Cannot see results

Do you see anything? Get any errors? Is everything on the server? How are you calling the page?

If you try to view an asp page without going through the server (use file/open) or look at it in FrontPage, you'll see NOTHING. It MUST be accessed through the server -- usually it's http://localhost/whatever.asp.

Yes I go thru Frontpage to preview. When I click on preview it says

"This page contains items that need to be saved or published to view correctly"

So publish it and call it up so it runs on the server. You CANNOT preview server side scripting/content in FrontPage.

FrontPage told you exactly what the problem was.  Is there a reason why you didn't believe it? ;-)

Yes, since my book says that if IIS is installed that you can view.

Actually, you have way tooo much of an attitude. Please do not bother with my questions. This is the second one you have answered, and neither was very helpful

Yes, you can view it. But NOT in FrontPage.

I'm sorry, but FrontPage told you exactly what the problem was. You should go back and review what your book says -- if it says you can see the results of your ASP page in FrontPage, you should write them and tell them the book is incorrect. I'm sure you won't be the first to do so.

Books have lots of mistakes in them. This wouldn't be the first book with wrong info, and it certainly won't be the last.

The answer was helpful and correct. And stated twice. I told you how you could view it, that you couldn't view it without going through the server, and how to bring it up in the server. FrontPage told you the same thing.

Try previewing it in a browser rather than using the FP preview tab. While the page is loaded in Frontpage select FILE/PREVIEW IN BROWSER. Then select the browser you wish to view it in from the dialog box that appears.

Yes, I have tried previewing in the browser, it doesn't work. That is why I am thinking that IIS is not configured correctly.

Frontpage lets you preview in the browser, and my book says that if IIS is loaded, that it should work.

Be sure that your web is marked as an application root in IIS.

Also check to see that your system has Microsoft Data Access Components installed and IIS has the FrontPage Server Extensions installed that are apprpriate to your version of FP.

I think the directory is marked is IIS, it has a diferent symbol than the rest of the directories. FrontPage extensions is checkmarked as being loaded (it says it takes 0.0meg of space).

The ISP finally got the FP extentions loaded, I published to the web, and when I bring up the form, I get

SQLState: IM002
Native Error Code: 0
[INTERSOLV][ODBC lib] Data source name not found and no default driver specified

One or more form fields were empty. You should provide default values for all form fields that are used in the query.

You won't like my suggestion, but you should really forget FrontPage if you want to do any database work. It doesn't work well, doesn't provide any flexibility in scripting and keeps you from understanding what you're doing.

If you want to do database connection via asp (which is what you're doing), you need to understand how it works. FrontPage makes it very hard to do that.

You're using the wrong database driver, probably the wrong connection string, or the DSN doesn't exist on the server. Or possibly all three. This won't be the first error -- once you correct it, you'll find you have about 20 zillion others, which you'll have to correct one at a time and which FrontPage will nicely re-break for you.

FrontPage is fine for some things. This isn't one of them.

No choice. Have to use Frontpage.

Then you'll have to edit the code by hand. Use HTML view. Get a good ASP book. (I liked ASP from Scratch -- lots of very complete code examples and a CD)

You don't need to use FrontPage just because you have IIS -- I have that, and don't use FrontPage just because of the types of problems you've run into. The site I maintain was initially done in FrontPage, and some sections still are. They work just fine -- they can even use the FP forms/bots/etc. since they sit on an IIS/FP server.

But if you're getting into database work, you'll find that working in HTML view will make your life a LOT easier.

It's not that you can't use FrontPage, it's just that there are lots and lots of things you can do that FP will just NOT do for you. The only way to do them is to code them by hand. Also, the FP interface doesn't like custom anything -- not javascript or asp. Start doing anything outside of the wizards (which as you found don't always work anyway) and it just refuses to help you at all.

But the bottom line is that you don't have to use FrontPage to have a site or pages on a FP server. As a matter of fact, most asp pages are NOT done in FP and almost all of them would be on FP servers.

