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COM Queued Components
Markus Egger explains COM+ Queued Components, a wrapper around Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ) that lets developers convert synchronous COM components to asynchronous ones with minimal code changes: COM+ records calls via a recorder and later plays them to the real component, enabling scalability, disconnected operation, retries, transactions and dead‑queue handling. He covers setup, monikers, callbacks, limitations (void returns, write‑only properties) and the need to "think asynchronously" when designing reliable queued systems.
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A Preview of Visual FoxPro 7.0
Before you say "Who cares, I've already seen them..." or "Who cares, I don't use Visual FoxPro...", take a quick look at this article.I think you'll discover some things that you didn't know; and if you don't currently use Visual FoxPro, you might even discover you, too, are looking forward to the next version of Fox.
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Scaling Web Applications with Windows 2000 Advanced Server's Network Load Balancing
With ever-larger Web applications being built to service very large numbers of simultaneous users pounding away at Web sites, the issue of scaling applications beyond a single machine is important for Web application developers and network administrators.While hardware capabilities seem to be increasing to the point that high-powered single machines can handle tremendous loads, there will always be those apps that push beyond a single machine. In addition, for many administrators and IT planners, it's often not good enough to say that a server can handle x number of users. They want redundancy, backup and overflow support, so a Web server or hardware failure or an unexpected surge of visitors doesn't cripple the corporate Web site. In this article, Rick discusses the issues of scalability and how load balancing services can help provide redundancy and extra horsepower to large Web sites.
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Server-Side XML and XSL Merging
Data in XML format will play a significant role for the foreseeable future.Moreover, it's clear that XML and XSL will play a significant role in most, if not all, of my future applications. Why is it, however, that almost everything we read talks about merging XML+XSL on the client side, which requires IE 5 or higher browsers? In this article, Steve shows how to apply XSL transformations on the server to get around this problem.
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Implementing B2B Scenarios with Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000
Business-To-Business (B2B) communications are rapidly becoming an essential component in today's economy.Some say B2B transactions will soon outnumber Business-To-Customer (B2C) transactions. While we have learned how to do B2C quite efficiently, B2B presents an entirely new set of challenges that we have yet to resolve. Previous attempts were successfully used, but were too expensive to be used as often as B2C. Microsoft tries to resolve this dilemma with Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000, and it is looking promising! This article provides a first in-depth overview.
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Customers vs. Code: Negotiating Contracts
Everything you wanted to know about customers but were too busy coding to ask.In the last column, we discussed the initial contact and the issues that are important in that first meeting. In this column, we discuss negotiating the terms of the contract.
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Thinking About Services
Markus Egger argues that the rise of Web Services will transform software by enabling seamless, server‑driven functionality while outsourcing many control and maintenance burdens to providers. He acknowledges the promise of easier updates and better‑performing reused services, but warns of the painful transition and the erosion of direct control, drawing an analogy to how modern cars and their parts work versus early expectations. Through a candid ISP anecdote, he underscores the practical pain of relying on services and humans, yet remains hopeful that Web Services will ultimately streamline the Internet.
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Query XML from SQL Server 2000
In this article, Travis Vandersypen explains how Microsoft SQL Server 2000 introduces native XML support, allowing developers to query data directly in XML format using the `FOR XML` clause with options like AUTO, RAW, and EXPLICIT. He details the configuration steps for enabling XML support via IIS, demonstrates querying data through URL and Template queries, and shows how XSL stylesheets can transform XML output for various presentation needs. Vandersypen emphasizes that this built-in XML functionality simplifies data integration for distributed applications by eliminating the need for custom conversion routines, enabling developers to focus more on business logic.
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Dynamic Queries in Distributed Internet Applications
Integrating a web site with a structured database poses a particular challenge. How can a developer provide a flexible, easy to use, yet robust search interface for users to query the information stored in the database? In this article Beth provides a complete solution for this problem using Visual FoxPro, ADO and XML, by providing a dynamic searching mechanism in the middle tier that users can control from the front end.
