Why use Database?
Database, like text files, cookies, and the Session and
Application objects, have their time and place. If you need to
store a lot of information over a long period of time, databases
are clearly the way to go. An entire branch of computer science
is dedicated to study database design and how to create
efficient database system. Due to this intensive research into
database system, a database is the most effective and efficient
method of storing method.
Working with Database Using ASP
Now that we've discussed the importance of using database,
it's time to get your hand dirty and begin working with them! We
will start with simple example using Microsoft Access 2000 or
2002 database for query through ASP page. Create a database
named 'FriendsContactInfo.mdb', and create a table named
'Friends' that contains the following columns.
| Field Name |
Data Type |
| Name |
Text |
| Street Address |
Text |
| City |
Text |
| State |
Text |
| Zip |
Text |
| Phone Number |
Text |
Now add some information for friends of yours into
table. You have now created a database with one table using Access
2000 or 2002 . Now that you have a database, you can query it
through ASP page. To communicate with a database through an ASP
page, you need to use the ActiveX Data Object component (ADO). This
Component provides a number of objects that can be used to connect
to and query a database. When you want to retrieve information from
a database, you need to use a two-step process.
1. Establish a connection to the database.
2. Query the database, asking the database for the information you
are interested in.
The following listing contains the code for
display information of friends you added in database. It uses the
Connection and Recordset objects to display the information from
Friends tables.
<!--#Include Virtual="/adovbs.inc">
<%
'Open up a connection to our Access Database
'We will use a DSN-Less connection.
Dim objConn
Set objConn = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
objConn.ConnectionString = "DRIVERS={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};"
& _
"DBQ=c:\database\FriendsContactInfo.mdb"
objConn.Open
'Create Recordset object instance and retrieve the information
Dim objRS
Set objRS = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.RecordSet")
objRS.Open "Friends", objConn, , adCmdTable
'Display the content of the Friends table
Do while Not objRS.EOF
Response.Write "<B>" & objRS("Name") & "</B><BR>"
Response.Write objRS("Street Address") & "<BR>"
Response.Write objRS("City") & ", " & objRS("State") & "<BR>"
Response.Write objRS("ZIP") & "<BR>"
Response.Write objRS("Phone Number") & "<p><HR><P>"
'Move to the next row in the friends table
objRS.MoveNext
Loop
'Clean up our ADO objects
objRS.Close
Set objRS = Nothing
objConn.Close
Set objConn = Nothing
%>
