Wanted: Web Site Developers Opinions

Hi everyone,

I have built a personal "webserver box" so I can improve my skills in security and win2k administration. This box will soon be connected to T1 bandwidth. It is running Win2k Server.
The projects I want to work on are: SQL database languages, PHP, IIS 5, Apache Server, and the M$ .NET platforms including, but not limited to, the newly released AspNetForums. I want to build a message board like AO (just for fun :)), only using the aforementioned Asp alternitive, and an "auction/classifieds" site in the lines of ebay's popular site.

What I want from anyone who decides to add to this thread are their own opinion's and experiences in web development along these lines, I have all of the resources I need to accomplish this, tutorials, books for reference, etc. Just YOUR ideas , views, experiences, blah, blah, blah....

I am only myself and I don't have any friends, peers, teachers, etc. to call on for advice that can give me any useful incites on this subject...except , of course, all of you here at AO. :D

I'm not a web designer full time, but I've done a good deal of it, so here's my thoughts and such...

Well, first I'll say that I commend you on taking on a fairly big project like this. I'll also tell you that my experience with web development is that you have to stay on top of things. I came out of school thinking that I knew alot about this subject, but then I got to the real world and bam, it seemed like I didn't know sqat at times. What had happened was that there was new technology, new methods, etc, that we weren't taught in school or I hadn't picked up on yet. It's always a learning expereince.

You should maintain a list of web sites that have code examples (PHP, SQL, .NET, etc) and check them regularly for help and general news and such. I know that I've been to the web countless times to find little code snippets and such for something that I couldn't figure out on my own.

And most certainly stay on top of security issues. Since you are going to be running your own webserver, you'll need to make sure you stay current with hotfixes, patches, service packs, etc so you're not exposed to risk.

Good luck on your little quest....

Thank you Maverick811, I have been working on this project for about 6 months now and am about ready to start. I thought I was ready once before and then they released the AspNetForums module and caused me to re-think a PHP driven site. I understand asp is supposed to be the way of upcoming web platforms, and thought "what better time than the present to learn this" ...

And thanks for the luck, as I am sure I will need it, my installation of the forums software is still broke. :(

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Originally posted here by aeallison
Thank you Maverick811, I have been working on this project for about 6 months now and am about ready to start. I thought I was ready once before and then they released the AspNetForums module and caused me to re-think a PHP driven site. I understand asp is supposed to be the way of upcoming web platforms, and thought "what better time than the present to learn this" ...

And thanks for the luck, as I am sure I will need it, my installation of the forums software is still broke. :(

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Heheh... Well, you know if you need help you can always come here and try to pick the brains of the members here.. I'd say that with all of the combined knowledge from the members that AO has, you'd be sure to find help...

There is no real 'up coming' way to do web related tasks. Just different hammers for different nails and different projects.

Asp is good when dealing with windows related web projects. You have access to all of the com components installed on the box as well as the ability to quickly create new middle tier components using vb, c++, etc.

Also remember that asp is the platform, not the language. You have any com compatable scripting language available to you (if it is installed on the box) such as jscript, perl, etc.

The new .net stuff is interesting and supports a ton of languages. Some of it is kind of silly to use however unless you are doing a very large multi server project.

Watch what all you install on your web servers..... This being an exercise type project for you is cool. If you were/are wanting high volumes of traffic however keep the web servers to web/application boxes and put the db on it's own box.

Tho most of my web experience is m$ related (been working with e-commerce, intranet, etc systems on windows and unix for the past few years), if you need anything just gimme a shout and I might be able to help you.

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Tho most of my web experience is m$ related (been working with e-commerce, intranet, etc systems on windows and unix for the past few years), if you need anything just gimme a shout and I might be able to help you.

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Thanks Juridian, I will most likely take you up on this offer soon enough. I think you are correct on having the database on a different box. I have been having problems with my apps bogging down the server during some of my testing phases. The first time I tried this was on our public webserver...a Compaq Proliant 2500R quad processor Pentium Pro 200's...works fine for regular home page stuff, but really labored when I tried to use database driven apps on my "yet to be finished" site. I like to try to spend at least a couple of hours a day on this project, I think I am going to try to put the data base on an old Silicon Graphics Indy box I have, or would a UNIX database confuse my windows server?

