ASP / HTML Links

[seanwitte]

I tried it again quickly and it works fine using only one connection. When you use connection.Execute() it returns a forward-only read-only cursor, so the connection should still be able to service other calls. I'm pretty sure its just with Jet though, it works ok here on SQL Server.

Back to your first question. Say you want to let people vote in a poll. You have a table called VOTE with a poll_id pointing to the poll and a code for what they voted for, names vote_code. When you write the links to the screen, use querystrings appended to the URL and point them back to the same page:

page filename: poll.asp

Poll Response Links:
<A HREF="poll.asp?poll_id=1&vote_code=A">Vote for A</A>
<A HREF="poll.asp?poll_id=1&vote_code=B">Vote for B</A>
<A HREF="poll.asp?poll_id=1&vote_code=C">Vote for C</A>

In the header of poll.asp you need to intercept and handle that request. the querystring values are part of a collection hanging off of the Request intrinsic object. This is bad, but it will work:

<%'local functions
	sub SaveVote(conn, poll, vote, userIP)
		dim sql
		sql = "INSERT INTO VOTE (poll_id, vote_code, user_ip) " & _
		      "VALUES(" & poll & ", '" & vote & "', '" & userIP & "')"
		conn.Execute sql		
	end sub
	
	'variable declarations
	dim connString
	dim connection
	dim pollID
	dim voteCode
	dim IP
	
	'grab any incoming data
	pollID = Request.QueryString("poll_id")
	voteCode = Request.QueryString("vote_code")
	IP = Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR")
		
	'validate the data. the poll_id is an integer
	'and the voteCode is a one character value
	if not isNumeric(pollID) then pollID = ""
	if len(voteCode) > 1 then voteCode = ""
	
	'if both the poll_id and vote_code are empty then 
	'redirect to the poll selection page
	if pollID = "" and voteCode = "" then 
		Response.Redirect "poll_list.asp"
		Response.End
	end if
	
	'open a database connection
	connection.Open connString
		
	'if the vote_code is not empty then log the vote	
	if  voteCode <> "" then
		SaveVote connection, pollID, voteCode, IP			
	end if
	
	'get the poll info and render the page
%>