INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 8: WebClass Designer Issues

ID: Q189539

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional and Enterprise Editions for Windows, version 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0

SUMMARY

The information below includes the documentation and workarounds for Visual Basic 6.0. This information can also be found in the README.htm file that ships with Visual Basic 6.0 on the Visual Basic 6.0 CD-ROM. Please see the REFERENCES section of this article for a list of the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles relating to the Visual Basic 6.0 readme.

Following is a list of all parts of the readme file: 


Part 1.  Important Issues - Please Read First!
Part 2.  Data Access Issues and DataBinding Tips
Part 3.  Control Issues
Part 4.  Language Issues
Part 5.  Samples Issues
Part 6.  Wizard Issues
Part 7.  Error Message Issues
Part 8.  WebClass Designer Issues
Part 9.  DHTML Page Designer Issues
Part 10. Extensibility issues
Part 11. Miscellaneous Issues
Part 12. Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) Issues
Part 13. Dictionary Object
Part 14. Visual Component Manager
Part 15. Application Performance Manager


MORE INFORMATION

Webclass Designer Issues:

Webclasses: "Me." Not Supported

You cannot use the "Me" reference in your Webclass code to reference the Webclass object. For example, the documentation frequently shows that you can write code such as "Me.URLData = value". This is not supported. Instead of using Me, you must use the "Webclass" statement. For example, instead of Me.URLData, you would use Webclass.URLData.

Webclasses: Invalid HTML Syntax Can Cause Unspecified Error

If one of the templates you add to your Webclass contains badly formed HTML, you can sometimes receive an error message on loading the template. The message states only that an unspecified error has occurred. For example, in older pages there may be two BODY tags, one that specifies a background GIF and one that specifies a color. You can also have errors in unmatched opening and closing tags, invalid nesting, or other syntax issues. If you receive this message on loading a template, check your HTML carefully or run the file through an HTML syntax checker, then reload the template.

Webclasses: Avoid Using Global or Static Variables in a Webclass

One allocation of global variables occurs per thread in a multi-threaded environment. For more information, search Online, with Search titles only selected, for "Scalability and Multithreading" in the MSDN Library Visual Studio 6.0 documentation.

Webclasses: Some External HTML Changes Are Not Detected Automatically

When working on an HTML template in the Webclass designer, any changes made to the HTML file outside of Visual Basic (for example, in an external HTML editor) are usually detected by Visual Basic when you return to the designer. In these cases, you are prompted to reload the changed file. In some cases, external changes are not detected. The most common occurrence of this problem is when you set focus to a Visual Basic window other than the Webclass designer before switching to an external editor. Upon return to Visual Basic, the refresh prompt does not appear. This could result in the external changes being overwritten when you save the project, unless you refresh the file on your own.

NOTE: You may also see this situation if you edit the template while your project is running.

In cases where you make changes to the HTML and are not prompted to refresh, you can refresh manually by selecting Refresh HTML Template from the template's shortcut menu.

NOTE: When you navigate to your external HTML editor, it is best to use the Edit HTML toolbar button or shortcut menu command. If you use the taskbar or the ALT+TAB key combination to navigate to an editor, make sure to save your project before leaving Visual Basic or you could lose changes you made in the designer.

Webclasses:

IIS Administration Console File Settings Not Acknowledged for Templates

The IIS Administration Console allows the server administrator to specify properties for files that are available on the IIS server. These properties include HTTP headers, file security, and custom errors. These properties will not be set on a Webclass template file if that file is sent to the client by the Webclass run-time.

Webclasses: Unattended Execution

A project containing a Webclass must have the Unattended Execution option selected in the Project Properties dialog box. This property has the following benefits:
  • Setting this property allows the Webclass to be run as an apartment model object. This allows the Webclass to service an HTTP request on the thread on which the request was received instead of processing all requests on a single thread.

    NOTE: You must set the Threading Model property in the Project Properties dialog box to Apartment Threaded to run as an apartment-model object.


