Developing ASP Components (2nd Edition)

by Shelley Powers

Paperback: 550 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates
ISBN: 1565927508; 2nd edition (March 2001)

Aimed at more experienced VB or C++ developers, Developing ASP Components, Second Edition gives plenty of advanced advice for creating and using COM-based components, which are a must for serious scalability and performance on the Microsoft Web platform.

This book excels at showing the inner workings and issues involved in designing custom COM-based components in VB, ATL, and/or MFC, as well as tapping the built-in components that come standard with COM, including transactions, mail objects (with CDO), and database programming (with ADO). In particular, for the C++/ATL/MFC developer, practical sources of information (and sample code) are in short supply, and for this readership, the book fills a particularly worthwhile niche. Much of it uses VB in examples for designing effective, high-performance components.

Several early sections look at the details of COM-based components (including the notoriously difficult threading models, along with similar details). The author does a good job of explaining this challenging topic. The practical examples of using built-in COM objects and services on the Windows platform really make this book a winner. The sample code and hints for tapping such COM-based standards as transactions, Active Directory, message queueing, CDO, and ADO are very helpful. Better yet, the book covers the same ground for C++ programmers using ATL (and MFC) to create the most lightweight (and potentially the fastest) Web components available today.

Until the new .NET Framework arrives later in 2001, COM (and COM+) is still the best way to build and share components for use with ASP in Windows. Developing ASP Components shows you how to build components that are fully integrated into the Microsoft Web platform. Whether you build custom components, or just want to use services in VB/C++ code that are available to your Web applications, this title will clue you into getting the most out of your components. It's a source of expert information that you won't likely find anywhere else.

Topics in Developing ASP Components covered:
• Fundamentals of ASP components and COM+
• Setting up IIS
• Using ADSI for programmatic server administration
• Introduction to COM components (including standard interfaces and design issues)
• Threads
• Apartments and contexts
• Using MTS and COM+ services for transactions
• Using scripts with COM+ objects
• Tutorial for a Visual Basic ASP COM component
• Using ADO COM components
• Using XML with VB ASP
• Enabling e-mail with CDO
• Using the Active Directory Services Interface (ADSI) and MSMQ with ASP components
• C++ tutorial for building and using COM components (including ATL and MFC)
• Sample code for both Visual Basic and C++ programmers
• Persistence with ATL and MFC
• Using COM with Java/Visual J++
• Perl, ActiveState's PDK and Borland Delphi
• Using the Windows Scripting Host (WSH)
• ASP built-in object quick reference

Book Description: Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) technology has become wildly popular with web developers. However, the techniques for developing custom ASP components, not to mention the inevitable snags and pitfalls, are not well documented. What's more, the successful ASP component developer must be a jack-of-all-trades, with some knowledge of COM and COM+, threading models, and the ASP object model, as well as a mastery of one or more language tools and development environments.

That's where Developing ASP Components, 2nd Edition, comes in. Its first section explores the topics everyone needs to know to develop effective ASP components:
• Configuring the ASP development environment.
• ASP components and the Component Object Model (COM).
• ASP components and threading models.
• ASP components and Component Services, which provide a variety of services to ASP components.
• The objects, properties, methods, and events available in the ASP object model.
• Integrating ASP components and scripted Active Server Pages.
• Configuring the ASP development environment.
• ASP components and the Component Object Model (COM).
• ASP components and threading models.
• ASP components and Component Services, which provide a variety of services to ASP components.
• The objects, properties, methods, and events available in the ASP object model.
• Integrating ASP components and scripted Active Server Pages.

ASP components are language independent, and developers increasingly tend to use more than a single language tool. Thus the remainder of the book focuses on ASP component development using one of two major development tools--Microsoft Visual Basic and Microsoft Visual C++ (with the ActiveX Template Library)--along with a number of other languages, such as Perl and Delphi. Each section focuses on the issues that concern the ASP component developer using that particular development environment. These issues include:
• Accessing ASP's intrinsic objects.
• Accessing data using ADO.
• Creating n-tier web applications with VB.
• Handling persistence using MFC along with Visual C++/ATL.

It's this strong focus on two major development environments, along with a thorough grounding in essential ASP topics, that makes Developing ASP Components, 2nd Edition, the definitive resource for the ASP application and component developer.

Book Info: Text offering readers thorough coverage of the background information needed to develop ASP components using a number of development environments. Focuses on ASP development in a number of languages, with the most emphasis on Visual and Visual C++. Covers accessing intrinsic objects, working with Active Directory, and other topics. Previous edition: c1999.

Customer Reviews
Good News to ASP developers, July 7, 1999
Reviewer: Tommy Mazejian from Beirut, Lebanon
This book provides comprehensive solutions about ASP component development. The author first gives a brief introduction about COM technology, threads and general component programming issues. The reason I like this book is the author provides ASP component building in 3 languages, Visual C++, Visual Basic and Visual J++. It provides very details of programming techniques, with Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) support. I recommend this book to all ASP programmers who are planning to build components. It is just an excellent book!

Next step for ASP programmers! PURE COM BEGINNER BOOK!, March 20, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from NYC
If you are an ASP programmer who knows nothing about COM, this is THE book for you! Even though I could not make the C++ component work with VC++, the VB section is AWESOME! Everything is soooo easy, even ADO and MTS. Without useless info, it goes straight to the point! I am lucky that I bought this book first. I just got "Beginning Components for ASP" by wrox and I am glad I at least know something about COM. If anyone can suggest a PURE BEGINNING COM with C++ book, please let me know.

ASP Components, July 27, 2001
Reviewer: Reader from Cincinnati, Ohio United States
This book is a waste of money. The author continually switches between describing simple theories such as n-tier computing to an overly in-depth analysis Windows that no-one outside of Redmond should even care about. Too much text and not enough examples.

Great Beginning Component book, June 28, 2001
Reviewer: Shawn K Haynie from Atlanta, GA
I found this book to be very useful. I have been developing components now for 4 years and I still found this book useful. I have been trying to find a good book about developing components, especially in Visual C++. It has great examples for developing the asp page and connecting the page to the COM Object be it Visual Basic, Visual C++ or Java. A must have book for all. I emailed the author with a question and she email me right back.

Back to ASP.NET Book Index

Books Subjects

Learning ASP.NET

ASP.NET Reference Manual

.NET Application & Database

ASP.NET Training Course