Amazon.com Review
Useful for anyone who builds Windows Web applications,
Debugging ASP: Troubleshooting for Programmers offers invaluable advice on fixing (and avoiding) a handful of common problems with Active Server Pages (ASPs). Traditional debugging actually is only a small part of the package. This book is a solid guide to deploying ASP Web applications on both development and production servers.
"Experience is the best teacher," the old maxim goes, and the approach in Debugging ASP makes good use of real-world expertise. Author Derek Ferguson has compiled a list of bugs from his work at a regional ISP, a perfect laboratory for uncovering the most common problems that ASP developers face every day. First and foremost are his suggestions for configuring Internet Information Server (IIS) for development systems. A number of valuable tips help you improve the feedback that you get from Web server logs. You also learn about several options that will simplify debugging of new scripts and components over old ones. (In short, Debugging ASP will help you make sure, when you deploy a new script or component, that it gets displayed in your Web page, instead of the out-of-date version.) A really useful section points out common gotchas in ASP development, and there are tips on the right ways to include other files in ASPs and how to redirect HTTP requests correctly. The book also explains how to maintain state with Session objects, while balancing performance and security considerations.
The tutorial on the most effective ways to make use of COM objects on the middle tier is key to the book, and offers plenty of screen shots that show how to build, deploy, and configure components by using transactions and Microsoft Component Services. Several chapters look at problems and useful techniques for ADO database programming in your ASP-based Web applications, and there's even a step-by-step guide to setting up ODBC to connect to SQL Server databases. The text concludes with some tips for boosting performance in production systems, and a preview of the upcoming ASP+ standard from Microsoft.
In all, Debugging ASP provides a handy road map to successful ASP deployment, which can save you considerable time and effort as you put your Web applications online. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered:
- General guide to debugging and troubleshooting ASPs on Internet Information Server (IIS)
- Configuring IIS for development
- Logging options
- The Microsoft Script Debugger
- Common mistakes with ASPs (problems with file permissions; tips for including files; using FileSystemObject successfully; maintaining state with Session objects; and using cookies, frames, and application-level data correctly)
- HTTP request headers and forms
- Tips for redirecting requests
- Using images with ASPs
- Fixing time-out errors
- Tutorial for COM objects (installing and configuring objects, security, component locking issues)
- COM object dependencies
- Transactions
- Microsoft Component Services and the ObjectContext class
| - Database rollbacks
- Configuring ODBC to connect to SQL Server
- Tips for disconnected recordsets and stored procedures
- Style guide for ASP programmers (including best practices for variable scope)
- Improving performance
- Buffering connections
- Using sessions effectively
- Performance Monitor
- Browser incompatibility issues
- Dealing with firewalls and proxies
- Using client-side scripting for data validation
- Reference appendix for HTTP status codes
- Introduction to ASP+ and the Microsoft .NET Framework
| |
From the Back Cover
Prevent downtime and lost revenue on your Web pages, Internet applications, and e-commerce sites with the expert advice in this unique resource. Debugging ASP provides all the techniques, strategies, and tips you need to submit clean, bug-free code every time. You'll learn to find and fix errors in server-side scripts, integrated COM components, stored database procedures, and network connections. You'll also get a complete overview of the new Active Server Pages Plus technology that comes as part of the new Microsoft.Net development platform. Special "24x7" and "Error Watch" boxes throughout highlight specific coding practices that will have you side-stepping common pitfalls and avoiding little-known programming errors in no time!
