Beginning Active Server Pages 2.0 [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ Brian Francis (Author), Chris Ullman (Author), David Sussman (Author), John Kauffman (Author), Juan T. Llibre (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you're new to Web development--or even new to programming in general--Beginning Active Server Pages 2.0 is good place to start for learning how to program with Active Server Pages (ASPs) using Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). In this accessible and clearly written text, the authors do a fine job of presenting the basics of using ASPs in digestible increments, including how to program with databases.

The book starts with the basics of client-side technologies--using HTML with JavaScript and VBScript. Once these terms are introduced, the move toward server-side processing and ASPs begins. The authors include the basics of setting up Personal Web Server (with screen shots) and the fundamentals of using ASPs to process simple user requests on a server.

Next, the authors look at some of the objects available in ASP programming (including Request, Response, Applications, Sessions, and Cookies objects). They present the basics of customizing Web content for particular browsers and managing indexes of pages. The sections on debugging ASPs--including how to use the Microsoft Script Debugger--are also useful.

Some of the book's best material is in its coverage of the Microsoft databases, including ActiveX Data Object (ADO), open database connectivity (ODBC), and the newer object linking and embedding database (OLE-DB) standards. The authors describe the basic objects used to manipulate data with ASPs. The book rounds out with a sizeable example that uses live data for an online classified section, complete with user bidding for items. --Richard Dragan

Product Description

ASP is the future of the web. With ASP you can make your web pages more dynamic, more efficient and more responsive to the specific requirement of your users. It is not just a technology and to get the best out of it you will be using it in tandem with HTML and with one or more of the web's simple scripting languages. You'll also see how to use ASP and ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) to put database content on to your web pages. This book will teach you everything you need to create useful real-world applications on the web.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 653 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press; 1st edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861001347
• ISBN-13: 978-1861001344
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (127 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,486,089 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Read.... if you don't mind a few Typos, April 2, 2000

By	Yanier.com (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews

People ask me about ASP all the time and what book they should get. My answer as of April 1, 2000 is.... not this book. I recommend the new edition of this book: Beginning Active Server pages 3.0 edition of this one (amazon sells it. However if you're not running Windows 2000 Professional and won't upgrade (or downgrade in some people's view) to Win2k anytime soon then definitely buy this 2.0 edition and invest your amazon's old book discount into an index fund). But if my Beg ASP 3.0 is off the shelf, I quickly reach for this one! This book covers the basics - how to pass data from one page (it has a good 'forms' tutorial) to another, what variants & their subtypes are, touches on using cookies, and covers ADO quite nicely. The book is riddled with horrible grammatical mistakes (some funny ones in the explanations and some not so funny in the code) but the wrox.com site has all the updates and fixes so no need to fear.

As expected in these nerdspeak IT books, the reader must be disciplined and follow through no matter how boring some chapters are to make the most of it. You should plan to sit on your PC and do the exercises no matter how simple and obvious they look. Especially after the cookies chapter! If you don't understand that chapter completely you won't hang in the next ones (or at the job).

To sum it up: this is a great ASP book for the dedicated aspiring webmaster. After you read it the book serves as a great ASP Dictionary to bail you out every time you forget one of those oddball subtype commands. If you're like some of my friends who are sick of their jobs and want to become ASP gurus you should read this one, take a break, and then read Beginning ASP Databases by John Kauffman (yes, the smiling bald guy) which is quite a fun read and a good SQL starting point. If you want to know more about cookies and powerful ASP coding skip the Kauffman book and get Professional Active Server pages. You'll be creating dynamic user-tracking portal sites in no time.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book for ASP Beginners, December 11, 1999

By	Jonothon Ortiz (Florida) - See all my reviews

As I was starting to learn ASP, I was a bit shaken by the control and power available through ASP. However, the book starts one off with an extremely satisfactory introduction to ASP that should take the shakes away from any beginner. As the book progresses, the examples and the text carry one well into the intricancies and abstracts of ASP. The result at the end of the book is a competent, intermediate/advanced level ASP programmer who should be able to design and implement basic/medium ASP databases with full web intergration.

Thanks to this book, I can proudly call myself an intermediate ASP programmer.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dive into this book if you are just beginning ASP pages!, April 4, 2000

By	JRK "jkunzvt" (VERMONT) - See all my reviews

When I was on the market for an ASP book, I was torn whether or not to get 2.0, go straight to 3.0, or try my hand at a Professional 2.0 or 3.0. I was scared away from anything 3.0 because I didn't have Win2000 and IIS 5.0. As it turns out, I learned plenty about ASP with this book, regardless of which Win operating system I'm on (or you are on).

It is true what reviewers write below, this is a very introductory book to ASP. It assumes you are a beginner to programming. It also favors VBScript as opposed to JavaScript. But the most important part is that it is an intro and it sets the foundation to learn more (which i would suggest ASP Databases with Kauffman next!)

I had no previous ASP experience but plenty of HTML and VBScript. This book was a good choice for me because I could breeze through the HTML/VB and concentrate on how to use what I knew with ASP. It helps you with the PWS download and gets it running (which allows individuals to run ASP if you don't have Server of IIS).

It spends a fair amount of time on the big 6 ASP objects. However, there are a few other really great parts to this book. They give a few great scripts, including one that detects browsers. In addition, I really like the last three chapters. After they teach you about ASP, Ch. 13 introduces ASP with databases (including ODBC and OLE-DB), Ch. 14 discusses the ADO model (with SQL) and Ch. 15 integrates it all together with a big, 100-page database classifieds example that anyone can use and manipulate to something of their own.