ASP Development Program Suggestions? 1

Dollie · May 2, 2000

I know there are several programs available to design asp pages, but I don't know which one is the best!  I don't have time to beta test all of them as I would like my site launched asap!  I have wasted the better part of the last few months trying to learn Drumbeat (which will be obsolete in less than a month!).  I have heard that Frontpage 2000 is great with asp pages, and is very easy.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I'm stubborn about learning new programs (toss the book, jump into the program, find a problem, go dig the book out of the garbage) and I've been hoping that asp is easier to work with than Drumbeat makes it out to be! Any help is MUCH appreciated!

Guest_imported · May 3, 2000

I personally develop in Allaire's homesite. this program doesn't do too much for you, but the different types of code (keyword, numbers, text, ASP, HTML) get different colors.

NickBulka · May 3, 2000

For serious ASP development,  MS Visual Interdev is what you'll want.  Without it,  debugging your code will be difficult. Now, if your site will be generally static,  you may be ok with Frontpage. nick bulka <a href=mailto:nick@bulka.com>nick@bulka.com</a> <a href= > </a>

ironthorn · May 10, 2000

I'm new to ASP but Interdev just bit me hard enough that I don't plan on using it again. We recently developed a script that worked fine on our Dev servers. Then discovered to deploy it we have to have Front Page extensions on our production servers. Due to the numerous security problems front page extensions bring this is not an option. I'm starting a new thread on the subject hoping to salvage something out of the script. But I have to say my opinion of InterDev is not printable after finding this out.

Guest_imported · May 17, 2000

use ASPEdit <A HREF="

http://www.tashcom.com/aspedit/"

TARGET="_new">

http://www.tashcom.com/aspedit/</A>

NickBulka · May 17, 2000

I'm curious - if you don't use Visual Interdev,  how do you debug your scripts?   Is there another interactive debugger available for ASP? nick bulka <a href=mailto:nick@bulka.com>nick@bulka.com</a> <a href= > </a>

palbano · May 17, 2000

Re: numerous security problems front page extensions bring, Personally I would need much more specific information and research to buy into vagaries such as these. There are numerous large companies that Host using FP extensions and support development with VIntDev. ironthorn is admittedly new to using VIntDev. It could just be an issue of configuration management. "But, that's just my opinion... I could be wrong". -pete

NickBulka · May 18, 2000

I agree with Pete here.  If configured correctly,  the server extensions are not a security issue (to my knowledge).  If you know of specific problems,  please share them with us. nick bulka <a href=mailto:nick@bulka.com>nick@bulka.com</a> <a href= > </a>

Sensibilium · May 18, 2000

I suggest buying 'Beginning ASP Databases' by John Kauffman (Wrox Press ISBN:1-861002-72). It's a well constructed book, and will get you up and running within a day or two (and that includes setting up your web server and ADO (including IIS, and PWS on Win9x/NT/2000). And then just use a simple text editor to do the rest (I use CuteHTML, I've tried ASPExpress but I found it to be a pain to use).

Dollie · May 18, 2000

Ok...I think I've gotten in waaaaay over my head with ASP!  I've been working with ASP for a few months, but not extensively.  I've been using Drumbeat 2000, which is a fine program, but for what, I'm not sure.  I have created some fantastic pages with Drumbeat, but I can't view them, I'm having problems with the "global.asa" file, it took a month to get the answers I needed about IIS and my NT server, I have no idea how to debug scripts, wah wah wah yadda yadda yadda.  I could probably go on and on for a few hours about miscellaneous problems that I've been having!   I'm down to just 2 problems with ASP, one being the global.asa file (my hold-up at the moment) and Drumbeat heading off into oblivion in June.  My biggest problem with online resources such as discussion groups has been the fact that I'm female and assumed to be dingy (except here!).  I will definitely look into the book recommended by ahdkaw.   I've heard so many good things about ASP, and I'd like to get our database online, but I'm at the point that it would probably be easier to hire a consultant to do it.  That is giving up too easy though, and I won't give up without a little more of a fight! I can't thank you all enough for all the help...I'll probably be visiting here a lot more!

Amiel · May 21, 2000

Check out Microsofts' 'Script Debugger'. You'll need to configure the server for debugging (some check boxes on the IIS management console). It works. Plenty of information here... <A HREF="

http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/"

TARGET="_new">

http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/</A> Good

luck ! Amiel <a href=mailto:amielzz@netscape.net>amielzz@netscape.net</a> <a href= > </a>

macr0 · May 21, 2000

I personally agree with jaspr, HomeSite is a wonderful ASP development program if you like work from the code up. It's color coding is good and you can easily make your own wizards to do common tasks (like making DNS or DNSless ADODB connections and recordsets for example.) Jeremy Lowery

NickBulka · May 22, 2000

Dollie,    If you could be more specific about the problems you're having with global.asa,  I'll try to help you out.   nick bulka <a href=mailto:nick@bulka.com>nick@bulka.com</a> <a href= > </a>

Dollie · May 22, 2000

Nick, The main problem that I am having with the global.asa file is that I don't have one!  Drumbeat supposedly generates or alters the file when it publishes a page, but it hasn't done it yet for me!  I'm not exactly sure how the file works, but I understand that it contains commands for the asp page.  I find no reference to it in Drumbeat's manual, and had to find out about it after digging through Microsoft's site for a few days.  I'm not a SysAdmin, and won't claim to be an NT power-user, so I don't know how to make the global.asa file an executable as Microsoft says I should! It sure is difficult to learn a new program when they don't offer complete help.  I wish there were a step-by-step instructional program that describes what is needed, where it's needed, and when it's needed instead of having to piece together information from 4000 resources! I'm not sure if this is the info you need.  If it's not, please let me know the details you need and I'll get them posted! Thank you!

