Bali.

1. Fully built in handcoded Classic ASP
2. SEO Friendly and Accessible Ajax
3. Classic ASP External RSS parser
4. Simple Classic ASP Flickr API to fetch my photosets from flickr library
5. Classic ASP file chache mechanism to optimize the load of external RSS content and the flickr feeds
6. Classic ASP Captcha function
7. Lots of jquery effects

Have a look and give me some feedbacks, Classic ASP still alive …

Problem:

The File upload code works fine in the local environment, but shoots error on the production server as shown below.

< % ………
vDataBounds = MidB(biData, nPosBegin, nPosEnd-nPosBegin)
…………% >

Invalid Procedure Call Or Argument

Solution:

MID is intended for use with languages that use the single-byte character set (SBCS), whereas MIDB is intended for use with languages that use the double-byte character set (DBCS). The default language setting on your computer affects the return value in the following way:

o MID always counts each character, whether single-byte or double-byte, as 1, no matter what the default language setting is.

o MIDB counts each double-byte character as 2 when you have enabled the editing of a language that supports DBCS and then set it as the default language. Otherwise, MIDB counts each character as

Add the following code in the action page where file upload operation is done:
< % Session.CodePage = 1252 % >

To help minimize the attack surface of the server, IIS 6.0 is not installed on Windows Server 2003 by default. When you first install IIS 6.0, it is locked down — which means that only request handling for static Web pages is enabled, and only the World Wide Web Publishing Service (WWW service) is installed. None of the features that sit on top of IIS are turned on, including ASP, ASP.NET, CGI scripting, FrontPage® 2002 Server Extensions from Microsoft, and WebDAV publishing. If you do not enable these features, IIS returns a 404 error. You can enable these features through the Web Service Extensions node in IIS Manager.

When does this value require change?

If you are running ASP or ASP.Net or CGI Scripting application(s) on IIS 6, you would need to allow the relevant web extensions. By default all dynamic scripts on IIS 6 are disallowed.

Related Web References:
o http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Libr…
o http://support.microsoft.com/kb/332060

How to make the Change?

o Open IIS 6 and choose “Web Service Extensions”
o The right panel will display the list of web service extensions available with its current status
o Choose appropriate web extension and click on “Allow” button to enable chosen web extension

Request.ServerVariables in Classic ASP

There name and meanings

Working for a CMS software development company one thing that we discovered when Windows Server 2003 was released was that when our clients attempted to upload media to our product, it was a bit hit and miss at times. What we discovered was a security precaution in IIS 6 limited the maximum file size that was up-loadable to 240Kb.
To resolve this issue, we increased the Maximum ASP upload by running the following from the command line:

cscript C:\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs set w3svc/ASPMaxRequestEntityAllowed 10484880

The example above updates the metabase.xml file and sets the maximum up-loadable value to 10Mb. This can also be achieve by opening the Metabase file (path below) in a text editor,

%systemroot$/system32/inetsrv/metabase.xml

Finding the ASPMaxRequestEntityAllowed node, and changing the value.

With Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, the way to set this changed again! To achieve the same setting, it can now be done via the IIS Administrative tool. To change do the following:

• Open IIS Manager from the Administrative Tools
• Select the Server from the tree structure on the left hand side
• Double click on ASP in the right pane.
• You will see a list of properties, Expand the Limits Properties and you will see Maximum Request Entity Body Limit. Set the value here in bytes to the upload limit you wish to set. Click Apply.
• 

There is a similar limit imposed in all flavours of ASP.net. This can be configured in the machine.config file of the machine or in the web.config for the application. Adding the following under the <system.web> tag in the will increase the ASP.net maximum upload to 10Mb in this example.

<system.web>
      <httpRuntime maxRequestLength="102400" />
</system.web>

As you can see, it isn’t too difficult to resolve this issue, although the way to change the setting can be difficult at first to find.
I hope this guide makes it a little easier for you.

This is madness. Coming from the nightmare of Classic ASP, many VB programmers seamlessly moved to VB.NET. If you have done the switch, you know that it is bitter sweet.

On one hand, you now have the rich environment of Visual Studio to create powerful applications that meet today’s standards. On the other, you have to get used to vast amount of libraries and namespaces available within the .NET Framework. The differences between Classic ASP and .NET are immense.

That sucks. Here I thought I was big stuff with my Classic ASP; then I make the upgrade to .NET and inherit a butt-load of new things that I have to learn. Of course, I am always up to the challenge; however, now that everyone is going crazy about C#, where do all the VB programmers go? Will this madness ever end?

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for learning about new technologies and languages; being in this field, you have to be or you’re out of work. What I don’t like, and think is pointless to do, is learn something  you are never going to apply. What is the point of reading a manual of a product if you don’t even own it or intend on using it? The same goes (for me) with C#. If I only intend on developing and crafting my talent in VB, why bother with C#? Both libraries are so rich that it takes time and dedication to truly “master” your programming ability.

Yeah, I know they have a lot of similarities, however when you are brainstorming for solutions to a web app, you usually visualize it in the language you feel most comfortable with.

