This part of the site is for any ASP developer who wishes to get the most from their ASP scripting. It presents a number of hints and tips which I have produced as a result of developing various ASP applications over the last few years or so. Most of the tips are of relevance to any platform that supports ASP, whether it be Microsoft ones or those ported to others by third-part vendors (e.g. Chillisoft, Instant ASP).

VBScript is used in the examples, as this is the most popular scripting language chosen on the server-side, but most of the ideas are just as applicable to JScript. The popularity of VBScript will no doubt change in the future with ASP.Net though, with C# being a nicer language and possibly likely to become the chosen language for most developers. Based on what I've seen in beta 2 I can't wait!

Note these tips are not aimed at ASP.Net

Many of the tips assume knowledge of basic ASP scripting and general database connectivity issues, and novice ASP developers should use these tips in conjunction with the numerous basic ASP scripting guides now available on the web. See my ASP external links page as a starting point.

The goals of these pages are:

• To provide new ASP developers with valuable information on how to write good ASP
• Provide a useful checklist of hints and tips for writing efficient and maintainable ASP
• Encourage consistency of coding across web sites and applications

This page will be updated regularly, as and when I have a tip that is worth sharing. If you have any other hints/tips which you think would be useful for adding to this page, email me now and I will check the hint/tip and add it to the site.

indicates an IIS5/Windows 2000 only tip

ASP Coding and Style Structuring your Scripts Variable Naming Conventions Use the Application Object Close Recordsets/Database Connections after use Avoid Hard Coding DSNs SQL Execution Error Handling Use MapPath Response.Buffer and Debugging Exiting Loops Beware of storing components in session/application IIS/NT Tips Turn off Logging on Selected Directories Running Applications in a Separate Memory Space Data Access Components/ODBC drivers Locale Date Settings MS Access 97 Memory Usage ::$DATA Security Fix ASP Application Settings

Coding for Performance Use .htm Extensions Where Relevant Consider using <OBJECT> tags Dim Statements and Variable use Avoid overusing HTML/ASP Context Switching Use SQL for Searching Databases Use SQL Stored Procedures Minimise Session Use The Dictionary Object Compile Routines into COM objects/DLLs Script Timeout IsClientConnected - avoiding stray tasks Take care with Server Variables Know your cursor types Buffering output for speed Replace Response.Redirect with Server.Transfer

DISCLAIMER: Note these pages are a free resource for anyone wishing to reference them. Although every care is taken to ensure their correctness, the author takes no responsibility for any errors or problems that may occur through their use, or indeed misuse. These pages are copyight of Dave Clarke, Visualize Software Ltd 1997-2000 (all rights reserved).