Question about ASP?

[wilbasket168]

What is IIS? What does it stand for? When do we use it. I mean can ASP run in a local machine. Let say if my home computer install Window 2000 or Wind98 on it, can i run ASP script on it or not. Also, what is PWS. what does it used for. Also, what is the ChilliASP and InstantASP. Can you please help me. thanks

[Roy Sinclair]

What is IIS?

Internet Information Services, it's Microsoft's web server software.

I mean can ASP run in a local machine. Let say if my home computer install Window 2000 or Wind98 on it, can i run ASP script on it or not.

ASP installs with IIS under Windows 2000 but you have to massage it to run under Windows 98.

Also, what is PWS.

Personal Web Services - It's what IIS is called if you run it under Windows 98. It's basically the same code but parts of it may be disabled (such as ASP). Save yourself the hassles and don't use Windows 98.

Also, what is the ChilliASP and InstantASP.

Some third parties have provided versions of ASP which work under non-MS web servers and non-MS OSes. Those are both products which fall into that category.

[whammy]

I had problems running PWS under Windows98 SE, but what's funny is it runs great under Windows ME (installed straight off of the Windows 98 disc).

:)

You should be able to test all of your code locally using PWS, but not have outside access to it. At least in my experience.

[^KoalaBear^]

Originally posted by whammy
I had problems running PWS under Windows98 SE, but what's funny is it runs great under Windows ME (installed straight off of the Windows 98 disc).You should be able to test all of your code locally using PWS, but not have outside access to it. At least in my experience.

Whammy... can you expand more on this subject please? Or direct me to a very basic tutorial about this subject? As I keep admitting to being the world's oldest newbie, you need to know I'm building a very nice inferiority complex :( :D

I run Win98 SE and prolly didnt specify to load PWS when I had my lad install it, which I can prolly do when he visits to comes to borrow more money from me! LOL

Seriously though... Can you please explain what you meant by "should be able to test all of your code locally using PWS, but not have outside access to it"

At the moment I upload my test asp files and see if they work by calling them up at their url. My WS_Ftp LE works fine but will soon need it's 1000000 mile service!! Do you mean by 'testing them locally' that is like opening an html file in WE and seeing it as it will look on site? Or something similar?

You also lost me with this comment, too... ""funny is it runs great under Windows ME (installed straight off of the Windows 98 disc)" Isn't ME a completely different Windows OS Version like 2000?

Sigh........ I hope that all makes sense, Matey!:o

Cheers
KB...

[whammy]

Actually you should be able to connect to a PWS server anyway, I know it's supposed to work but when I tested it before I probably either wrote down my IP address wrong, or ZoneAlarm was blocking outside access (wouldn't surprise me)... i.e.:

http://12.34.56.789

If you don't know your ip you can get it a couple ways (assuming you're on cable, not quite sure about dialup!):

Win 95/98:

Go to Start/Run and type "winipcfg" and select your NIC card from the dropdown list

Win 2000, NT, XP:

Go to Start/Run and type "cmd" which will bring up the command prompt.

In the command prompt type:

ipconfig

:)

P.S. Windows ME is just a renamed, souped-up version of Windows 98SE, really. They say PWS isn't supported under ME but I can attest it works just fine (I actually had trouble getting it to run under 98 and not ME...).

[Mhtml]

Your right on the money KB..

An easy to follow tutorial on this (pictures and all) can be found from www.w3schools.com/asp

Once it is installed instead of having to upload to 24.226.62.28 you can just put it in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\ any asp or html files in there can be accessed via opening your browser and typing http://localhost/thefilename.asp

That way you can test all of your files before having to upload.
Also you can't use cdonts (email) scripts like referme on PWS because it is a scaled down version of IIS which is what 24.226.62.28 is.

[whammy]

Yeah, I forgot to mention that (as it's part of the whole "Microsoft" process that you have to learn, and I'm bad about forgetting those things when helping people sometimes, since my brain apparently assumes they already know this stuff!)...

but if you want to test your server from outside (i.e. a remote computer), then use your computer's ip like I showed. :)

[^KoalaBear^]

Thanks fellas....

I can get my IP ok by start/run/winipcfg ok and also via my IRC client (mIRC) too. Sorry I was wondering what I had to do with it though, whammy! :D

Mike... When you say http://localhost/thefilename.asp you mean like http://203.173.etc.etc/thefilename.asp correct? And I must put my thefilename.asp in my c:\inetpub\wwwroot\ folder together with any other relevant files like images etc? Then if I point my browser to http://203.173.etc.etc/thefilename.asp it will be the same as if I was pointing to it at my final url?

