[thelist] Basic CGI questions; LONG POST

[aardvark]

> From: "Green, Janet" <JGreen at DesMoinesMetro.com>

d'oh !  saw CGI in the subject, assumed perl, passed it over...
 
> How do I know if MS SQL is available? Something else to look for on my
> server? And... are there online resources for ready-made ASP scripts
> (like javascript.com, only for ASP), and, generally speaking, how do
> you evaluate the reliability and other factors of a third-party script
> before you buy it (I assume you have to *buy* it...)?  For that
> matter, what factors are important when evaluating a third-party
> script?

ok, some options...

first you want to gather the info form a form... no biggie, that's a five-
minute job...

now, you want to email it... also no biggie, *provided* you have 
access to an SMTP server... if you do, you can use CDONTS for 
mailing, which while it may mean nothing to you, means you can 
find lots of scripts to do it...

next, you want to write the data somewhere... you can use 
Access, the advantage being you don't need Access installed on 
the server, just an .mdb file... this way if there is no SQL, you can 
still do db stuff... failing access to Access, you can do my old 
standby, use the file system object (FSO) to write the data to 
delimited flat files that can be imported into your db of choice, or 
even Excel...

it's even possible you can write .vcard info to the email so that 
Goldmine can snag it...

now, i suspect you aren't going to do all this, but when you start 
tracking someone down who may do it, at least you'll have heard 
some of it before...

places to get free ASP scripts, and learn 'em, include:

http://4guysfromrolla.com/
http://www.learnasp.com/
(and many others)

writing the scripts you are talking about it pretty simple, and any 
ASP monkey on this list should be able to do it in a couple to a 
few hours... and once you have the script, you can repurpose it 
over and over...

if you do find a free script, ask about it here...