How to create VDF Web Applications

How to create VDF Web Applications page under construction

Introduction

Getting started

To be able to develop ASP pages , then you need Internet Information Server. The most easy way to get that these days is to grab Microsofts Web Platform installer here :

http://www.microsoft.com/web/channel/products/WebPlatformInstaller.aspx

This tool will provide you with a full stack for developing asp related things. It will also keep track of certain things you need to enable on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

You will also need to install Webapp server from the Portal:Visual DataFlex installer. Note that you will need version 14.1 to support the windows 2008 server.

The overall idea

When you have decided to use ASP , then you should try to resist the urge to generate all the html from Visual DataFlex. There are some existing techniques in the web world that can save you time in the long run.

First of all you should understand that ASP is not a new programming language that you need to learn. VDF code can be exposed for asp via COM so that you can call the components via vbscript. ASP is about interfacing code to HTML in a easy way - so use it !

Datamodel model using VDF on the server

• WBO
• Global.asa (this is where your code is stackup up. check the list of WBP's there)

Styling using css

Cascading style sheets can be used to alter the appearance of your web page.

• quirksmode css

Javascript on the client

Now - after having being told that you really shouldn't be doing any clientside code when you are a vdf programmer, then here are some instructions for doing exactly that! (Note that you can accomplish a lot just by using the wizards in the AJAX library )

== Validation

• HTML ( validate here: [1] )
• Cascading Style Sheets ( validate here: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ )
• Javascript ( validate here: http://www.jslint.com/ )

• quirksmode javacript