>Thanks Guy. I find it it funny that I am finally hearing from a real person that IIS apps (I assume that is what you are saying when you mention ASP and DLLs) are noe the way to go. I have been to far too many web sites that all say DHMTL or WebClasses, or IIS is the way to go. Even a page on MSDN says don't use IIS as that is not Micorosft's path for the future (however this article might be pretty old). If you don't mind a couple of more questions here they are. If you choose the route of utilizing ASP and DLLs how much functionality are you giving up? For instance, most up my VB apps I write utilize Crystal Reports OCX (or the engine depending on the app). How can I provide things like ActiveX controls down to the client from the server? This is my difficulty. I don't want to have to try and learn to be a Web developer (if I had more time I might), I just want to develop for the Web with VB. Could you maybe just give me an overall personal viewpoint on how much feature-richness is
>lost when migrating to the Web? I realize this e-mail is kind of all over the place, but that's where my head is at this point too. :)
>
>Merci.
I've been doing only Web apps for the past 3 years.
Beside what I already stated, I must say that the switch from rich VB forms to dumb HTML is a pain. Your used to have a rich client where you store state, place controls but it's like going back 20 years back in time when you start programming for the Web. After the learnig curve and when you know the limits of the client (browser), it's kinda fun.
Speaking of clients, if you don't use ActiveX controls, yes, it's easier to support your users. So I'd recommend against using them maybe except the one from Crystal Reports.
As of how to program, well this is what I would recommend:
Place all your business logic in a class.
Place all your database access in another class.
Either create 1 or 2 DLLs.
Place your DLLs in COM+ packages.
Place all your presentation layer in the ASP page.
In your ASP page, keep the code (VBScript not the HTML) to a minimum.
A good framework for the DLLs is the Fitch & Mathers framework/project.
There's 2 versions. I'd suggest you start reading version 1 documentation an then read version 2.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnfmstock/html/fmstocks_starthere.aspHope this help