  • Setting this property causes the Visual Basic run-time DLL to log all run-time errors to the event log instead of displaying the error in a prompt. Displaying the message in a prompt would hang the IIS thread.


  • Setting this property causes any call to the Visual Basic MsgBox function to log its message to the event log instead of displaying a prompt. Displaying the message in a prompt would hang the IIS thread.


Webclasses: Retain in Memory

A Visual Basic project executes inside the framework of the Visual Basic run-time environment. When a Visual Basic project begins executing, this framework needs to be initialized. The initialization takes the form of internal state allocation and initialization. In a multi-threaded Visual Basic environment, initialization has to be done at the process level and for each thread that is used to create a Visual Basic object.

The above initialization is for the Visual Basic run-time. Similarly, for each Visual Basic project whose objects are created, the Visual Basic project must be initialized both at the process and the thread level.

When a Visual Basic project is no longer in use on a thread or process (all the objects created in the thread or process are destroyed), the above state is reset and the memory is reallocated. Consequently, if a thread or process repeatedly creates and then quickly deletes all its Visual Basic objects, the overhead from the allocation and reallocation of run-time and project state is considerable. This will have a negative impact on Visual Basic's performance.

This scenario occurs in IIS especially when an ASP creates a Visual Basic object, invokes some operations on it and then releases it. This is precisely the case for Webclasses where the Webclass' StateManagement is set to wcNoState. As a result, the most commonly used Webclass scenario will have poor performance.

The project property RetainInMemory allows the Visual Basic developer to override this behavior. When this property is set, once the Visual Basic project is initialized inside a process or thread, its state will never be reset or freed. Further, because the presence of a loaded Visual Basic project prevents the unloading of the Visual Basic run-time, the Visual Basic run-time will never be reset in the thread or process. In the case of IIS, once a Webclass whose RetainInMemory property is set is loaded into an IIS thread, it will never be reset in that thread. This will improve the performance of the Webclass.

Note that RetainInMemory refers to the retention of the state of the Visual Basic run-time and the Visual Basic project. It does not refer to the retention of the Visual Basic project's object instances.

In standard Visual Basic projects, projects are unloaded from threads or processes as soon as they are no longer being used. In a Webclass project, this model can cause performance issues because the server must create an object, invoke a method on it, and destroy it. You can optimize your Webclasses by setting a project property called Retain In Memory. The Retain In Memory property prevents the project from being unloaded until the thread or process in which it is running terminates.

Webclasses:

Accounting for Differences Between the Debug and Compiled Versions

Visual Basic provides the ability to debug components running under a Windows NT service. One of the most common uses of this feature is to debug an IIS Application. Visual Basic achieves this by running the component in the Visual Basic IDE. When the component runs, IIS creates a proxy object supplied by Visual Basic, which in turn creates the real object running in the Visual Basic IDE. IIS then communicates with the object through DCOM. This debugging behavior is very different from how the project runs as a compiled DLL. Certain behavior that is present in debug mode works differently when you run the compiled version of the project. Because of this, you must keep the compiled behavior of the project in mind when you build your Webclass.

The following are key areas in which you must tailor your application to the behavior the Webclass displays as a compiled application:
  • Use only system DSNs because other DSNs will not work beyond debug mode.


  • Do not use an Access database on a remote computer in your project. While this will work in debug mode, you will not be able to use the database in the compiled application.


  • Do not allow the Webclass to add itself or other Visual Basic components to the Active Server Page's Application object. Attempting to do so will generate an error when you run the compiled application.


  • Understand the security context of the compiled application. Please refer to the "Webclasses: Articles of Interest" section below for information on an article about security.


  • Keep in mind that your compiled Webclass will be accessed from multiple threads rather than through the same thread, as is the case in debug mode. Static and global variables will not be kept across threads. For more information, search Online, with Search titles only selected, for "Scalability and Multithreading" in the MSDN Library Visual Studio 6.0 documentation.


