Peter J. Boettcher — Tue, 14 Aug 2001 20:12:16 +0000

I find that asp101.com has great examples for beginners. If you're sure that everyone is going to be using cookies then using sessions is a viable alternative. You could store the login info in application variables, for example:

Application("LoginName") = "DemoUser"
Application("LoginPassword") = "demo"

Then you could store all their individual selections in sessions, for example:

Session("SelectionOne") = "Service One"
Session("SelectionTwo") = "Service Two"

etc...

This will save you a lot of coding since you don't have to interface with a database, just remember if someone turns off their cookies, your application breaks (sessions will not function).

Hundley — Tue, 14 Aug 2001 20:02:31 +0000

Thanks guys...

It is basically a Microsoft environment over here...So it sounds like the active server pages would work best. I have had some experience with asp but nothing to brag about. Are any of these sites better for doing what I am attempting to do at a beginners level?

Also, here is a post from another forum - what do you guys think?

"Do you definitely need that info to be stored in a database, rather than session data or something like that? Unless I'm underestimating the scope of the project, that's generally a much more appropriate manner to store one-use information.

Another question: can the application potentially be accessed by more than one simultaneous user? If so, that one temporary "guy" won't do...you'll need to be able to generate as many temps as you need, deleting them once they're done. And again, that's generally not the ideal situation for database storage."

Peter J. Boettcher — Tue, 14 Aug 2001 19:51:02 +0000

Well, the way to go really depends on your current server environment and your programming experience. If you're currently on a non-Windows OS server then it does make sense to go the PHP/MySQL route, but if you're running IIS4 or IIS5 & using ASP it's more productive to stay with Microsoft technologies, ASP/SQL Server.

Some resources:

asp101.com
ultimateasp.com
aspfaq.com
microsoft.com/sql
sql-server-performance.com

Have fun!

mairving — Tue, 14 Aug 2001 18:21:17 +0000

PHP and MYSQL would be the way to go.

For tutorials:

http://www.devshed.com/
http://www.phpbuilder.com/
http://www.weberdev.com/
http://www.zend.com/
http://www.php.net
http://www.webmonkey.com
http://www.mysql.com