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ASP Legacy Components

Inventory an old COM dependency before planning its replacement.

How it works

Old ASP code may reference MSWC.AdRotator, MSWC.BrowserType, MSWC.NextLink or MSWC.ContentRotator. Their presence varies by installation; a familiar ProgID is not a promise of current availability. This lab attempts construction, releases any object and reports only how many names were checked. The review records availability separately.

Use the separate Windows lab

This is a legacy-maintenance course. Classic ASP uses IIS and VBScript; ASP.NET Web Pages uses .NET Framework and Razor. Neither runs in PHP, Apache or Bhylu’s browser playground. The reviewed baseline is 32-bit IIS Express 10.0.2001, .NET Framework 4.8, Web Pages / Razor 3.2.9 and the Windows VBScript engine. ADO database examples use the actual 32-bit Jet OLE DB 4.0 provider, not SQL Server or XAMPP MySQL.

Download download-lab.mjs into a separate empty learning folder. Run node download-lab.mjs to fetch hash-checked source files into a new bhylu-asp-lab folder, then cd bhylu-asp-lab and node run-lab.mjs --start. Before deployment, local preview uses node download-lab.mjs http://127.0.0.1:8000/examples/asp/. The source downloader refuses an existing destination. Review its source before running it.

The foreground launcher needs your own 32-bit IIS Express installation with Classic ASP, .NET Framework 4.8 and the VBScript engine available. It downloads the three pinned Web Pages packages from NuGet into its private cache, binds only localhost on port 8142 and stops when you press Ctrl+C. Keep its console open. Visit http://localhost:8142/legacy-components.asp. It does not install IIS, enable Windows features, change Apache/PHP/MySQL, or publish any files. See the bundled README.txt for manual setup and test boundaries.

Each complete Classic ASP source requires the supplied Global.asa acknowledgement; Web Pages uses _PageStart.cshtml. Database and file examples create owned temporary files only under this private lab’s blocked App_Data folder. Sources are public text downloads; do not upload them as executable teaching endpoints on Bhylu.

Download legacy-components.asp

Example

legacy-components.asp

<%@ Language="VBScript" CodePage="65001" %>
<% Option Explicit
Response.Buffer = True
Response.ContentType = "text/plain"
Response.Charset = "utf-8"
If Application("BhyluLab") <> "YES" Then
    Response.Status = "403 Forbidden"
    Response.Write "Use the separate Bhylu learning lab."
    Response.End
End If
Dim names, name, component, checked
names = Array("MSWC.AdRotator", "MSWC.BrowserType", "MSWC.NextLink", "MSWC.ContentRotator")
checked = 0
For Each name In names
    Set component = Nothing
    On Error Resume Next
    Set component = Server.CreateObject(name)
    Err.Clear
    On Error GoTo 0
    Set component = Nothing
    checked = checked + 1
Next
Response.Write "Dependency names checked: " & checked
%>
Focus on the lesson operations

This excerpt omits shared lab setup. Use the complete download and supporting files to run it.

Lesson excerpt

Dim names, name, component, checked
names = Array("MSWC.AdRotator", "MSWC.BrowserType", "MSWC.NextLink", "MSWC.ContentRotator")
checked = 0
For Each name In names
    Set component = Nothing
    On Error Resume Next
    Set component = Server.CreateObject(name)
    Err.Clear
    On Error GoTo 0
    Set component = Nothing
    checked = checked + 1
Next
Response.Write "Dependency names checked: " & checked

Expected result

Dependency names checked: 4

This is explicitly a capability inventory, not a working ad rotator, browser detector or content-linking system. Use ordinary server-owned navigation data for links and browser feature detection for client capabilities. Bhylu advertising is unrelated to this legacy component.

Primary references

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