A unix database server will work fine with a windows web/application server as long as you know how to make the two talk to each other. Ado with the right providers or odbc.....or whichever other methods you use to do it. There should be plenty of examples out on the web. :)

Yep, Juridian is right - you shouldn't have any trouble.. As for searching the web, I came across a great site just the other day pertaining to ADO (it listed tons of different connections strings and such) - if I can dig up the link, I'll send it to ya...

Thank you both for your attention to this, I have never heard of ADO, if you can find a link on it I'll appreciate it.

Here is some information on ADO:

http://www.microsoft.com/data/ado/
http://www.devguru.com/Technologies/...ado_intro.html
http://www.vb-bookmark.com/vbADO.html

ADO stands for activex database objects....it's a really simple object framework exposed through the ado com libraries.

It consists of 3 main objects that you can create....

Connection object > creates the actual connection to the database and can use the <objectname>.execute method to run a forward only recordset returning query or action statement. It also holds the errors collection to see what errors have been returned by the data provider (the oledb provider that is actually talking to the database for you...usually another dll provided by the database vendor).

Command object > this takes a connection object or it can create it's own if you pass it a connection string. This can be used to run parameterized queries (so if you have a stored procedure that takes parameters this is the way to go really). You can run the <objectname>.execute method from here and it will give you your recordset.

recordset object > again, can take a connection object or a query string. You can use this to create updatable recordsets, forward only ones, etc. If you want to create a disconnected recordset (can be handy if you are using the recordset in read only mode or for doing batch updating). Simply set the activeconnection property to nothing....and then if you need to reconnect it to the database for a batch update or something simply re-assign it a connection object.

Ado is pretty simple to use and you can use it to deal with xml, text files, access, sql server, oracle, etc (even exchange and active directory). Pretty much any data service that offers a oledb provider.

One of the best places to look for examples is probably just http://msdn.microsoft.com

Again, if you need anything just gimme a shout...I have a ton o stuff on ado and so on.

It should be noted that the ADO style of connecting was mimicked by PHP when they created their connection objects for their database servers. It makes it very easy (once you know function names) for an ASP programmer to switch over to PHP and vice versa.

Look at the similarities:
ADO:
set DBConn = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
DBConn.Open "Connection_String", "DB_UserName", "DB_Password"
Query = "select column from table where othercolumn = 'someval'"
set rs = DBConn.Execute(Query)

PHP:
$conn = mysql_connect("ServerName", "DB_UserName", "DB_Password");
mysql_select_db("myDB", $conn);
$Query = "select column from table where othercolumn = 'someval'";
$rs = mysql_query($Query, $conn);

They are basically identical with the exception that PHP's mysql_connect function doesn't have a connection string, just the server name (and port, optionally), whereas the ADO-style connection string includes the database name, and the various optional connection parameters. Fundamentally they are identical, and efficiency is the principal reason for it.

If you're going to write on an ASP platform, you'd best use COM objects, otherwise you're really not getting anything in the way of efficiency.

I guess I have more to learn than I thought, COM objects are these the COM+ objects used within windows 2k?

Or are you refering to this? (posted by Juridian) Or are these one in the same?
Is there a tutorial on this subject on AO?

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Command object > this takes a connection object or it can create it's own if you pass it a connection string. This can be used to run parameterized queries (so if you have a stored procedure that takes parameters this is the way to go really). You can run the <objectname>.execute method from here and it will give you your recordset.

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Please bare with me on this. This may all come to me in a flood later, I am extremely tired at the moment...

Com is microsofts way of letting you create objects that can be in applications (active x exe's like word and excel or in libraries usually as .dll's). Com+ is com tweaked to better integrate your code with microsoft transaction server for distributed apps.

Ok... here is my present dilema on this project. I am going to use a Silicon Graphics Indy workstation running IRIX as my data base server. My indy has no floppy or cd to install programs from. I need to connect this computer to my Win2k network, preferably my Win2k Pro workstation, and move/copy the files I need into the Indy through a LAN connection. So far, I can get the two computers to "see" one another but that is it. I cannot seem to transfer any files between them. What am I doing wrong, or what do I need to implement/install, on the Win2k box, or on the Indy, so I can install the database(MySQL) onto my Indy?

One step at a time, once I accomplish this feat, I will be well on my way putting my webserver on-line and learning some real cool stuff.