as I look at your installation more I notice that you are using MSSQl as the database type.

chances are that is the source of these problems. Fields in the sql database are most likely not all set correctly

it is very important that the sql tables and fields are set up exactly as described and that the sql script we provide runs without error

http://support.cjwsoft.com/code/moreinfo160-1.htm

if you create the sql database other than the way we tell you to or the sql script doesn't do its job setting all the field types/constraints/primary keys/etc..... for some reason .. then weird things like this can happen

at this time this is my best guess as to what is going on

I would examing the sql script we provide and compare the information set in it for each field and table to your existing SQL database to see if everything got set correctly.. I would start by checking these fields 1st of all as they are very important.... (username,password,expiration_date,admin,active)

in the meantime testing the ASPProtect system with an Access database will prove that all the ASP code is working as it is supposed to if you are interested in doing that

Sorry, you cannot, that is how it works and that is how it has to work for reasons I am not going to try to explain as it is pretty technical. (it works the same way even when not using paypal and using email authentication... nearly every registration system out there does it that way under an email authentication scenario or a PayPal IPN thing.)

Basically, if you are concerned about it you need to periodically manually check for accounts that were never activated and delete them. Maybe when I get some time some day I will make a little interface to help find those and clean them up at once.

Please Note : ASPProtect v7.x has a new feature called groups that is much more powerful than access levels. Access Levels were left in the product primarily for existing customers that upgrade to the new version so they do not need to make a lot of changes to their site if they were using Access Levels.


More On Access Levels

Again, Examples of managing Access Levels are provided in the "multiple_access_levels" folder included in the root of the Password System. Look at the source code of the ASP pages in that folder with a text editor to see the working code.

Access Levels and how they work can be re-coded to work in many different ways. However, you have to be a good ASP developer to make changes to it. Here is some information on how they work by default.

In the "check_user_inc.asp" that comes in the root of this system Access Levels work as follows.

Level 1 has Access to - Level 1
Level 2 has Access to - Level 1,2
Level 3 has Access to - Level 1,2,3
Level 4 has Access to - Level 1,2,3,4
Level 5 has Access to - Level 1,2,3,4,5
Level 6 has Access to - Level 1,2,3,4,5,6
Level 7 has Access to - Level 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Level 8 has Access to - Level 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
ADMIN has Access to - Level 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,ADMIN

Here is some additional info..

If the access levels are too restrictive you can ignore them all together and create your own totally custom solutions.
Here is a quick rundown of some of the things you can do.

Ok... so if you want to be really specific about what each user can see and
can't .. here's an example of what you can do

Don't use the access levels before the include file..
Don't worry about what you set a user to in the admin area since the access levels won't be used.

Do something like this..

Every time a user logs in session variables are set that you can access at
any time.. thus allowing you to know who they are.

So you could do something like this...


<%@ LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" %>

<!--#INCLUDE FILE="check_user_inc.asp"-->

<%
If Session("USERNAME") = "bob1267" or Session("USERNAME") = "carl45" or Session("ADMIN") = "True" Then
Session("PASSWORDACCESS") = "Yes"
Else
Session("PASSWORDACCESS") = "No"
Response.Redirect(Request.ServerVariables("script_name"))
End If
%>

The following URL explains what Redirects are.
http://www.powerasp.com/content/code-snippets/redirects.asp

That would in effect create totally custom access levels.. but you would
have to do it manually for each user.

You can also do things like this after a person logs in

Show custom html to any specific user based on either their username or
access level ... like so

say there was a menu and a certain link should only show up to username
"paully67"

you could do something like this


<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE></TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>


<br>
<a href="main.asp">Home Page</a>
<%
If Session("USERNAME") = "paully67" Then
%>
<br>
<a href="paullys_page.asp">Pauls Stats Page</a>
<%
End If
%>
<br>
<a href="links.asp">Links Page</a>

</BODY>
</HTML>

Or you can show custom HTML or links based on Access Levels or any other info.

You can do just about anything with if-then statements and
using the built in vbscript functions..

Hopefully this info will help to give you some ideas...

Bottom line is you have to do some work within your site to make the Access Level system really come alive.

Thanks for the info.  We'll do as you suggest.

NPA

Installed latest verison  Doesn't seem to have corrected problem.  Still with same message.  I wonder if deleting this user and putting him back in might help.  I have not however tried any other user names and passwords.

I know what is happening.. its the old single quote thing messing up the query string..
but it shouldnt be happening with the newer code as I fixed it.

If you like I can go in and reproduce/fix the issue. I can not think of any other way I can help you as other users have not reported the issue.

