Microsoft's new Active Server Pages+ (ASP+) standard promises a lot more for Web developers who work on the Windows platform. A Preview of Active Server Pages+ surveys the new features and APIs that you'll need to know to develop effectively with ASP+. Stressing practical e-commerce examples, this book will be a welcome resource to anyone who programs in ASP already and wants a look at what's next from Microsoft.
This text gives you an excellent comparison of the old ASP with the new ASP+. (Many examples show both ways of coding by using a side-by-side comparison.) The book makes the case that ASP+ is a better way to program with easier scripting (by using the new Visual Basic 7 or the new C# [pronounced c-sharp], available with the next version of Visual C++) and easier access to components. Based on Microsoft's grandly named Next Generation Web Services (NGWS), ASP+ promises a new era of more maintainable code. Prominent sections showcase the various controls available in ASP+, from HTML controls to intrinsic controls to more advanced ("rich") controls. How to add data validation by using built-in ASP+ objects is explained, too, as is how to create custom components. Later chapters look at the improved abilities of ASP+, such as easier configuration, authentication, and deployment. The book ends by showing you a nicely functional e-commerce application that's written in ASP+.
By listing ASP+ objects and APIs from Microsoft in a handy appendix, programmers can get a sample of what's available. (There's also a useful section that details the most important differences for developers who are moving from ASP to ASP+.) Although some of this material might change as ASP+ moves to its final form, A Preview of Active Server Pages+ sets the stage with a valuable tour of what to expect in what surely will be a better way to create dynamic Web content on the Windows platform. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered:
- Evolution of Active Server Pages (ASP)
- Overview of Microsoft's Next Generation Web Services (NGWS)
- Design goals and advantages of ASP+
- ASP+ controls: HTML, intrinsic, and rich controls
- ADO+ and data binding with ASP+
- The DataGrid control
- Validating data with ASP+
- Regular expressions
- Separating the UI from program logic code by using pagelets and custom components
- ASP+ caching and debugging support
- Web services
- XML support in ASP+
- Using global application settings
- ASP+ configuration and deployment
- Authentication and authorization
- Sample e-commerce application
- ASP+ for ASP programmers
- Visual Basic 7 for Visual Basic 6 programmers
- ASP+ object and API reference
Book Description
Microsoft's Active Server Pages technology is still a relatively new way to create dynamic Web sites and Web-based distributed applications. However, during its short life span, it has evolved to become the foremost tool in the Windows-oriented Web programmer's toolbox. This is probably due to the ease with which complex pages and applications can be created, combined with the ability to use home-grown custom components, and existing Microsoft and 3rd party commercial components, through the Component Object Model (COM/COM+) architecture. Microsoft is currently working on the next generation of ASP, provisionally called ASP+. While it still supports existing ASP pages and applications, ASP+ is actually a complete rewrite of the existing versions. It changes the way that you need to think about ASP and your Web-based applications and Web sites. 'A Preview of ASP+' is the first book to outline the changes and the new ways that you can use ASP in your applications.
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