[AccessD] Web Applications

Before you read my >>>in-line comments, note two things:

#1.  As I posted to William, the original post was about 'learning' web
development.  So my point was that classic ASP let's you see the gears
better then ASP.NET does.  I have nothing against using ASP.NET.  I have
some issues with some people that use it, have issues with some people
and screw drivers too! ;)  

#2.  Personally, I use a tag team.  I use Access or SQL Server for
databases, VB 6 for business logic, HTML for the interface, and ASP is
the bridge between VB and HTML.  As an 'in house' developer, I don't
have the pressure of keeping up to the absolute latest standard.  Not
too mention I'm no longer the developer (I'm now the Network Systems
Administrator, though I still dabble here and there...).

<snip>

Yes Classic ASP is still alive and well and can certainly be used to
develop
web applications. And yes ASP.NET does render a lot of the server-side
magic
into client-side script using javascript.

Do you need to know and understand all the javascript it renders to the
browser? Heck no. You might need to know a smattering of javascript to
get
some client-side script for some tasks that cannot be handled natively
by
javascript.

As far as ASP.NET being overkill I don't think so.

>>> Overkill might be a bad term.  All the client side 'magic' is
handled well, but it's not perfect.  In a way, this is a lot like the
bound/unbound debate.  With classic and unbound, there is the advantage
of far more stringent control over the actual process involved.  With
.Net and bound, you have the advantage of prebuilt processes.  It can be
a coin toss in a lot of situations.

1. When you deploy your web application to the server, you simply have
to
upload your application's DLL and ASPX page and other supporting files
(CSS,
JS, etc...). With Classic ASP you need to upload all your files
including
your code. With ASP.NET you don't even need to upload the code behind
because it's all packaged into a DLL. Works for me because I nobody can
"steal" my code files since I don't have to upload them to the server.

>>> Really not sure what you mean here.  I usually work directly with
the IIS server.  So I normally don't 'upload' anything, I'm working on
the live files (or working on live files in a test or development
platform).  I do have my core code 'compiled' as a .dll too. Plus with
what I do, I use either .asp or .htm extensions, it's just a matter of
tweaking the ISAPI filters to read .asp code in whatever extensions you
want.

2. When you write classic ASP, the presentation layer and the code layer
are
interspersed in your .ASP file. Sure, you can use include files,
etc...but
it becomes a nightmare to maintain those files and it sure is
time-consuming
having to wade through both the HTML, Javascript *AND* ASP code. With
ASP.NET and Visual Studio you can use the object oriented approach and
have
all the intellisense at your fingertips so that you can easily find a
function or a sub in your code file which is totally separate from your
HTML
code.

>>>Wouldn't say this is an advantage, just a different style.  I never
have problems finding anything in my asp code, of course most of what I
do now is 'condition coding', ie, HTML interspersed with the .asp.

3. ASP.NET has field validator controls that render the appropriate
client-side script for validating required fields, range validation,
custom
validation, etc...You can drag and drop the validation controls, type an
error message and specify the ASP.NET control to validate and never have
to
worry about writing the same javascript code over and over again for
those
situations. This facility alone makes ASP.NET better than classic ASP
development.

>>> This is an advantage and disadvantage.  I build my data validation
into the VB code.  What is returned is a simple message to the end user
as to what needs to be changed.  It's pretty simple to do.  So the
advantage of the .Net method is that you have prebuilt processes that
can alert immediately, and even correct the user.  The disadvantage is
that it can be bypassed.  And an advantage of my method is that
automation is easier.  I've built several apps for 'side work' clients,
where I 'upload' a users data into a site built by someone else.  When
that site is loaded with Javascript data validation, it 'breaks' the
automation.  My method would allow an automated process to enter the
data, and then retrieve a valid/invalid response.

4. Uploading files and sending mail via SMTP are handled by ASP.NET
binaries
which means that you don't need third party libraries to upload files or
send mail via your web apps which you have to do with classic ASP.

>>>Matter of style again.  I have a single .asp file to allow users to
upload files (I just copy the file, not very hard), and sending mail is
a .dll I have already built (actually, one is ASPEmail, the other is a
custom one I built which uses a special email handler).

5. Postbacks are handled differently in ASP.NET compared to classic ASP.
You
can check for postbacks and check if the page is valid (if there are
field
validators that were triggered) very easily compared to classic ASP
where
you have to write those functions yourself.

>>> Actually, I believe they are handled the same way, ASP.NET is just
automating it.  Definitely an advantage for .NET

6. Viewstate is also handled better in ASP.NET. Ever wanted to preserve
the
value of some control in classic ASP? You'll need to write
Request.Form()
constructs for each form control you want to pass on to the next page.
ASP.NET does that for you.

>>>Another style issue.  I handle everything in my .dll.  Most of the
time I am recording the data then and there, though to pass information
to another page there is always a session variable to hold the info.  No
big deal.

7. You can write your data handler functions and compile them into a
library
(DLL) and reference them in any web app so that you have a standard way
of
interfacing with back-end databases. Classic ASP doesn't compile your
code.
Sure you can copy and paste all those custom functions into every
classic
ASP project you work on. But is that really being efficient?

>>> Again, using a VB .dll.  It can be ported to any web app or for that
matter, any system that can use an ActiveX .dll.

So yeah...ASP.NET is overkill if you want to build a lot of the built-in
stuff yourself. :)

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