NickBulka · May 22, 2000

Dollie.    First, let me say that I know nothing about Drumbeat.  I do all my ASP development using Visual Interdev, so I don't know what Drumbeat does to your web site.    If you don't know what the global.asa file is used for, I'd suggest doing a little research on how ASP works.  Without this knowledge,  troubleshooting problems will be very frustrating.     There is no requirement that your web site contains or uses a global.asa.  If your web site is set up as an 'application' (from an IIS standpoint) then the global.asa file will get invoked when a user first accesses your web site,  and again when their session is over.  It's a place for you to do initialization and cleanup for your web application.     For more info on IIS applications and global.asa, check out these sites. After reading them,  you should have a better idea of what global.asa is used for, and maybe you'll have a better idea of why you're seeing the problems you're encountering. <A HREF="

http://www.asp101.com/wrox/asp2samp/2459ch01p5.asp"

TARGET="_new">

http://www.asp101.com/wrox/asp2samp/2459ch01p5.asp</A> <A

HREF="

http://www.asptoday.com/articles/19990413.htm"

TARGET="_new">

http://www.asptoday.com/articles/19990413.htm</A>

nick bulka <a href=mailto:nick@bulka.com>nick@bulka.com</a> <a href= > </a>

palbano · May 22, 2000

Dear Dollie, Nick is exactly correct. Using fancy WYSIWYG IDE is great for speeding up development or starting out to get your 'feet wet'. Most people will have difficulty progressing from there to building a real application when they do not understand the underlying languages, architecture and systems that they are building upon. Bottom line is you need to do the work to learn the technology you are using to build a solution. "But, that's just my opinion... I could be wrong". -pete

SandiRae · May 23, 2000

I have scripted numerous web sites using nothing but NotePad. (I like the old-fashioned way.) I have used various editors, and although I like HomeSite, I have found another product which is fairly reasonable (about $40.00) that works just fine for me. I use HomeSite at home, because I am licensed for it, and UltraEdit at work, because they are cheap and won't get me HomeSite license. Anyway, UltraEdit has worked wonderfully for me. As far as debugging, I turn off my 'friendly errors' in my browser and test away. I also put in 'debug' code, such as the following: if debug <> "" then    response.write("My Variable 1: " & request("variable1&quot

&" &quot

end if I put this in a location where I know what variable 1 should be, and check the two. I also do this for my dynamically built sql statements.

Guest_imported · May 24, 2000

I agree with ahdkaw.  Beginning ASP Databases is a wonderful book.  I like it better than any I've found yet. Also, I am using Visual InterDev however I haven't run into the problem with the Front Page Extensions luckily.  One of the reasons I won't use Front Page is that it adds so much of it's own code and uses Front Page Extensions.  I also hate it that Microsoft products depends on other Microsoft products that you may not have. I am anxiously awaiting Macromedia's new product

Guest_imported · May 24, 2000

The rest of my message didn't post.  Macromedia's new product is "UltraDev".  It's a development tool for ASP, JSP and ColdFusion.  From the demo I saw at the Internet World Conference, it looks great.  I can't wait!!!  It should be out this summer. You can get more information on it at <A HREF="

http://www.macromedia.com/ultradev"

TARGET="_new">

http://www.macromedia.com/ultradev</A>

marshalsea · May 26, 2000

InterDev 6.0 vs FrontPage 2000 (Don't use any previous versions as they sucked more than a baby on a dummy/pacifier!) I started off using InterDev (And still maintain it is possibly one of the best things MS have developed - is that really saying much about it?!?) and it's interface is really easy to use, and you don't really need to get into the complexities to be able to develop great pages quick and easy with it. After a while, one of our Customers started to use Frontpage 2000 - as it's about £500 cheaper!!! and soon I discovered the lovely Script Editor (Tools Menu)- which is supplied with the application, it will ask you if you want to install it first time you attempt to use it, so have that FP2000 disk ready! This basically gives you the InterDev style front end! Thus bliss all round. The only major difference between the two applications is the help file. InterDev comes with a much more developed and helpful (Ho ho ho) helpfile. Where as you really need to find the sections you want in the Frontpage helpfile. The scripting section within FP2000 Help is there, you just need to dig in the Contents as the Search is a bit lame to say the least. As far as debuggings concerned... most people have it soo easy.. I remember in the old days (Cue cheesy music) when we didn't have easy debugging tools like today... ahh those were the days... all those wasted hours, the stress levels shattering the roof tiles... (I'm only 24, but the joy of C in Unix... ahhh!!) Debugging is really easy to do with a host of response.writes and commenting. You can soon narrow it down to the line where the problem occurs, and then it's a question of working it all out. FP Extensions i've never encountered a problem with. I believe there may be an update from the original version that solved a lot of the security problems. Ben Marshalsea <a href=mailto: > </a> <a href= > </a>

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