Joe Stagner at Microsoft recently wrote about this crisis. I personally think it sucks. I mean, I know that in the end, it’s all about personal programming preference, but if employers prefer that you develop in C#, who are we to say anything?

And what does this mean for our future with Microsoft languages? OK, so now VB is going out of style, who is to say that someday C# won’t go out of style too?! What are geeks supposed to do?

I’ll tell you what we should do: cut the crap and pick up a book on both languages. If you don’t, the geek next to you will and take your salary right out of your pocket without even buying you a drink.

So I spent a while searching out how to do this without resorting to sprocs (MySQL 4 doesn’t have them)

Managed to convert a legacy CMS to use this, to add some security.

<%
dim username, password
username = request.form("username")
password = request.form("password")
Dim sSQL, cmd, rs
set cmd = Server.createobject("adodb.command")
cmd.CommandType=1
Set cmd.ActiveConnection=adoDataConn
sSQL = "SELECT id FROM users WHERE username = ? AND password = ?"
cmd.CommandText=sSQL
cmd.Parameters.Append cmd.CreateParameter("UserName",200,1,20,username)
cmd.Parameters.Append cmd.CreateParameter("Password",200,1,20,password)
Set RS = cmd.Execute()
if not RS.EOF then
    session("userID") = RS("id")
    Set RS = Nothing
    Set cmd = Nothing
    set adoDataConn = Nothing
    response.redirect("xxx.asp")
end if
Set RS = Nothing
Set cmd = Nothing
set adoDataConn = Nothing
response.redirect("index.asp")
%>

A couple of issues that cropped up were to delete a parameter used before reusing the command object

cmd.Parameters.Delete 0

An integer paramaeter;-

cmd2.Parameters.Append cmd.CreateParameter("id",3,1,4)

A date parameter

cmd.Parameters.Append cmd.CreateParameter("date",7,1,8,varDate)

of course microsoft don’t support this so you have to use adDBTimeStamp as follows

cmd.Parameters.Append cmd.CreateParameter("date",135,1,8,varDate)

A text field (long text) not sure about the size but it works!

cmd.Parameters.Append cmd.CreateParameter("body",201,1, 2147483647, varStr)

Double

cmd.Parameters.Append cmd.CreateParameter("cost", 5, 1, -1, varDouble )

When doing LIKE just add the wild cards first eg

myLikeSearch = "%" & mySearch & "%"
sSQL = "SELECT * FROM blocks WHERE block1 LIKE ?"
cmd.CommandText=sSQL
cmd.Parameters.Append cmd.CreateParameter("block1",200,1,100,mylikesearch)

You can set up a paramerter and then change the value so that you only have to create the command object once to do multiple querys

cmd.Parameters.Append cmd.CreateParameter("county",200,1,100)
cmd.Parameters("county") = varCounty_D

Having to re-install my PC at work the other day made me realize what a diversity of little tools I use to do what I do. I decided to make a list, so here goes.

- Homesite

Still my editor of choice. For working in classic ASP nothing beats it, not even Visual Studio 2xxx (of which the new versions don’t support classic asp anymore) or dreamweaver (too much WYSIWYG). It really is too bad there’s no replacement under linux. I’ve tried different editors and none have vbscript highlighting. Propably the one that comes closest (and the one I’m using right now under linux) is Komodo Edit. (which is open source now by the way). Eclipse is a little too bloated and slow to my taste.

- Toptools

Every webdeveloper needs a colorpicker, screenruler and screengrabber, especially in the beginning of a project when the design has to be made into XHTML/CSS. I used to have these tools seperate, and I was especially fond of screenruler. But recently I discovered toptools. It has all of these little tools in one handy free package that runs in your tray.

- Royal TS

To quickly log into remote webservers and SQL servers, this little gem unites all of your terminal server connections and lets you manage them from one interface. It saves settings and password per connection if you want and you can categorize everything. Oh and it’s free

- Launchy

Launchy is really one of my favorites, not especially for webdevelopment, but on the whole. It is a tool that let’s you quickly start any application in your taskbar. Pressing alt+space gives you a textbox and you can start typing the name of the program you need. It autocompletes the name, so as soon as you see the complete name, press ‘enter’ to start it. This really saves time, because you don’t need a mouse at all. Also, it ‘learns’ what programs you use more often and they come to the top of the list. The other thing it let’s you do is use special commands like “wikipedia”, pressing tab then lets you type any keywords you’d like to search for on wikipedia. It has more plugins, but I suggest you just try it out, I guarantee you will be hooked.

- FreeSSHD and winSCP/puTTY

For people that dislike terminal server or need access to linux machines, theres an alternative. FreeSSHD is a service you can install and run on a Windows machine. It gives you file transfer and a secure shell to log into from the outside. To do that from windows you can use winSCP in combination with puTTY. WinSCP gives you Secure File Copy and SFTP, which is much safer than regular FTP. PuTTY lets you log into the SSH server and gives you a command prompt. This setup has actually saved me a trip to one of my servers a few times. I used to manage a server that didn’t completely reboot after installing windows updates. It closed most running services (including Terminal Server services) and after that it gave up rebooting. The result being that I couldn’t connect to it anymore and the machine still hadn’t rebooted. After installing FreeSSHD I could still connect to the command prompt with puTTY, after the machine got stuck, and manage the server from there.
By the way, another thing freeSSHD allows you to do is tunnel any service in a secure sockets layer.

