Micorsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) is a technology that is rapidly gaining in popularity. Part of the reason is its flexibility: the output of ASP scripts is most commonly HTML, which is included in the text stream returned to the client, making it a convenient way of creating browser-independent web content. But an additional reason, and one that will become more and more important over time, as web applications replace web pages, is its extensibilty. And the most effective way to extend ASP is to develop custom ASP components.

However, the techniques for developing custom ASP components, along with the snags and pitfalls you encounter while developing them, are not well documented. In addition, successfully developing ASP components requires that you be a jack-of-all-trades: programming requires some knowledge of COM, threading models, and the ASP object model, as well as a mastery of one or more language tools and development environments.

Thorough coverage of the background information needed to develop ASP components, and a focus on component development in each of the three major develop environments, makes Developing ASP Components the definitive resource for ASP application and component developers.