Introduction To The GLOBAL.ASA For ASP Programmers - Type libraries for COM

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The last use for the GLOBAL.ASA I would like to touch on, is the ability to specify Type libraries. This functionality was first introduced in IIS5, and is not available on earlier versions. It allows you to specify, using the <metadata> tag, a type library to bind to your ASP applications. This enables you to use the constants specified within the COM object that the type library references. An example of such follows:

 <!-- METADATA NAME="Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.5 Library"
TYPE="TypeLib" UUID="{00000205-0000-0010-8000-00AA006D2EA4}" -->

The above example would bind the Microsoft ADO 2.5 type library to your ASP application. This would enable you to use any of the constants referenced in the COM object, as follows:

 <%
rstTest.Open strSQL, cnnTest, ADODB.adOpenStatic, _
    ADODB.adLockReadOnly, ADODB.adCmdText
%>

In the above example, adOpenStatic, adLockReadOnly, and adCmdText are all constants used to describe states within the ADODB object. By referencing the type library these constants became available to all ASP pages. Alternately, an include file containing the constants could be included in all of your ASP pages, but this solution is more elegant and complete.

In have illustrated basic usage of the functionality available within the GLOBAL.ASA file. My examples only contained very basic concepts for ease of illustration, but you can do very complex logic within the GLOBAL.ASA, if the need arise. It is my belief that with the knowledge contained within this article you should be well equipped to begin using the GLOBAL.ASA file to compliment your current and future ASP applications.

About the author:
Rich Smith owns and operates Jamsoft Development, a programming firm who specializes in custom systems for small businesses.

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