Question

Formatting issues with ASP / SQL results

Asked by: smyers051972

Hi,

I am pretty new to ASP programming but am working on a project that pulls simple data from a MSSQL server (2000) and places it into a ASP page. I am trying to build it into tables so it is nicely formatted and tho the code is not that great I am about 50% the way there. My issue is, and the screen shot will show that when it builds the HTML table if there is null data in the results it fails to build the entire table and shows as an empty void.

I need some help to refine how the formatting takes place to display the results a little better then it is now.

Thanks!

Code & Screen shot attached, the white boxes are the confidential info I had to cut out. Also Circled in RED the areas showing the missing spots.

screen-shot.bmp
- 747 KB
Screen Shot

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Asked On: 2009-11-05 at 11:57:33ID24875804
Tags: ASP MSSQL Results nulls
Topic: Active Server Pages (ASP)
Participating Experts: 2
Points: 500
Comments: 10

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Answers

by: smyers051972Posted on 2009-11-05 at 11:57:58ID: 25753269

Cant attach code first try here it is

by: smyers051972Posted on 2009-11-05 at 12:03:55ID: 25753333

here it is below:

by: carrzkissPosted on 2009-11-05 at 12:04:13ID: 25753337

For the area's that do not have data, you would do something like this:

<%if rs("recordname")="none" then%>
empty data field here
<%else%>
<%=rs("recordname")%>
<%end if%>

No this is assuming that you have a default value for the entries.
I trust entering default values over using a NULL any time.
I just feel more comfortable doing it this way.

Carrzkiss

by: CCongdonPosted on 2009-11-05 at 12:09:47ID: 25753404

Similar to carrzkiss's anwser, but a little cleaner and easier to implement. Add the attached function to your ASP code.

Then, when you go to display a field from your table call it like this:

<%=showCell(rs("recordname"))%>

That way, a non-breaking space is entered if you have null/empty data. With an nbsp in the cell, the cell is rendered because it has content.

<%
Function showCell(str)
  showCell = "&nbsp;"
  if (str <> "") then showCell = str
End Function
%>

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by: CCongdonPosted on 2009-11-05 at 12:11:12ID: 25753416

OK, I see you're not making shortcut calls but building the table programmatically, so you'd take your line that says:

Response.write "<th>" & Recordset("Sourcecode") & " "

And replace it with

Response.write "<th>" & showCell(Recordset("Sourcecode")) & " "

and change all the other lines to a similar thing.

by: smyers051972Posted on 2009-11-05 at 12:13:49ID: 25753440

Ill try it thanks! :)

by: smyers051972Posted on 2009-11-05 at 12:16:50ID: 25753463

Thank you!

by: carrzkissPosted on 2009-11-05 at 12:20:28ID: 25753509

To go with what CCongdon has wrote.
If it works for you, it is best to display the contents of the page, it makes
It easier to build your page correctly, doing it as you have done
Is alright, but takes the creativity out of your hands.

Example below, using CCongdon's example.

Carrzkiss

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<style type="text/css"> 
html, address, 
blockquote, 
body, dd, div, 
dl, dt, fieldset, form, 
frame, frameset, 
h1, h2, h3, h4, 
h5, h6, noframes, 
ol, p, ul, center, 
dir, hr, menu, pre   { display: block } 
li              { display: list-item } 
head            { display: none } 
table           { display: table } 
tr              { display: table-row } 
thead           { display: table-header-group } 
tbody           { display: table-row-group } 
tfoot           { display: table-footer-group } 
col             { display: table-column } 
colgroup        { display: table-column-group } 
td, th          { display: table-cell } 
caption         { display: table-caption } 
th              { font-weight: bolder; text-align: center } 
caption         { text-align: center } 
body            { margin: 8px } 
h1              { font-size: 2em; margin: .67em 0 } 
h2              { font-size: 1.5em; margin: .75em 0 } 
h3              { font-size: 1.17em; margin: .83em 0 } 
h4, p, 
blockquote, ul, 
fieldset, form, 
ol, dl, dir, 
menu            { margin: 1.12em 0 } 
h5              { font-size: .83em; margin: 1.5em 0 } 
h6              { font-size: .75em; margin: 1.67em 0 } 
h1, h2, h3, h4, 
h5, h6, b, 
strong          { font-weight: bolder } 
blockquote      { margin-left: 40px; margin-right: 40px } 
i, cite, em, 
var, address    { font-style: italic } 
pre, tt, code, 
kbd, samp       { font-family: monospace } 
pre             { white-space: pre } 
button, textarea, 
input, select   { display: inline-block } 
big             { font-size: 1.17em } 
small, sub, sup { font-size: .83em } 
sub             { vertical-align: sub } 
sup             { vertical-align: super } 
table           { border-spacing: 2px; } 
thead, tbody, 
tfoot           { vertical-align: middle } 
td, th, tr      { vertical-align: inherit } 
s, strike, del  { text-decoration: line-through } 
hr              { border: 1px inset } 
ol, ul, dir, 
menu, dd        { margin-left: 40px } 
ol              { list-style-type: decimal } 
ol ul, ul ol, 
ul ul, ol ol    { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 } 
u, ins          { text-decoration: underline } 
br:before       { content: "\A"; white-space: pre-line } 
center          { text-align: center } 
:link, :visited { text-decoration: underline } 
:focus          { outline: thin dotted invert } 
  
