some advice please

[Bob]

Hallo,

I have to make a web application in Javascript/ASP for tenniscourt
reservation (based on Access database). I would like to do everything with
one page, because the user must be able to change his day, hour or
tenniscourt choice before really reserving it . I tried like this:

The first SELECT contains the date (next 30 days) and is filled dynamically.
No problem.
When the date is chosen (by clicking), the second SELECT must appears with
the right opening hours (monday = 8 -18h, friday=8-16h etc ..). So i need a
query like "select mondayhour, tuesdayhour ... from daytable". This is no
problem because the code can be placed between <% %> just below the
first SELECT (set objdc = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection" etc ..). No
form needed because no variable to pass to ASP.

My problem is when several tests must be done which require passing
variables to ASP.
Imagine that you can only reserve 2hours in a day. I need a query "select
count(hour) as tothour from reservation where day='" & dat & "' group by
logon having logon='" & login & "'" to check it. So i have to pass 'dat'
(chosen date) and 'login' (name of user) to ASP via a form that i submit to
this ASP file. The value of tothour can be returned by <%=tothour%> to the
client script.
Imagine you can maximum reserve 15 h in 30 days. Again a query "select
logon, count(hour) as tothour2 from reservation where cdate(day)> date()
group by logon having logon='" & login & "'" . Again a form to pass 'logon'
and submit it to itself

If tothour <2, then the third SELECT must appear with the tenniscourt
numbers which are still available. I need another query like "select
tennisnr from reservation where cdate(day)='" & dat & "' and hour=" & hr
(hr=chosen hour). I need to pass "dat" and 'hr" to ASP. So i submit another
form to ASP.
Etc ...

Is this way the right way to work? Does this not become very complicated and
confusing, also because when submitting the second form, the variable
passing through the first form are lost.

Thanks for any advice.
Bob

 

[Jeff Cochran]

You're putting the business logic on the client side of the app when
you do this. There's nothing wrong with that, but as you've seen,
you're doing multiple queries of the database, then posting back to
the same form. Some of this could be encoded in the page logic, such
as which hours the courts are open on which days, or you could do an
initial select for all hours for the next 30 days and then display
them as available/unavailable in a DHTML page where you unhide
elements as others are selected (check a client side or DHTML group
for sample code here).

In essence though, you're doing a scheduling application. Take a look
at scheduling apps available on the web and see if they will fit your
needs, or what ideas they generate in your application. Aspin.com
would make a decent starting place.

Jeff

 

[Bob]

Thanks

You're putting the business logic on the client side of the app when
you do this. There's nothing wrong with that, but as you've seen,
you're doing multiple queries of the database, then posting back to
the same form. Some of this could be encoded in the page logic, such
as which hours the courts are open on which days, or you could do an
initial select for all hours for the next 30 days and then display
them as available/unavailable in a DHTML page where you unhide
elements as others are selected (check a client side or DHTML group
for sample code here).

In essence though, you're doing a scheduling application. Take a look
at scheduling apps available on the web and see if they will fit your
needs, or what ideas they generate in your application. Aspin.com
would make a decent starting place.

Jeff

 

[Bob]

I read something about RDS, where it's possible to access database from VB.
Is this a good idea?
Bob

 

[Jeff Cochran]

I read something about RDS, where it's possible to access database from VB.
Is this a good idea?

Only you can determine if it's good in your situation. It's not ASP
so you may want to try a VB group for advice.

Jeff