ASP to ASP.NET - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

eanda9001 · 10-20-2004, 09:50 AM

I have inherited a large web app in ASP along with the original developer. What criteria should I use to determine if we should go to ASP.NET. How much effort is involved? Can I do new development in ASP.NET and still have it work well with the ASP legacy?

Spanxxx · 10-20-2004, 01:39 PM

Budget usually. That's always a good factor on deciding whether or not to switch over to .Net. However, a good developer should be able to use .Net going forward and make the two pieces of your app work together. An option is to do new work in .Net and as changes come up on the app that are on .asp pages, rewrite them in .Net. For maintenance going forward and for speed, I'd suggest taking advantage of .Net and build the pages in that. Development cycles for web apps are much faster using .Net than they were in asp. I've found myself developing apps in literally hours compared to what would have been days before on asp.

asshopo · 10-22-2004, 05:10 AM

Spanxxx is right. Also, if you have a basic set of classes for both your sql and common functions, you will develop even faster.

For example, where I work, after a year of work, we developed a good set of classes and a common way to access data. Each table in the db has its own class with add/update/delete/get single/get collection. Those classes use a common db class which then can use MSSQL or MySQL (this part still needs alot of work) to connect to the db and perform the query. We then wrote a program to read the fields from the table and generate our class and stored procedures (we mainly use MSSQL). Basicly, we develop the database and then generate all the classes off it. Sure, alot of custom methods have to be written, but the majority of the grunt work is done. Most of our software has some sort of data processing app. For this reason, all these classes are compiled into a dll that both the website and the applications use. What took us 2 weeks before we got this process developed only takes 2 days now.

Another class is common web functions. Set default selected in a listbox/checkbox/combo box, etc. Another class is common things for reporting, such as GetFirstDayOfMonth (passing in a DateTime.Now), LastDayOfMonth, etc. All this stuff seems simple and "well, I can just do it each time I need it", but having it all common and prebuilt is nice!

I would never go back to ASP unless I was going to get paid alot more and even then, I'd try to convince them (client/boss) to go .NET.

Edit: To actually answer your question (went of in a different direction

), yes, you can use traditional asp in an asp.net project. Make an asp.net project, place all your asp files in it, and slowly convert if you can't do a 100% convert right away.

eanda9001 · 10-22-2004, 07:58 AM

Well, it would seem .net is the way to go. I am surprised that .net does not provide a persistence layer generator, this is very common in the J2EE world. JDeveloper (Oracle's IDE for Java) will generate a set of classes that mirror a database for example. You can extend the classes.

My experience is that to have a persistence layer is the way to go. I am still learning about the ADO but it seems like are really fair way to handle tables as it handles relationships etc.

Besides the fact that I have been yelling at my computer to the point I lost my voice since I am unable to get Visual Studio to install ( missing something it wants but it wont tell me what), .net seem like the best development platform currently available. I am not a MS supporter, but this stuff is just too well thought out. Way easier the J2EE which is complex beyond reasonable. C# is the best language I have ever seen and ASP.NET is basically the same functionally.

I am thinking that there will be a 100% productivity increase in .net code vs. asp. Based on that I can figure how much effort a full rewrite will take. The hardest part is going to be retraining as the development team is no OO at all. Probably need to bring in .net developers.

10-20-2004, 09:50 AM	#1 (permalink)
eanda9001 Upright	ASP to ASP.NET I have inherited a large web app in ASP along with the original developer. What criteria should I use to determine if we should go to ASP.NET. How much effort is involved? Can I do new development in ASP.NET and still have it work well with the ASP legacy?

10-20-2004, 01:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
Spanxxx Psycho Location: Under my roof	Budget usually. That's always a good factor on deciding whether or not to switch over to .Net. However, a good developer should be able to use .Net going forward and make the two pieces of your app work together. An option is to do new work in .Net and as changes come up on the app that are on .asp pages, rewrite them in .Net. For maintenance going forward and for speed, I'd suggest taking advantage of .Net and build the pages in that. Development cycles for web apps are much faster using .Net than they were in asp. I've found myself developing apps in literally hours compared to what would have been days before on asp. __________________ I think that's what they mean by "nickels a day can feed a child." I thought, "How could food be so cheap over there?" It's not, they just eat nickels. - (supposedly) Peter Nguyen, internet hero

10-22-2004, 07:58 AM	#4 (permalink)
eanda9001 Upright	Great Feedback Well, it would seem .net is the way to go. I am surprised that .net does not provide a persistence layer generator, this is very common in the J2EE world. JDeveloper (Oracle's IDE for Java) will generate a set of classes that mirror a database for example. You can extend the classes. My experience is that to have a persistence layer is the way to go. I am still learning about the ADO but it seems like are really fair way to handle tables as it handles relationships etc. Besides the fact that I have been yelling at my computer to the point I lost my voice since I am unable to get Visual Studio to install ( missing something it wants but it wont tell me what), .net seem like the best development platform currently available. I am not a MS supporter, but this stuff is just too well thought out. Way easier the J2EE which is complex beyond reasonable. C# is the best language I have ever seen and ASP.NET is basically the same functionally. I am thinking that there will be a 100% productivity increase in .net code vs. asp. Based on that I can figure how much effort a full rewrite will take. The hardest part is going to be retraining as the development team is no OO at all. Probably need to bring in .net developers.

10-22-2004, 05:10 AM	#3 (permalink)
asshopo Insane Location: Michigan	Spanxxx is right. Also, if you have a basic set of classes for both your sql and common functions, you will develop even faster. For example, where I work, after a year of work, we developed a good set of classes and a common way to access data. Each table in the db has its own class with add/update/delete/get single/get collection. Those classes use a common db class which then can use MSSQL or MySQL (this part still needs alot of work) to connect to the db and perform the query. We then wrote a program to read the fields from the table and generate our class and stored procedures (we mainly use MSSQL). Basicly, we develop the database and then generate all the classes off it. Sure, alot of custom methods have to be written, but the majority of the grunt work is done. Most of our software has some sort of data processing app. For this reason, all these classes are compiled into a dll that both the website and the applications use. What took us 2 weeks before we got this process developed only takes 2 days now. Another class is common web functions. Set default selected in a listbox/checkbox/combo box, etc. Another class is common things for reporting, such as GetFirstDayOfMonth (passing in a DateTime.Now), LastDayOfMonth, etc. All this stuff seems simple and "well, I can just do it each time I need it", but having it all common and prebuilt is nice! I would never go back to ASP unless I was going to get paid alot more and even then, I'd try to convince them (client/boss) to go .NET. Edit: To actually answer your question (went of in a different direction ), yes, you can use traditional asp in an asp.net project. Make an asp.net project, place all your asp files in it, and slowly convert if you can't do a 100% convert right away.