ASP Links
Contents: ASP Coding / Components / Articles / Free ASP web hosting
2006: I'm moving this list over into
SuperLinks: Website Development in ASP.
In the meantime, check both, take it for what it's worth, and beware of old/dead/changed links.
ASP (Active Server Pages) resources do obviously belong under Web Design resources, but since it was getting long, they are broken out here. See also Asp4Hs: HomeSite/ASP-Related Resource Links.
ASP sites are hard to characterize and describe. This is partly because most do much of the same thing, have tutorial articles about coding techniques, samples and links. It's also because many of the ASP sites do a LOT of linking to the same articles on other ASP sites. Additionally, there are many articles out there that just aren't trustworthy or even correct. So, finding unique, original content that can be trusted is important to me.
Remember though, that you should test and think about any technique yourself before totally trusting the author. And then, think about how you can improve upon it. Even many original MS official documentation recommendations have been recanted given time and real testing.
| Site | Description and Comments |
|---|---|
| Top Picks - My most frequently used sites | |
| ASPFAQ.com | This site has a ton of articles on topics of ASP, databases and advanced SQL. Some are the best I've seen on these topics, particularly on databases. Note that this is a different site than aspfaqs.com. |
| 4GuysFromRolla | One of the very best ASP/ASP.Net sites out there. Articles, FAQs and tutorials on some of everything. Well-written original content, well-organized, comprehensive and trustworthy. |
| ASPFAQs.com | A great reference site for checking common ASP issues. By 4GuysFromRolla. |
| The ASP Resource Index |
The place to find links to ASP sites and resources. This is a huge structured directory of links with descriptions, stats, ratings and user comments. |
| ASP 101 | ASP101 is one of of the better sites out for tons of quick technique tutorials and some really interesting user-contributed code. They are also the hub of the popular ASP Webring |
| LearnASP | Previously one of the most comprehensive ASP sites around, particularly for its comprehensive set of tutorials with code samples. Still good, though becoming overwhelmed with ad images. |
| ASP.Net | Microsoft's site all about ASP.Net, the next generation for ASP (formerly known as ASP+). See also ASP.Net/ASP+ examples IBuySpy and GotDotNet.com. |
| ASPCode.Net | Resource site for free ASP code, scripts and ASP applications. Also includes ASP.Net and PHP scripts. |
| ASP Programmer's Resource | While this site is smaller, they have some tips and code snippets that cover useful things I haven't seen anywhere else. I copied down about 20 of them to a reference text file just on my first visit. Quick and to the point. |
| ASPToday | Like ASPWatch, ASPToday has many useful and unique articles and it also has some content quality/trust issues. Regardless, it's generally excellent, practical, well-written and definitely worth visiting. Unfortunately many of their articles now require subscription to access. bah! |
| Web Applications | |
| 2eNetWorX TableEditoR |
Remote database administration tool written in pure ASP. Free/Open Source. No component needed. Multi-user, permission-level protection. Multiple connections for more than one database. Listing stored queries and browsing them like tables. Viewing table and query structure information. Running SQL statements and browsing them like tables. Simple setup. Very cool! |
| BuildApp | This project is working on BuildApp, a RAD (rapid application development) tool. It is built all in ASP and can generate a complete ASP application (ASP database interfacing website) using a web interface. BuildApp actually writes out the files of ASP code for you as you design the app from its web interface. The concept is very cool, though I haven't gotten to play with it yet. Useful articles document the process and functionality. Free and downloadable or usable online. |
| GenericDB | GenericDB (GDB) offers full code for a complete generic DB table maintenance system that you can set up and use merely by editing one config file. This is a mature and widely used system based entirely in ASP, no additional components. |
| VBSdb | VBSdb is an open source VBScript object for fast database driven web development. Similar to ASP-db in some ways, but no components are needed, just the ASP/VBScript source. Free. (I haven't tested this, but it looks very interesting. We may even code up a HomeSite custom dialog to generate the VBSdb calling code) |
| Components | |
| ASP-db | An powerful web database publishing component. Very widely used. (Major Micro Systems) |
| ServerObjects | ServerObjects is the place to get numerous inexpensive, useful and thoroughly tested and thought out components by Steven Genusa. Some are free. (See ASPMail, AspCrypt, AspLib and many others) |
| Software Artisans | See SA-FileUp, a widely-used standard component for file uploading. See also this file uploading tutorial using SA-FileUp. |
| Individual Resources that Stand Out | |
| ASPMessageboard | A very popular online ASP message board. Run by the 4GuysFromRolla folk. Plenty of people there to answer your questions. |
| Able Consulting | There are a few very good resources here, from ADO, ADOX, RDS, ADO.NET and other FAQ lists, to a comprehensive ADO Connection String reference and an ADO Data Type mapping between Visual Basic, Access, SQL Server, Oracle, and the .NET Framework. |
| 15 Seconds | 15seconds is one of the longest-running ASP-developer sites around. Some particularly good articles include: Protecting Your IIS Server and Web Application and The Truth about Access. |
| ConnectionStrings | All the database connection string info you'll ever need... also has a reference of the ADO enumeration constants. |
| ASP Component Test | Pensaworks makes an excellent (and free) script that'll check for 300+ components, telling you which are installed, categorizing them, and providing links to the maker. They also have an "Advanced Mailer Component Test" that can test a number of mailer components easily. |
| 25+ ASP Tips to Improve Performance and Style | This classic Microsoft guide is required reading for ASP'ers and, luckily, is kept updated by Microsoft engineers. |
| Microsoft.com Search Wizard |
Microsoft has almost every possible error message documented. Copy the error message and paste it in the search box, change the search type from "All Words" to "Exact Phrase", and select only the "Support" checkbox. (instructions by Peter Johnson) |
Below are a number of other ASP sites that I haven't gotten time to write descriptions for yet. You'll have to explore and decide on your own for now. ;-)
