ASP vs. Web Classes

[Bob Hill]

I have a copy of Russell Jone's VB Developer's Guide to ASP and IIS. The author
seems to suggest that for larger scale applications where the target is an
IIS server running NT, and where the developer has control over that server,
that the benefits of developing the application using Web Classes make it
more suitable than ASP.

Does anyone have an opinion on this issue? It seems that there's not a lot
of information on Web Classes other than this book and a few scattered articles
on the MSDN CD.

We're contemplating a change from our current development tool (ASP) to Web
Classes, but we need more information before we can continue.

Any input would be appreciated.

[Russell Jones]

Bob:

I wrote that book about 2 years ago when WebClasses first appeared. At that
time, it seemed likely that Microsoft would fix some of the problems with
WebClass development. As it turns out, they have, but not by extending the
technology, rather by changing it to .NET.

Although WebClasses have some advantages, particularly for VB6 developers
looking to enter the Web development arena, they have two deep-rooted
problems:
1. Because WebClasses don't work without Sessions enabled, they don't scale
across Web farms.
2. There is not currently, and may never be a good upgrade path from
WebClasses to .NET code-behind classes running in ASP.NET.

My recommendation is that if you must develop with VB6, create stateless
components and run them in MTS. Use ASP as a front-end to retrieve request
information and pass that to your MTS components. Avoid using Sessions
unless you have low scalability needs. Following this model will give you
great performance and scalability now, and will be relatively easy to
upgrade later.

If you have sufficient time, consider moving directly to .NET, where you
have all the advantages of ASP.NET (too many to list here), and you can work
in VB.NET, which gives you the advantages of WebClasses without the
disadvantages of using an apartment-threaded language for Web development,
plus the advantages of a much newer IDE.

Thanks,
Russell Jones
Sr. Web Development Editor,
DevX.com


"Bob Hill" <bob@qlogiccorp.com> wrote in message
news:3b096817$1@news.devx.com...
>
> I have a copy of Russell Jone's VB Developer's Guide to ASP and IIS. The
author
> seems to suggest that for larger scale applications where the target is an
> IIS server running NT, and where the developer has control over that
server,
> that the benefits of developing the application using Web Classes make it
> more suitable than ASP.
>
> Does anyone have an opinion on this issue? It seems that there's not a lot
> of information on Web Classes other than this book and a few scattered
articles
> on the MSDN CD.
>
> We're contemplating a change from our current development tool (ASP) to
Web
> Classes, but we need more information before we can continue.
>
> Any input would be appreciated.

[Bob Hill]

"Russell Jones" <arj1@northstate.net> wrote:
>Bob:
>
>I wrote that book about 2 years ago when WebClasses first appeared. At that
>time, it seemed likely that Microsoft would fix some of the problems with
>WebClass development. As it turns out, they have, but not by extending the
>technology, rather by changing it to .NET.
>
>Although WebClasses have some advantages, particularly for VB6 developers
>looking to enter the Web development arena, they have two deep-rooted
>problems:
>1. Because WebClasses don't work without Sessions enabled, they don't scale
>across Web farms.
>2. There is not currently, and may never be a good upgrade path from
>WebClasses to .NET code-behind classes running in ASP.NET.
>
>My recommendation is that if you must develop with VB6, create stateless
>components and run them in MTS. Use ASP as a front-end to retrieve request
>information and pass that to your MTS components. Avoid using Sessions
>unless you have low scalability needs. Following this model will give you
>great performance and scalability now, and will be relatively easy to
>upgrade later.
>
>If you have sufficient time, consider moving directly to .NET, where you
>have all the advantages of ASP.NET (too many to list here), and you can
work
>in VB.NET, which gives you the advantages of WebClasses without the
>disadvantages of using an apartment-threaded language for Web development,
>plus the advantages of a much newer IDE.
>
>Thanks,
>Russell Jones
>Sr. Web Development Editor,
>DevX.com
>
>
>"Bob Hill" <bob@qlogiccorp.com> wrote in message
>news:3b096817$1@news.devx.com...
>>
>> I have a copy of Russell Jone's VB Developer's Guide to ASP and IIS. The
>author
>> seems to suggest that for larger scale applications where the target is
an
>> IIS server running NT, and where the developer has control over that
>server,
>> that the benefits of developing the application using Web Classes make
it
>> more suitable than ASP.
>>
>> Does anyone have an opinion on this issue? It seems that there's not a
lot
>> of information on Web Classes other than this book and a few scattered
>articles
>> on the MSDN CD.
>>
>> We're contemplating a change from our current development tool (ASP) to
>Web
>> Classes, but we need more information before we can continue.
>>
>> Any input would be appreciated.
>
>
Russell:

Thanks for the reply. I guess you are correct, from the lack of updated information
I've been able to find on WebClasses. I may look into VB.Net but I'm definately
going to pursue MTS and try to focus on more component development and interaction
with ASP.

Thanks again,
Bob