  • Understand that, although you will see message prompts in debug mode, the compiled Webclass writes all errors as entries in the NT event log or in a log file created in the Windows directory. No prompt appears for errors in compiled mode.


  • While Unattended Execution must be set for Webclasses, you will not see the side effects of failing to set this property in debug mode. See the Unattended Execution section above for details.


Webclasses: Performance Tips

The following are miscellaneous tips you can incorporate to improve the performance of your IIS applications:
  • When running from the IDE, the interactive user's context is used. When running compiled, the IIS anonymous user is used unless some other security setting is set up on the server.


  • Make sure that the Unattended Execution and Retain In Memory options are selected in the Project Properties dialog box for your application.


  • If your application does not include any text replacements, set the TagPrefix property to an empty string. This prevents the Webclass from performing unnecessary scans.


  • Do not store Visual Basic objects (or any other apartment-model COM object) in the Active Server Pages' Session object. This may affect scalability. You can store strings in the Session object without adverse effects. Refer to the IIS documentation for more details.


  • Limit the use of variants in your application.


  • When the Webclass's StateManagement property is set to wcRetainInstance, performance will decrease when the number of clients significantly increases.


  • If your application is performing a client-side transaction to a Webclass template that does not contain any replacements or does not use the URLData property, you should access the template directly through a URL.


  • When using the URLFor method, specify the Webitem by the string name rather than by an object reference.


  • Use specific types when creating and invoking other components.


Webclasses: Miscellaneous Issues

  • When the debugger for your IIS application hits a breakpoint in any event, pressing the F5 key to continue does not return the focus to Internet Explorer. You must switch to Internet Explorer manually after continuing.


  • Webclass names and tag names are case-insensitive. You cannot rename a Webclass to the same name it had previously, changing only the case. For example, if you change a Webclass named Orderentry to OrderEntry, the original name remains unchanged.


  • Avoid running multiple browser instances during debugging. If more than one instance of Internet Explorer is open, Visual Basic does not keep track of which browser is running the Webclass project. If you have two browsers open, one pointing to your project and one pointing to another page, both browsers will be affected when you end your debugging session.


  • You may receive an error if you attempt to compile your IIS application mproject from the command line. One way to work around this is to open the project in Visual Basic, dirty the designer in some insignificant way, and then resave the project. You can then restart the compile from the command line and it should work correctly.


  • If you want to program buttons on the HTML templates in your Webclass, you must be aware of two items. First, your buttons must be of type SUBMIT. You can set this by adding a parameter to the HTML for your button element that says type=SUBMIT. Second, you cannot code for the buttons directly; instead you must connect their form element. You can either place each button in a separate form or you can use the Request object's form collection to determine the button from which the event originated.



Webclasses: Articles of Interest

Webclasses tie together several distinct technologies, including Visual Basic, Active Server Pages, Internet Information Server, and Windows NT. There are several articles available on Microsoft's Web site that may be useful to you as you learn about the technologies behind WebClasses. Some of the articles that may be particularly helpful are listed below:


  • "INFO: COM Servers Activation and NT Windows Stations" Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q169321


  • "HOWTO: Launching ActiveX Servers from ISAPI Extensions" Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q156223


  • "INFO: Security Ramifications for IIS Applications" Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q158229


Webclasses: Formatting in Source HTM File

You may see a loss of some formatting in your HTML source code after you add a template file to the Webclass designer. For example, the Webclass may remove some extraneous white spaces from your original file. This will not affect the functioning of your HTML page in any way.

Webclasses: Cannot Support HTML's LINK Element

LINK tags are used in an HTML page to reference style sheets. While your HTML pages in a Webclass project can contain this tag, you cannot use the designer to access the LINK element and process Visual Basic code for it. If you need to manipulate a LINK tag in your code, you can manually add event notation to the tag as shown in the Online documentation. To see the notation, search Online, with Search titles only selected, for "Manually Adding Event Notation to an .HTM File" in the MSDN Library Visual Studio 6.0 documentation.

