All,
Firstly I would like to thank Farley for the information he has provided to enable me to create a database driven website. It has really opened my eyes and I am now ready to kick off. I am sure there are quite a number of people who like me would like to do the same only that it is a little hard to start. Therefore I decided to send this mail to the forum to let people know what it would take to do the same. Any suggestions will be highly appreciated and I do hope that someone will benefit from it. Regards, Peter MUGOH _____ From: The Professional Network [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 6:59 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: ASP Help Peter, It sounds like you are in the same situation that I was in back in 2001. an experienced database/vb developer looking at a first web implementation. The good news: Yes, you can absolutely do all of that, using ASP and a scripting language (VBScript or JavaScript), CSS, and some database drivers. I have a site (currently in beta test) at www.TheAccessWizard.com <http://www.theaccesswizard.com/> that generally does the kind of things you want to do, but uses Access as the database. The not quite as good news: The technology is somewhat different, and there is a learning curve. In my experience, I have not found as much documentation and support for ASP as I have for VB/VBA, but there is a lot more now than there was back in 2001 (see below). Is Internet Explorer the browser that all of your users use? If so, what is the lowest version that you will encounter: 4? 5.0? 5.5? 6.0? There are things available in the later versions that won't work in the earlier versions. If not everyone is using Internet Explorer, then there are even more compatibility issues. (see below) I use ASP. This technology is being replaced by ASP.net, so you might want to consider that in your plans. Would you consider Open Source? I am considering adding PHP, which is platform independent, to my list of supported technologies, as opposed to learning ASP.net, which is a Microsoft centric technology. To get all of the interesting formatting that you want, read up on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). This will let you do the special effects borders, the buttons with the images, and exact placement on the page. If your users will be using more than one screen resolution, you need to determine how you will handle that. At www.TheAccessWizard.com <http://www.theaccesswizard.com/> I used a CSS unit of measurement called "EM". EM's don't scale. I'm having to rewrite the CSS in %. Look at the site in 1024x768 vs 800x600 to see what I mean. If you use automated email responses, don't use CDONTS. Consider using CDO. If your users are in multiple countries, plan on having some issues that have little or nothing to do with your software (though you can count on the users calling you). Make sure you have access to appropriate network support if you don't personally have that skill already. I had issues in China, Korea, and Brazil for an application whose server was in the U.S. Some had to do with proxies, some with gateways and firewalls, and some had to do with local workstation settings. While picking the technology you are going to use, take a look at the object model. Does it have everything you want/need? I learned most of what I know from books, and used the web as secondary support. The books I used were: Teach Yourself HTML 4 in 24 Hours published by SAMS VBSCRIPT in a Nutshell published by O'Reilly ASP in a Nutshell published by O'Reilly Teach Yourself Active Server Pages in 24 Hours published by SAMS Beginning Active Server Pages 2.0 published by WROX Teach Yourself Active Server Pages CSS in 24 Hours published by SAMS I'm sure there are updated versions on these topics that are currently available at your local book store, Amazon, and at online computer book clubs (you know, "join now and we will give you three $35 books for $2 each plus S/H, you agree to buy four more books at the regular price over two years" or something pretty similar; these clubs will save you quite a bit of money if you are a regular computer book buyer). Since then, there is tremendously more support on the web. A couple of sites you might consider looking at include: http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/ (very well known and popular) http://www.aspfree.com/ These are a few things that will save you some headaches. HTML reference http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/html40/ HTML tags that shouldn't be used http://www.codehelp.co.uk/html/deprecated.html Selecting colors http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/reference/color_codes/ What various browsers do and don't support http://www.westciv.com/style_master/academy/browser_support/ This should get you going in the right direction. You might want to post this with your jpg's back at the ASP help site, as I'm willing to bet there are other folks who watch the site, but don't post, who have similar questions. If I can be of further help, let me know. Far Farley www.TheAccessWizard.com <http://www.theaccesswizard.com/> -----Original Message----- From: Peter MUGOH [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 2:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ASP Help Farley, My name is Peter and I work for a company which deals with installation and maintenance of fuel dispensing equipments. I am a developer and have specialized in VB and SQL Server. I need to create almost the same application in ASP and after doing the feasibility study I am opting to use ASP using Dream weaver or Visual Interdev. According to one of the threads titled: [ASP] mySQL I saw that you have created web applications for a lot of users in all the continents. I have attached a form which we use to log in calls (Breakdowns) and then we send technicians to sort them out. After that we use the second form to close the call (breakdown). I would like to create a form which will be used on the Internet to log in the breakdowns only. My question is it possible to create a form which will be similar to the one we are using currently and display it as a webpage? Which is the best Program to use? Which is the site which I can get most information especially on how to use objects in ASP? Any help will be highly appreciated, thank you in advance. Regards, Peter MUGOH ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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