- Inkscape

Inkscape is actually an open source vector program, like Illustrator, but it allows me to quickly create a flowchart or a diagram. So that’s mainly what I use it for. The files it creates are saved as SVG, so if you make use of SVG in your work, you could also use it to create SVG and integrate it in your websites. I don’t really use advanced UML tools, so for the simple stuff inkscape is great. If anyone can recommend a good UML tool (preferrable free), let me know.

- Photoshop

The photo-editor to rule them all. It’s an expensive piece of software, but once you get to know it (or the 10% of it you’re likely to use), you’re hooked. I had Photoshop classes in school and every employer I’ve had since made use of it, luckily. There’s not much you can’t do with Photoshop. I’ve tried GIMPshop under linux and Windows, but it just doesn’t come close enough…

- SQL server / SQL manager

This is the SQL server client tool. It allows you to create, edit and query data in SQL server. Not really exiting, but I need it because almost all the database work is done in SQL server. If you’re looking for a free alternative, I can recommend mySQL, which also has nice management tools, works under windows and seems to be a pretty fast database. By the way, the upcoming version of SQL management tools (2008) has intellisense, which is very nice.

- Mozilla Firefox | webdeveloper toolbar | FireBug

Firefox is the browser I focus on first when creating a webpage. If it works in Firefox, I tweak it to work in IE , Safari and Opera (if need be). Firefox just has the nicest tools for debugging CSS and javascript. The webdeveloper toolbar gives you a lot of handy tools to quicky trobleshoot any layout issues you might have. Firebug is a javascript debugger. Internet explorer has a similar webdeveloper toolbar, but IE’s javascript debugging sucks like a black hole. If you want an even more advanced javascript debugger in Firefox, you might want to take a look at Venkman. I find Firebug does the job for me almost always, though.

- prototype

Not really a tool, but I thought I’d mention it anyway. Prototype is a library you can use in your webpages to simplify Javascript programming and take care of any cross-browser issues in Javascript. There are a lot of libraries around these days, like jQuery and the Yahoo Javascript libraries, but I started out using prototype and I really liked it. I tried making the switch to jQuery once, but I came back to prototype. I guess this is just a matter of taste, however, if you’re on a big project, it’s probably a good idea to use a javascript library to simplify your programming.

- lookout for outlook

At work, I’m forced to work with Outlook, which isn’t too bad, but I prefer Mozilla Thunderbird at home. Anyway, a really nice tool for searching your Outlook mail is Lookout. Originally developed by Lookoutsoft, this company was bought by Microsoft, so Microsoft could integrate it into Outlook themselves. Soon after that Microsoft brought out Windows Desktop Search, a tool that can search though all data on your local computer. However, I have tried MS desktop Search to search my Outlook e-mail and I just couldn’t get it to work. Lookout just works… It’s fast and using keywords like from: and to: you can specify exactly what mails you want to filter out. Microsoft has deleted all references to lookout on its site, but the link in the title of this chapter still seems to work.

- ToDoList

I’ve been looking long and hard for some sort of project-management tool, and for development this little gem seems to have most of the things I need. It’s open-sourced, so that’s a plus, also, it has features like prioritizing, setting due dates, assigning tasks to different people, time-tracking and the possibility to use it among a group of people. At work we have an existing web-based system for bug-tracking and ToDolist integrates with systems like this by letting you create a button and setting an ID for a task. Pressing the button launches a browser and you can set it to go to your web-based bugtracker with the ID as a parameter. Very nice, especially in a small company or for a freelancer where bugzilla or something similar might be too much.

I have been working on a very large corporate web application using ASP/WSC. The application was very fast and performance was not an issue.
UNTIL we updated our servers a few months ago. Performance went down 400% and IIS hung and crashed very often. The asp pages were slow and unresponsive.

We have been working our butts of to solve the problem, de-installing servicepacks for windows and sql server and in the end re-installing complete servers.
We noticed the difference in the end when we had one IIS server that was fast and had a few updates that another IIS server missed.

These updates were:
- .net 2.0
- .net 3.0
- internet explorer 7 (includes microsoft windows script 5.7)
- msxml6

Although we are not 100% sure which one of these updates breaks classic asp (or at least cripples it), we are fairly sure it is the new vbscript.dll 5.7 distributed with IE7.
I also am not sure if this problem only arises when you use WSC’s in your ASP code or if it is a generic problem in classic asp.
Anyway, removing these four updates resulted in our asp / wsc application accelerating back to the performance we were used to and to the crashes in IIS stopping.

So please if you use classic asp, be careful to install IE7 on your IIS server. At least check performance levels.
Hope this message helps anyone struggling with the same problem, as we were unable to find any leads towards a solution.

I’d also like to hear if any other people are running into these problems and can verify the solution. Specifically, I am curious if this problem only happens on asp using WSC objects, or if it also happens on classic asp websites without the use of WSC.