If this is for your employer, this would be a good time to request some asp training, and a good code editor. HomeSite is cheap, but FirstPage is free. ;-) If it's for yourself, or a school project, FirstPage is free... www.evrsoft.com

GaryZ:

It sounds like you have bee able to resolve some of the issues and that now the problem may be that when you did the reuslts wizard in FP it coded everything to rely on a System Data Source Name (DSN)connection to the database that points to the data source and none exists.
 
If this is the case you will need to create one or if you are having the site hosted have your ISP create one.

An alternate is to code a DSNless connection to the database which can be done by hand coding your ASP or using a Frontpage add in like ASP Web Wizard 2000 for Databases provided for FP 2000 by Microsoft see:

http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=kb;en-us;Q206019

Once installed as an add in to FP it allows you to

Create a database with a form.
Set up a database connection using ODBC.
Set up a database connection using ADO.
Use a form to post information to a database.
Use a form to retrieve information from a database.
Use a hyperlink with parameters to retrieve information from a database.
Create an active hyperlink using a field in a database.
Display images using data from a database.

If I am not mistaken you can have it create both DSN and DSNless connections to the databases it creates.

The hosting company says that they have created a database and gave me the name and said I needt ot connect to it (?)

GaryZ:

Assuming you are using FP 2000...

Open the web on the ISP's server in FrontPage 2000, and on the Tools menu, click Web Settings, and click the Database tab.

Click Add.

In the New Database Connection dialog box, type the name of the database in the Name box.

Click to select the System data source on web server option.

Click Browse.

In the System Data Source On Web Server dialog box, click to select the name of your database in the Name
column, and click OK.

Click to select the connection, and click Verify.

After the question mark changes to a check mark, click OK.


You should be able to use the database results wzard at this point to create a page to access the data base.

They created a database? That's not a help -- what database? What fields? What formats on the fields? Did they make a DSN? If so, what are the settings for it? Did they set permissions correctly? What names do the fields have? How about the tables? YOu need to know all of that to be able to use it.

Do you really want to have to go through this everytime you want to make a new database, set up a new query on it, design a new form? Do you want to have no idea what's happening, be locked into whatever FrontPage decides you need?

Or do you want to know how the database is set up, understand how to connect to it, know if you need a DSN or can use a DSN-less connection (and know how to set one up), be able to create your own queries, your own forms, your own results pages?

ASP can do amazing things. But not if you only use the FrontPage wizards. They are very confining.

The most frustrating thing about ASP is that it has to be right on BOTH ends -- both the asp coding AND the set up on the server has to be right.

The folder where the database is has to have the right permissions or it won't work, even if your code is perfect. Again, you can't change this -- the ISP/hosting company has to. The database itself has to have the right permissions -- again, unless you have total access to the server and can change things there, you won't be able to do that.

If you do have total access to the server, those things have to be set at a couple of levels -- they have to be set in IIS, and on the folder/file level.

And again, this isn't something that's usually mentioned in FrontPage books. They just walk you through the wizards, and then you're left to wonder why it's not working.

Actually, I have no idea what they were talking about. The ISP emailed me and gave me the name of the database to connect to and the password.

I called out to the adult education complex and the person that teaches Frontpage is suppose to give me a call.

I write COBOL, Lotus Notes, JavaScript. This Frontpage database has me baffled.

Then don't use it. You don't have to. You'd be much better off (and probably a lot more comfortable) writing your own asp code.

How much you want to bet that whoever teaches FrontPage there doesn't know much about working with databases either? (I work at a college, you'd be surprised how little some instructors know of the subjects they're teaching.)

OK. I am getting there. I have discovered that the asp page needs to be saved to the inetpub/wwwroot in order to view it.

I have created a sample database and asp (using 3 or 4 different tutorials to get where I want to be). The last tutorial was how to open a dsnless database (which is what I assume I should use).