Chances are if it is happening in one situation it will happen again in the future.. it really all depends on the passwords being used and your encyrption key... other passwords may produce the issue even if the password is correct

basically once the password gets encrypted it by chance has a single quote in it... then it messes up the query

I take care of the situation by replacing the single quote with a double quote but it looks like you found a situation where that didn't work out

Also.. if you want to customize each person's experience individually it really does not make sense to use groups or access levels for that purpose alone.

I mean, why bother making a group or access level for every user and worrying about keeping track of it all when you can just access the available session info about the user to create dynamic pages specific to that user.

http://support.cjwsoft.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=198& ; ; ; ;PN=1

That is why that information is there.


You can of course use some combination of the two technologies as well should you have groups of users that you want to have a slightly different experience.

I purchased two site licenses for ASP Protect a while back and am now trying to implement the application.

The connection to the database is fine, because it recognizes the user and displays the user name.  However, there must be a problem with the permission because I get the DNS error information from the On Error in the check_user_inc.asp file.

I set the permissions on my PC as you indicated, both on the folder and the database file.  But get the error and cannot access the database to view or modify.  I also uploaded the file to my web server and set the permissions as well, but get the same problem.

You mention on your forum that it is not the code, but I don't understand if the code is correct and if it finds the database and the permissions have been set as you indicate, why doesn't the code work?

Sorry, not really.. not without a lot of changes to the code.
the recent activity info recycles.. it is not meant to be day by day

My suggestion there would be to look at both the log files and the user activty screens...

I think I've found the problem..

The password "abcdefgh" works

The password "abcdefghi" does not

(username "ace45")

Passwords can obviously only contain up to and including 8 characters... By some coincidence I only used short passwords with MS Access.

Nope,

No changes to any scripts - just a response.write added to Email_Password.asp to print out the SQL.

Sure - here's the address.

www.omegaphibeta.net/aspprotect/users/Email_Password.asp

-Toni

P.S.  E-mail address to look for is serena_5@hotmail.com

A question.  Does this apply to all areas of the application.  I have recently uploaded 50 photes.  But when I look at the site from the url, I have X where the picture should be.  Now, if I look at it though the localhost, I see the pictures perfectly.

Is there an easy way to make this work with reoccurring a monthly or yearly subscription?

MySQL Database Setup

Use of MySQL is 100% unsupported as you can see from the site.
http://www.aspbanner.com/mysql.htm

Even still I recently had an encouter with an extremely Jerky person (read the thread above for more on that) and because of him I am adding this tutorial showing one way to set things up on a windows server using the official MySQL tools available.

Let me just say as well that there are 100's of 3rd party tools to work with MySQL databases and many ways to create the database and apply the database creation script. In the past it had to be done via the command line, but now there are a lot of visual tools you can do it with. Furthermore all hosting companies set MySQL up differently and give you access to varius interfaces to manage it which are all different, and that is primarily why I do not support it. How the hell could I support all those different interfaces many of which are totally custom?

The fact is 99% of the people that purchased ASPBanner to use with MySQL have done so without issue and love how it runs. Regardless here is how I set up a working MySQL database on a windows server proving it does indeed run with a MySQL database.

1st of all if you are setting up the server you need to download some things from http://www.mysql.com/ 
(btw: you local developers can install this on XP Pro as well if you like.)

For this article we are going to download the current non beta windows version of MySQL which is 5.0. ALso known as the Windows Essentials (x86) download. It's about 17 meg.

Because ASPBanner uses the MyODBC drivers (now called Connector/ODBC) to connect to the MySQL database you need to download those as well. (Our site flat out says this is required for MySQL use)

So I download those from here. http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/3.51.html
Version 3.51 has been the current version for a couple years now.
You want the windows driver install which is about 2 meg.

The two downloads should look like this.



Now, on the webserver you run the version 5 setup (mysql-essential-5.0.19-win32.msi) I will guide you through it step by setp.



Hit Next



I am going to choose typical for the sake of this article.

Hit Next



Hit Next



Wait for a bit



I skipped this part.



Choose to configure the MySQL Now

Hit Finish

Hit Next

I am going to choose Detailed Configuration



Since I am on a development machine for this install I am going to choose Developer Machine. For a Real Server choose one of the server options.



For this article I am going to choose Multifunctional Database: You may want to pick one of the other options. That is up to you. ASPBanner will work under any of the scenarios.



I am going to leave the location at its default

Hit Next



Since this is a development machine these options are fine.

Hit Next



These options are fine as well.

Hit Next



Standard is fine for my development machine.

Hit Next



I am going to choose both of these options. The 1st one is Important and should be enabled on a real server so MySQL always runs. The 2nd is not so important.