So this is like I said before, testing a simple html by WE viewing it in the same folder as all other accompanying files?

Q: Must the .asp files always be in the \wwwroot\ folder for me to test?

Thanks :)

[whammy]

To start out and make things simple on yourself, I would put everything in your wwwroot folder and make that identical to the "root" folder of your remote website.

Once you are more familiar with things you can create virtual directories or what not.

You should be able to test the files on your machine LOCALLY by just going to http://localhost/filename.asp

You can still recreate the directory structure of your website, by having subfolders called "images" or whatnot...

Of course if the file was in a subdirectory called "subdirectory" of wwwroot you would use:

http://localhost/subdirectory/filename.asp

If you want to test the files remotely, then substitute your ip address for "localhost". :)

[Mhtml]

Don't use pws4.0 to serve a website...not a good idea.
I'm running pws4.0 on win98 and it is a pain in the **** but my comp can't run anything better and the chances of getting a new one are next nothing, that is until I start my business for Christmas and rope in a few local business which I'm sure will want some sought of ASP apps...he he he Lotsa money for me.

ANywho my point is that I run into problems every now and again with PWS the most prominent being that I can not use http://localhost or my computer name http://small I have to use http://127.0.0.1 and I have found no documentation on this problem because I'm probably the only stupid person running PWS on win98.:(

[whammy]

Yeah, I don't know why but I gave up on running PWS on Win 98... I had way too many problems.

It was rather surprising to me when I installed PWS on Win ME (from the Win98 SE disc, LOL) and it worked perfectly, and has been working perfectly ever since... :rolleyes:

But now it's only of use to me in testing classic ASP since I don't feel like installing XP Pro on this AND my laptop, so right now I'm just testing all the .net stuff on my laptop... :eek:

[Mhtml]

mmm....pro

[^KoalaBear^]

Ok so because my son has my WIN98 SE disk I'm presently downloading the files to install "Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack" to get PWS on my puter.

Once installed I will create sub folders under \wwwroot\ and use these to hold all my asp and associated files.

I think I misunderstood about the address http://localhost/thefilename.asp. 'localhost' IS my puter, right? To do this I dont have to be connected to the net?

But to test VIA the net, back to my puter, I have to point the browser at http://my.dns.goes.here/subdirectory/filename.asp, yes?

LOL I can imagine the thoughts goin through your two brains right about now ( :rolleyes: ) :D :D :D

[Mhtml]

The thoughts goin' through my head are...

By George I think he's got it!

Lol.

absoloutely correct. I don't think I could have phrased everything you said any better.

[^KoalaBear^]

Being of the age pyramids + 3, I've resisted upgrading my operating system under the guise... "if it aint broke, why fix it?" Almost everywhere I look I see the tute experts suggesting Win2000 over Win98 for working with asp.

I'm interested to get your feed back as to the stabilty of the various systems after Win98 SE and particularly if either of you have used Win2000 with your asp work.

I think I may have been the first guy in Aussie with the original Win98 as I came back from MS's Burn Lab in Seattle fresh with a test disk... and since then have only done the SE upgrade on my puter... with very few problems too. My lad is into Linux and Unix but I told him that's mebbe for my next life! :D

[^KoalaBear^]

ROFL :D :D :D Well Pobody's Nerfect..., Mike!

[whammy]

It does sound like you've got a good handle on it, my Aussie friend.

Well, I have been really hesitant in upgrading for awhile, since initially there were problems with some games I like to play on Windows ME and 2000 (although I wonder about people and their hate of ME, since it runs better for me at home than 98 did)... but I use XP Pro at work and on my laptop now as well, and I can tell you this... it hasn't crashed on me once with a processor greater than 450 mhz.

I think the only thing that caused XP to "truly" crash on me with a 450 or so a couple of times (what I had at work before) was the fact that I had about 15 programs open (multiple instances in some cases which is actually necessary for me to keep on top of things at work!), one of them being Windows Media Player playing my favorite music (the rest were windows I HAD to have open to do my work, or run a necessary program like Outlook Express to make sure I might get critical emails, or Norton AntiVirus since it's company policy!), and the fact that I don't think the computer had enough memory installed to handle all of those programs at once.

I think I can say without hesitation that XP Pro is by far the most stable OS that Microsoft has released to date.

[^KoalaBear^]

Thanks whammy...

I usually have lots of programs open too, particularly PsP and/or PhotoShop, Eudora checking mail every 5 mins and of course WinAmp or other music player. I find that media is VERY hard on puters competing with other programs.