In the following code I get an error on line 9: Conn.open(ConStr)

Again I am assuming it cannot find the database (which is located in the same directory). Am I on the right track? Can you help with code?  Thanks

<% Response.buffer = true %>
<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>nwind.asp</TITLE>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"></HEAD>
<%
accessdb=server.mappath("odbc_example.mdb")
Set Conn = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
ConStr = "Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (odbc_example.mdb)};DBQ=" & DataConn & ";"
Conn.open(ConStr)


While Not rs.EOF
Response.Write "ID : " & rs("id") & "<br>"
Response.Write "First Name : " & rs("first_name") & "<br>"
Response.Write "Last Name : " & rs("last_name") & "<br>"
Response.Write "<br>"
rs.MoveNext
Wend

rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing %>
</body>
</html>

Yes, you're getting MUCH closer... and you're right, the connection string is wrong. Here's the basic one I use.

   set car_opsDB = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
    'Open the connection
'Access connection code
car_opsDB.Open "DBQ=" & Server.MapPath("jobs.mdb") & ";Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};"

Change the connection name and the database name to match what you're using, and you should be good. You may need to add a username/password, but not necessarily. Try it first, see if you still get an error on that line.

I use Server.MapPath because I don't always know the physical path for the database, and that's what's needed. If your site is hosted somewhere else and you don't control the server, it means you don't have to worry about where the database is sitting -- or if it gets moved for any reason.

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Moondancer
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Keep getting closer. I was getting a strange error message from the IIS server so I loaded the asp and database to the server and I get the following error from the server:

ADODB.Connection.1 error '800a0bb9'

The application is using arguments that are of the wrong type, are out of acceptable range, or are in conflict with one another.

/new/example.asp, line 11


Line 11 is:

hcar_opsDB.Open "DBQ=" & Server.MapPath("odbc_exmp.mdb") & ";Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};"

And you are right, noone that teaches Frontpage knows how to do the database stuff.

Opps back copy/paste, Line 11 is really

car_opsDB.Open "DBQ=" & Server.MapPath("odbc_exmp.mdb") & ";Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};"

Can you post a few lines before and after that one?

Sometimes it's not the line the throws the error that is the error -- if you're calling something before that line that sets up something that conflicts with this, you'd get the error on this line, but the real problem would be the other line... sorry if that sounds convoluted, but more code would definitely help. ;-)

This is the whole thing:

<% Response.buffer = true %>
<html>
<head>
<title>Stardeveloper.com Database Tutorial</title>
</head>
<body>
<% Dim rs
 set car_opsDB = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
   'Open the connection
'Access connection code
car_opsDB.Open "DBQ=" & Server.MapPath("odbc_exmp.mdb") & ";Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};"

rs = "select * FROM names"

While Not rs.EOF
Response.Write "ID : " & rs("id") & "<br>"
Response.Write "First Name : " & rs("first_name") & "<br>"
Response.Write "Last Name : " & rs("last_name") & "<br>"
Response.Write "<br>"
rs.MoveNext
Wend

rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing %>
</body>
</html>

1 mystery solved. The server I am loading to does not support DSNLESS connections.

With all due respect...
You should have listened to Webwoman in the beginning, since she clearly answered the original topic of your inquiry regardless of how her answer may have been stated or your feelings about what the correct answer would mean to you personally.

Before you close this out, I would respectfully suggest that you offer an apology to Webwoman and thank her for her time, persistence and accurate help in spite of your original reaction to her offer of assistance.

I could not agree with you more, sduell.  In fact, webwoman should receive the points and an "A" grade for this.

Finalized today.

Moondancer - EE Moderator

You've created a question in Community Support stating this was awarded in error, what would you like done here?

Moondancer - EE Moderator

GaryZ is having a problem with my having finalized this question.  The Community Support discussion is here:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/Q.20303121.html

I am awaiting GaryZ's comments on what he'd like done with this question; as a full month passed since the last input AND my request to finalize it.

Moondancer - EE Moderator

Still no response, and have invited him to Email Administration.
Moondancer - EE Moderator