Hit Next



Set the "root" password and do not forget it. You will need it to manage your MySQL server. I do not advise creating an anonymous account unless it is a development server and you just do not care. Whether you enable root access from remote machines or not is up to you so do some research on that. For this articles needs I am not choosing it.

Hit Next



Hit Execute and wait



If all goes well you will see this. (I actually got an error message about not being able to connect... I went to to Administrative tools/services and restarted the MySQL service and hit retry which cured that... it probably only did this to me since I have installed this before.. new installs probably will not have any trouble)

Hit Finish

Your done.. You just installed the MySQL Server (TIP: its usally a good idea to reboot and make sure the MySQL servce is running by default)

Now, moving on..

Lets install the MyODBC drivers.. (now called Connector/ODBC)

This one is a bit of a no-brainer so I am not going to go into detail.
Just run (mysql-connector-odbc-3.51.12-win32.msi) and run through all the defaults until it is done.. Choose typical when that comes up.

Your done setting up MyODBC on the server. If its not your server I guess you don't need to worry about installing all of this as its your hosts job to do that.

Version 7 uses.. RC4

The upgrade process is described here in detail including a procedure to convert existing clear text passwords to the encrypted versions. (Your passwords will need to be clear text as the system shipped of course for the conversion to do its thing)

http://support.cjwsoft.com/code/info24.htm

It is also covered in the downloadbale docs
http://support.cjwsoft.com/code/moreinfo221-1.htm

Many people have done the upgrade without any issues and Version 7 is getting great feedback.

Should you decide to go with it there is upgrade pricing.
http://www.aspprotect.com/purchase_v7_upgrade_pricing.asp

Gotcha.

Can you set an expiration date on a subscription?

Thanks,

Jess

this issue has been resolved.. see following thread

http://support.cjwsoft.com/code/moreinfo316-1.htm

you actually dont touch any of those
UploadDirectory = CmdGetConfiguration("UploadDirectory")
They get set from the config table in the database which gets edited in the admin area.

so...

I am talking about the settings area in the admin area of the applicaton.
Every setting there is descibed in detail. You get there and change serttings there via the web browser and by logging in as the admin.

Log in to the online demo as admin and check out the settings area if you are confused.
http://www.aspphotogallery.com/demo_pro.asp

any asp code that accesses an access database, writes to text files, or allows for picture uploading will need permissions set on certain directories

every application out there is going to need permissions set at some point

its just a fact.. and if your hosting company does not give you a way to manage permissions or have it done when you ask they do not know what they are doing and they are not supporting your asp hosting needs

see my article for more info on the whole process
http://support.cjwsoft.com/code/moreinfo136-1.htm
the part newar the bottom talks about hosting companies

All fixed and working

Thanks

Hi Chris,

Alright.  We figured out how to work with both C# and VB, by creating a separate VB web project in VStudio, and then passing the aspprotectnet.dll to the C# project.

Ok.  I have another question:

How can our code determine the identity and user_id of the currently logged in user:

Is it Session["User_ID"].ToString() and Session["Username"].ToString()?

thank you

It should be released sometime late May 2004 or early June 2004 but no gurantees as I am pretty busy right now with some projects.

There will be upgrade instructions and it should be a fairly easy upgrade.

[/QUOTE]

Like I said no guarantee... I have a lot of things going on... it might not even be finished till the end of July... customers will always be able to get it for the difference in price

You have the version listed on the site when you purchassed it.
Version 3.0

dsn-less is the way to go..
http://support.cjwsoft.com/code/moreinfo9-2.htm

you also need to use newer versions of the database as the odbc drivers on the server are sometimes very new and no longer work with access 97 databases

Sorry, I guess you did say you finally found them.
Regardless, sorry then, I tried

I dont know what else to tell ya.. except to search www.aspin.com

Perhaps you will find something you can use there.

If they changed the paths they moved the site.

That means permissions for the database folder must be set again.

If permissions are not set and you are not using the correct new path info then you will still get errors.

Those errors the server reports back and quite generic and do no mean exactly what they say. They just mean everything is not perfect.

And everything just has to be perfect..

In a way your questions are confusing to me, but here is some information regardless.



Using Active Sever pages you can not protect entire folders. It is simply not possible. ASPProtect is Active Server Pages scripts so it can only protect individual ".asp" files.


If you are concerned about customers downloading the access database..

best practive is to store it in different folder name than it came in
best practive is to give the database .mdb file itself a different name
best practive is to change the password on the access database
best practice is to store it in a directory that is not part of your web if possible.. many of the better hosting companies have it set up so you actually can do that

the more of these things you can do the better..

And if you are really worried about security you should use a SQL Server database which nobody can download from your website under any conditions because your data lives in the sql server and unless they get the username/password to it they can not access it.