Designing Active Server Pages - ASP

by Scott Mitchell

Paperback: 348 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates
ISBN: 0596000448; 1 edition (September 18, 2000)

Designing Active Server Pages provides an important tool for often-overworked ASP programmers: a set of techniques for making the wisest use of the technology in a production environment. Targeting an audience of readers who already are seasoned in ASP, author Scott Mitchell explores techniques for producing "reusable and robust ASP applications."

Presentation and example compose the approach here, with concise tables of information and descriptions that make the book a fast read. Mitchell explores the benefits of the VBScript 5.0 scripting engine, and illustrates how to exploit the new RegExp object fully and build object-oriented code by using VBScript classes--another welcome addition to the coding platform. ASP programmers will find techniques for which they've been longing, such as centralized error-handling pages and reusable database administration forms.

Creation of and best practices for implementing COM components, useful standard components (like the Content Linker and AdRotator), and third-party components (such as ASPEncrypt and SA-FileUp) are discussed. Designing Active Server Pages doesn't stop with mere descriptions of these components, but also provides solutions for common needs, such as uploading files to binary fields in Microsoft SQL Server and sending encrypted e-mail.

With its advanced techniques and practical perspective, this book is perfect for those who look to stay on the cutting edge of ASP programming.

Topics covered in Designing Active Server Pages (ASP}:
• Choosing a server-side scripting language
• Exception handling
• Regular expressions
• Building reusable forms
• Reusable database administration pages
• COM overview
• Lesser-known Microsoft COM components
• Important third-party COM components

From Book News, Inc.: Shows Active Server Pages (ASP) developers how to reuse code by looking for common functionality and by separating the presentation element of web pages from script. Covers areas including scripting blocks or code libraries, developing and using classes, maximizing ASP's language independence by using another scripting language, and creating simple COM components to encapsulate common functionality by using the Microsoft Script Component Wizard. Focus is on ASP 3.0 and VBScript 5.0+. Mitchell is cofounder of an ASP resource on the Internet.

Book Description: Developers of Active Server Pages often reinvent the wheel. Their background in web design, with its separate HTML page for each viewable web page on a site, leads many ASP developers to create a distinct ASP page each time they think they need one. Often times, these pages are functionally similar. With intelligent planning, an ASP developer stands to save a great deal of time by creating reusable ASP pages. Designing Active Server Pages is tailor-made for these developers.

There is currently a plethora of Active Server Pages books. However, the vast majority of these books are either technical references or how-to books for beginners. Designing Active Server Pages is written for the intermediate to advanced user. Furthermore, nearly every other book on ASP focuses on using VBScript, even though ASP supports an array of scripting languages, including JScript and PerlScript. Designing Active Server Pages shows how to start using these other languages.

The latest version of the scripting engines (Version 5.1 for VBScript) adds new features not available before the 5.0 release. These features include class support for VBScript, and Regular Expression searching through the use of a COM object. Designing Active Server Pages explains why using classes in VBScript is beneficial, and demonstrates the power of regular expression searching.

This book shows how to simplify the process by only requiring one ASP page to handle ALL of the Forms throughout a web site, thus reducing the amount of code one has to write.

Topics include in Designing Active Server Pages:
• Using various Microsoft and third-party components to enhance ASP pages
• Creating components using VB and/or VC++
• Sample code for performing routine ASP tasks
• Techniques to allow for reusable database scripts on the database system and on ASP pages
• How to obtain and register third-party components, thus saving massive amounts of time by reusing someone else's code

Designing Active Server Pages is for developers who have already mastered the basics of ASP application development and are ready to take the next logical step. It is sure to become an indispensable part of every web developer's library.

Book Info (Macmillan, USA): Shows developers how to reuse ASP code by looking for common functionality and by separating the presentation element of Web pages from script. Provides examples that put these and other techniques into practice, both for database and HTML forms. Softcover. DLC: Active server pages.

Customer Reviews
Well-written, good design advice, solid coding standards, June 11, 2001
Reviewer: ewp2000 from Dedham, MA United States
This is a terrific little book. Don't expect to learn ASP from the ground up: Mitchell jumps right into the code, without wasting hundreds of pages on basics the way so many other ASP books do. Once you're familiar with the ASP world, this book is a great guide to solid coding standards. Think project design: setting up error handling, form validation, #INCLUDEs, and so on. I had already learned most of it the hard way, but it was still a pleasure to see all those things laid out so clearly.

Then Mitchell takes you on a detailed excursion into his reusable database administration pages. Clear exposition of design goals, modular design with classes, walking through unit testing: It was like a thorough, well-written code review. I had some minor quibbles with the code (mostly regarding embedding HTML tags in places I wouldn't have done). And certain aspects of the design aren't practical on large systems. But it still stands as an excellent little project and documentation example.

Program Design for ASP, February 23, 2002
Reviewer: Brian Groover from Frederick, MD United States
I have around 20 titles in my personal library which focus directly or indirectly on ASP. This is simply the best. It isn't an introduction to the language -- there are several good ones for that -- it is more about using sound program design methodology to accomplish some of the more complex tasks facing ASP programmers, such as content management systems, reusable forms, and eCommerce.

If you have any programming experience in other languages and are moving to ASP, get this book. If you are just learning what an Active Server Page is, then it is not for you, but if you plan to do anything more than fairly simple pages in ASP, get it, even if you don't think you're ready for advanced stuff.

Scott gives good examples, clear explanations, and lays out methodology that will help you no matter what your level of experience. It's one of the best bargains out there in technical books.

once you know the basics, get this book, January 10, 2002
Reviewer: w3bsling3r from Austin, Texas USA
This book is basically about ASP programming techniques. Most ASP books out there teach you the basics of ASP, or working with something specific in ASP. Once you know how to program ASP, this book will teach you how to be a GOOD ASP programmer. Read the Wrox books on ASP, then once you can write code, read this book. I found the chapter on Windows Script Components particularly helpful.

Designing Active Server Pages, June 12, 2001
Reviewer: richard_mendez from San Antonio, Texas USA
This is by far the best, if not the only book I've seen published on advanced ASP programming methodologies. It's very well written with plenty of examples; however, it does assume the level of a seasoned professional with a solid understanding of the web paradigm and object-oriented programming principles even though VBScript the language itself in it's current state is more or less a pseudo implementation embracing only encapsulation and excluding all traces of inheritance and polymorphism. In a nutshell it focuses on practical techniques and approaches to common web development tasks while teaching programmers how to minimize errors by maximizing reusability through the leveraging of code far beyond the scope of includes and utility functions and, in my opinion is definitely a major step in the VB.Net direction.

Personally, I have a very strong object-oriented programming background in Powerbuilder, C++ and Jave and found the examples in this book more suggestive than anything else but still very useful. It inspired me to write an ASP class library which promotes the assembly of fully featured, database enabled applications in mere minutes. If you are new to web development or unfamiilar with object-orientation you may want to consider a beginner to intermediate level text before making an attempt at this one. Overall, a pleasure to own and well worth the cost.

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