IDC/HTX pages and UPDate not working

Hi all

I have an old application I wrote on NT4 with (I think) IIS 3. It uses
IDC/HTX pairs to read a system DSN to an access database for creating,
searching and modifying jobs for photographers. I'm now trying to get it
running on a Win2K server running whatever IIS version shipped with them
and all the search functions work fine but I get a 500 error page when I
try and change an existing record using "update table set table.field=%
value%"
My question is - has something changed between IIS versions to stop IDC/HTX
pairs working to update data (similar to the Access 2000 not being able to
update Access 97 databases)? If so how can I fix it so that it works again,
or alternatively if it's not diferent now - who can help me get the IDC/HTX
pages working again?
I have looked at the MS site and found an IDC/HTX -> .asp converter
program, but never having dealt with .asp before I'm loath to try it (and
anyway all I get is errors trying to run the generated .asp pages).

Thanks in advance for your help.

--
Regards Cameron Biggart
IT Manager Yaffa Publishing

David
Tue Aug 12 02:54:48 CDT 2003

Yes. Several security changes have gone into HTTPODBC (which implement that
functionality) to remove several attacks that it naturally allowed as a part
of "normal" functionality. It most certainly reduced the set of attacks as
well as previously legitimate and illegitimate functionality. I'm not
certain if it is actually applicable in your case, though.

I think your options are basically:
1. Use the old httpodbc.dll with all the security issues and hope to not get
hacked
2. Use the new httpodbc.dll possibly with impaired functionality
3. Move to another supported platform like ASP or ASP.Net, both of which
pretty freely available given W2K and IIS5.

If I had to choose between #1 and #3, I'd do #3. There's just no good
support for HTTPODBC.

--
//David
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//
"Cameron Biggart" <lordwolfcb@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93D597DF6B8A6lordwolfcbinau@207.46.248.16...
Hi all

I have an old application I wrote on NT4 with (I think) IIS 3. It uses
IDC/HTX pairs to read a system DSN to an access database for creating,
searching and modifying jobs for photographers. I'm now trying to get it
running on a Win2K server running whatever IIS version shipped with them
and all the search functions work fine but I get a 500 error page when I
try and change an existing record using "update table set table.field=%
value%"
My question is - has something changed between IIS versions to stop IDC/HTX
pairs working to update data (similar to the Access 2000 not being able to
update Access 97 databases)? If so how can I fix it so that it works again,
or alternatively if it's not diferent now - who can help me get the IDC/HTX
pages working again?
I have looked at the MS site and found an IDC/HTX -> .asp converter
program, but never having dealt with .asp before I'm loath to try it (and
anyway all I get is errors trying to run the generated .asp pages).

Thanks in advance for your help.

--
Regards Cameron Biggart
IT Manager Yaffa Publishing

Cameron
Tue Aug 12 17:29:21 CDT 2003

"David Wang [Msft]" <someone@online.microsoft.com> wrote in
news:eCKqUiKYDHA.2328@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl:

> certainly reduced the set of attacks as well as previously legitimate
> and illegitimate functionality. I'm not certain if it is actually
> applicable in your case, though.
>
> I think your options are basically:
> 1. Use the old httpodbc.dll with all the security issues and hope to
> not get hacked
> 2. Use the new httpodbc.dll possibly with impaired functionality
> 3. Move to another supported platform like ASP or ASP.Net, both of
> which pretty freely available given W2K and IIS5.
>
> If I had to choose between #1 and #3, I'd do #3. There's just no good
> support for HTTPODBC.
>
David

Thanks for that. I'll investigate the ASP option - but since I'm sure there
will be a pretty steep 'learning curve' involved and I need this
application back online 'yesterday' where can I get a copy of the older
httpodbc.dll to put on the system running IIS5. This is an internal box
with no live IP address to the rest of the world - the hacking issue isn't
a priority.

--
Cameron

Cameron
Tue Aug 12 22:15:59 CDT 2003

Cameron Biggart <lordwolfcb@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:Xns93D597DF6B8A6lordwolfcbinau@207.46.248.16:

> Hi all
>
> I have an old application I wrote on NT4 with (I think) IIS 3. It uses
> IDC/HTX pairs to read a system DSN to an access database for creating,
> searching and modifying jobs for photographers. I'm now trying to get
> it running on a Win2K server running whatever IIS version shipped with
> them and all the search functions work fine but I get a 500 error page
> when I try and change an existing record using "update table set
> table.field=% value%"
Ok my bad,
The IDC/HTX files work just fine (I found an old machine running w95 and
PWS and debugged on that till I got the thing working. The original problem
was caused by a 'glitch' in the way forms data is handled that I came
across years ago and never worked out how to solve.
It has to do with the "UPDATE table SET field=%value%, otherfield=%
othervalue% where checkfield=%checkvalue%" syntax. If all fields in the
form have data in them it works like a dream, however if any of the fields
are blank then it crashes witha 500 server error. I have worked around it
by prefilling the fields with 0 if there is no original data in the
database so they aren't empty, however is there a more elegant way of doing
it, perhaps by not trying to update fields where the table value is empty?
Does anyone have an example syntax for ise in the IDC file?

--
Regards
Cameron