Webclasses: When Using Visual SourceSafe with Webclass Projects,

You Must Manually Check in the Project's .HTM Files

When you check an IIS application project into Visual SourceSafe, the HTML pages associated with the project are not automatically checked into the SourceSafe tree with the rest of the project files. You must manually add them to the tree as related files.

Webclasses: TagPrefix Should Be WC

Although the default value for the TagPrefix property for your Webclass templates is WC@, it is preferable for you to use WC: whenever possible to indicate text replacements in your template files.

Webclasses: Variant Parameter in URLFor Method

The WebItem parameter of the URLFor method can accept a WebItem object or the name of a WebItem as a string. For performance reasons, you should use the string form when referencing multiple webitems within one request.

Webclasses: Sequencing Data is Passed Using the &WCU Parameter

In "Handling Sequencing in Webclasses" section of the Building Internet Applications book in MSDN's Component Tools Guide, the documentation incorrectly states that you can move data between the client and the server using a ?Data parameter appended on to your URL request. In fact, you must use a &WCU parameter instead of ?Data. The correct syntax for the request is:
WCI=webitem1?WCE=event1&WCU=01

Webclasses:

StateManagement Property Constants Contain Incorrect Property Reference

The "StateManagement Property Constants" topic incorrectly states that the RetainInstance constant causes the Webclass to retain state data until the Webclass object calls the SetComplete method. This should say that data is maintained until the Webclass object calls the ReleaseInstance method. To see the erroneous Help topic, search Online, with Search titles only selected, for "StateManagement Property Constants" in the MSDN Library Visual Studio 6.0 documentation.

Webclasses: State and the Session Object

If the Webclass's StateManagementType is wcRetainInstance, a separate instance of the Webclass will be maintained in the ASP Session object per user session. In some cases, it may appear to you that state is not being maintained when you actually have two instances of a Webclass in your Session object. One situation in which this might occur is when you have two virtual directories that both point to the same location. If you create one virtual directory when you begin your debugging session and reference the second in your code, you will actually start a second instance of the Webclass when the code is activated. Please refer to the Active Server Pages documentation in MSDN for details on how the Active Server Pages Session object is implemented.

Webclasses:

Code Corrections in Help Topic "Defining Webclass Events at Run Time"

In the topic "Defining Webclass Events at Run Time," the sample code shows a statement that reads: 

   rs = New ADO.Recordset

The correct syntax for this line should be: 

   Set rs = New ADODB.Recordset

Webclasses: HTM and ASP Files Not Included in Standard Packages

When you package an IIS application into a standard package using the Package and Deployment Wizard, the wizard does not automatically include the .htm and .asp files for the project in the .cab file it creates. You must include these files manually while you are packaging the application.

Webclasses: Unspecified Error

An "unspecified error" occurs if you add an existing Webclass to a new project and then click on the template icon before the project has been saved. If you receive a prompt saying that "An unspecified error has occurred" in this context, save your project.


REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q170164 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 1: Important Issues - Read First!

Q170163 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 2: Data Access/Databinding Issues

Q170162 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 3: Control Issues

Q170161 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 4: Language Issues

Q170160 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 5: Samples Issues

Q190046 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 6: Wizard Issues

Q170158 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 7: Error Message Issues

Q190249 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 9: DHTML Page Designer Issues

Q170154 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 10: Extensibility Issues

Q170157 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 11: Miscellaneous Issues

Q170156 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 12: Transaction Server (MTS) Issues

Q191792 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 13: Dictionary Object

Q191791 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 14: Visual Component Manager

Q191790 : INFO: VB 6.0 Readme Part 15: Application Performance Explorer

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbreadme kbhtml kbwizard kbAppSetup kbDCOM kbInternet kbVBp kbVBp600 kbVS600 kbWebClasses kbIIS
Version : WINDOWS:6.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo


Last Reviewed: August 9, 1999
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