Visual InterDev For Dummies
Introduction
Welcome to Visual InterDev 6.0 For Dummies! This book is your fast-track to creating exciting, dynamic Web applications with the most exciting Web development tool out there: Microsoft’s Visual InterDev 6.
Making use of a smorgasbord of technologies including Active Server Pages (ASP), database access with Active Data Objects (ADO) and ODBC, client- and server-side ActiveX components, and many more, Visual InterDev 6.0 empowers you as no other development environment. But the real trick is that it makes using all of all these technologies pretty darn easy!
Who Are You?
Looking into my crystal ball, I bet I can make a few guesses about who you might be…
- You might be the Webmaster or developer for an Internet site that wants to create my dynamic Web pages to increase traffic, sell information or products or simply get your ideas across more clearly.
- You might be the Webmaster or developer for an Intranet site that is developing internal corporate applications to make other employees’ jobs easier or more efficient.
- Or you might just be one of those incurable techie-types that always has to have your fingers in all the newest and coolest technologies. They ought to lock you guys up!
In any case, I’m going to assume that you have some experience developing Web pages. You probably already know HTML and you may have done some programming either using a Web scripting language like JavaScript or Perl. Or maybe you’ve done some traditional programming with a language like Visual Basic, PowerBuilder, Delphi, Java or C/C++.
Because of these (perhaps foolish) assumptions, I don’t show you how to write HTML in this book. If you want to brush up on that topic, you should check out HTML For Dummies, 3rd Edition, by Ed Tittel (published by IDG Books Worldwide, Inc.). I also don’t cover the JavaScript language for use in client-side scripting. But again, JavaScript For Dummies, 2nd Edition, by Emily A. Vander Veer (also published by IDG Books Worldwide, Inc.) can give you everything you need to know. I do include an appendix that covers VBScript, if you don’t already know it, because you'll use that a lot in your server-side scripting. Finally, if you want to dig deeper into the mysteries of Active Server Pages in general, I happen to know of a really good book on that topic, too: Active Server Pages For Dummies (by yours-truly and published by IDG Books Worldwide, Inc.).
Why Use Visual InterDev 6.0?
Visual InterDev 6.0 is only one of the many, many tools that are designed to make your Web pages easier to create. So why settle on it? Actually, I can think of many good reasons.
Other tools are focused on making your Web pages prettier. Visual InterDev 6.0 is more focused on helping you easily create more powerful and productive Web applications – pages that actually do something.
Setting up flexible applications that allow you to view and update the information in a database, for example, is one of Visual InterDev 6.0’s specialties.
If you are familiar with Visual Basic, Visual C++ or Visual J++, you’ll find the Visual InterDev 6.0’s development environment looks very familiar. This common look and feel makes Visual InterDev 6.0 easy to learn and that makes you more productive!
Why Read This Book?
OK, so you’ve decided on Visual InterDev 6.0. So why read this book? Good question. In this book I’ll show you how to quickly dive right in and make Visual InterDev 6.0 work for you. No long, drawn-out conceptual chapters and no dwelling on insignificant details. Instead I’ll focus on the concepts and techniques you need to know to get your work done and look like a genius.
How This Book Is Organized
This book is divided into five parts and each part consists of several chapters. In general it starts off with the basics and then moves on to more complex topics. But that doesn’t mean you have to read it from front to back. If you already know the topic, skip ahead. Or skip right to the topics that interest you most, if you want. I won’t tell anyone. But just remember, if you run across something that is confusing or doesn’t make sense, you might want to look back at what came before. I’ll try to point you to related material or stuff-you-need-to-know-to-understand-this-stuff wherever appropriate.
The next sections describe the parts and what each covers.
Part I: Creating A Web Site
This part is the foundation to all the rest. It introduces you to the user interface and tells you what all the little doo-hickies on the screen do. It also describes how Visual InterDev is organized and how you can use it to design your Web site and start creating really cool Web pages.
Part II: Making Your Web Pages Smarter with Scripts
If all you want to do is create the Web equivalent to a sales brochure or annual report, then you can do that easily enough. But if you want to create real Web applications that actually do cool stuff, then you need to go beyond HTML into the world of client- and server-side scripting. In this section I’ll introduce the concept of scripting and how it works. Then I’ll show you how to do it in Visual InterDev 6.0. You’ll find out about all the cool stuff you can do when you have a real programming language and lots of cool objects to play with.
Part III: Accessing the Database
Databases enable you to keep track of lots and lots of information in an orderly way. And because Web pages are probably the best way to see and distribute information, databases and the Web are a match made in heaven! In this part, you find out how to make that match happen. Don’t worry; it’s much easier than it looks.