/* Begin bidirectionality settings (do not change) */ 
bdo[DIR="ltr"]  { direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: bidi-override } 
bdo[DIR="rtl"]  { direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: bidi-override } 
  
*[DIR="ltr"]    { direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed } 
*[DIR="rtl"]    { direction: rtl; unicode-bidi: embed } 
  
@media print { 
  h1            { page-break-before: always } 
  h1, h2, h3, 
  h4, h5, h6    { page-break-after: avoid } 
  ul, ol, dl    { page-break-before: avoid } 
} 
</style> 
  
<html>
<title>Casino Source Tracking Site</title> 
</head>
<body> 
<table border="2" bgcolor="#888888" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> 
<% 
'declare the variables 
Dim Connection 
Dim ConnString 
Dim Recordset 
Dim SQL 
  
'define the connection string, specify database driver 
ConnString="DRIVER={SQL Server};SERVER=SQLVM;UID=sa;" & _ 
"PWD=password;DATABASE=sourcetracking" 
  
'declare the SQL statement that will query the database 
SQL = "SELECT Source_ID, sourcecode, CompanyName, ContactFirstName, ContactLastName, XXX_Conact, XXX_CostCenter, DateAdded, Active FROM sourcecodes" 
  
'create an instance of the ADO connection and recordset objects 
Set Connection = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection") 
Set Recordset = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset") 
  
'Open the connection to the database 
Connection.Open ConnString 
  
'Open the recordset object executing the SQL statement and return records 
Recordset.Open SQL,Connection 
  
'first of all determine whether there are any records 
If Recordset.EOF Then 
Response.Write("No records returned.") 
Else 
'if there are records then loop through the fields 
Do While NOT Recordset.Eof   
 %>        
  <%
Function showCell(str)
  showCell = "&nbsp;"
  if (str <> "") then showCell = str
End Function
%>
<tr><th><a href="<%=Recordset("Source_ID")%>"><%=Recordset("Source_ID")%></a></th>
<th><%=showCell(Recordset("Sourcecode"))%> </th>
<th><%=showCell(Recordset("CompanyName"))%> </th>
<th><%=showCell(Recordset("ContactFirstName"))%> </th>
<th><%=showCell(Recordset("ContactLastName"))%> </th>
<th><%=showCell(Recordset("XXX_Contact"))%> </th>
<th><%=showCell(Recordset("XXX_CostCenter"))%> </th>
<th><%=showCell(Recordset("DateAdded"))%> </th>
<th><%=showCell(Recordset("Active"))%> </th>
</tr>&quot; 
<%
Recordset.MoveNext    
Loop 
End If 
 %>
 </table>
 <%  
'close the connection and recordset objects to free up resources 
Recordset.Close 
Set Recordset=nothing 
Connection.Close 
Set Connection=nothing 
%> 
</body>
</html>

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by: CCongdonPosted on 2009-11-05 at 12:37:48ID: 25753731

I agree with carrzkiss, you'd be better off moving the actual table into the HTML section of the page and not programmatically build it. That way you can use your page editor to adjust your table. Then fill each cell with a call to the recordset. The one exception is that I'd move the showCell function above the Do While NOT line...

by: carrzkissPosted on 2009-11-05 at 12:47:17ID: 25753835

agree.
I just thru it together and posted.
I actually wanted it done differently then what I posted.
As in:
All the ASP/SQL code needs to go above the head
All your CSS needs to be added into it's own file.

Example Attached (remove the .txt from each of the files)

Carrzkiss

Q-24875804.zip
- 2 KB
split files, properly ordered

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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Formatting issues with ASP / SQL results

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