The highlight of your database journey will be a tour Billy-Bob’s Internet Auction Application. That’s right - now you can host auctions on your own Web site to sell all your precious stuff to the highest bidder. This application demonstrates a lot of cool database techniques and gives you a foundation for creating your own database Web applications.
Part IV: Wrapping It Up!
Unless you are a lot closer to perfect than I am, your scripting is going to be quickly followed up by debugging. And in this part you'll discover Visual InterDev's integrated debugging capabilities.
You'll also get tips and instructions on the best way to finally deploy your application so that the world can see your masterpiece!
Part V: The Part of Tens
And now, the part you’ve all been waiting for: the Part of Tens! In the Part of Tens, you discover the ten best of everything Visual InterDev-related. Nope, I’m not giving away any secrets. And no fair jumping to the Part of Tens first!
Part VI: The Appendixes
Finally the Appendixes cap things off with a few handy places to look for need-to-know information.
First you'll explore all the secrets of VBScript. In this chapter I've boiled down this language to its essentials so you can quickly pick it up, read through it and be scripting your own Web pages in no time.
Next I offer a few tips and thoughts on installing Visual InterDev. If you haven't already completed this step, you might want to check here before you do. I don't have all the answers, and the process is a little complicated, but I'll definitely point you in the right direction and give you a good shove.
Last but not least is On the CD. We've packed the CD with useful components and other stuff to make your Web application life easier. Check it out!
How To Read This Book
Actually, I'm quite sure you know how to read this book. It works much like any other book -- you start with the first word, proceed to the second and go on like that until there are no more words.
But there are a few things that might trip you up here and there. When I want to show you a portion of a Web page or some script from a page, it will look like this.
|
<% Response.Cookie("Music")("Style") = "Alternative" %> |
I'll sometimes refer to something you'll see on the screen or something you should type using a monospace font, like this:
Type this in the textbox: Pookie.
Also, scattered throughout the coming chapters, you'll find step-by-step descriptions of how to do almost anything you want to do in Visual InterDev. They will always start with a line which describes what the steps will do, followed by a colon. Then the things you are supposed to do are in bold. The things that happen in response and all descriptions are in regular type.
I'll refer to items on the menu bar that I want you to select by using a notation that looks like this: File -> Open.
Finally, sometimes I'll refer you to Visual InterDev's online help for more information. The online help is organized into a big tree-like structure. So to tell you where a specific help topic is, I'll start with the root and then tell you each branch to take until you get to the specific document. It will look something like this.
MSDN Library Visual Studio 6.0 -> Visual InterDev Documentation -> Reference -> Scripting Object Model -> Script Objects -> Recordset Script Object
Visual Contact!
I’m a feedback junky! Send me all your comments -- good or bad. I want to hear them – I need to hear them! You can reach me via e-mail at
You can also visit one of the best software developer Web sites at:
In fact, on that very site, you’ll find a link to a Web site that is completely dedicated to this book:
http://www.edgequest.com/VI6FD
There you’ll find cool Visual InterDev 6.0 examples, book corrections (like we would ever make a mistake!), and links to other great Web development sites.
On the CD
The CD included in the back of this book includes the complete Internet Auction application (discussed in Chapter 14) and a lot of shareware, demo, and freeware components and examples.
Margin Icons
Like bacon without eggs. Like the Captin without Tenneal. What would a Dummies book be without those cute little icons in the margin of almost every page? But they’re not there just to make the page look more interesting. They actually mean something! What do they mean? I’m glad you asked…
| Technical Stuff | This icon indicates technical trivia that is interesting (to me, at least!) but not at all necessary to understanding Visual InterDev 6. If I go off on a techie rant, I promise I’ll at least warn you with one of these icons so you can skip it, if you want. |
| Tip | Look next to these icons for a hint or quick idea that can help make your life just a little simpler. |
| Warning | Danger, Will Robinson! This icon labels important information that can help you avoid impending doom. Ignore these tidbits at your own peril. |
| Remember | Indicates important tidbits to tuck away for quick reference in your brain. |
| Weirdness | If I designed the world, everything would be nice, sane and normal. And it would all make sense. Unfortunately, no one has offered me that gig yet, so the world is still a very messy and confusing place. However, I can at least point out the places where things work in a, shall we say, non-intuitive way. I’ll do that with this icon. (By the way, I think this icon is by far the coolest looking one of the bunch.) |
| On The CD | Find this icon to locate cool components and examples in their already-typed form on the CD. |