ASP Application Object

A group of ASP files that work together to perform some purpose is called an application. The Application object in ASP is used to tie these files together.

Application Object

An application on the Web is a group of ASP files. The files work together to perform some purpose. The Application object in ASP is used to tie these files together.

The Application object is used to store variables and access variables from any page, just like the Session object. The difference is that all users share ONE Application object, while with Sessions there is one Session object for each user.

The Application object should hold information that will be used by many pages in the application (like database connection information). This means that you can access the information from any page. It also means that you can change the information in one place and the new information will automatically be reflected on all pages.

Store and Retrieve Variable Values

Application variables can be accessed and changed by any page in the application.

You can create Application variables in Global.asa like this:

<script language="vbscript" runat="server">

Sub Application_OnStart
application("vartime")=""
application("whoon")=1
End Sub

</script>

In the example above we have created two Application variables: The first is named vartime, and the second is named whoon. 

You can access the value of an Application variable like this:

There are 
<%
Response.Write(Application("whoon"))
%> 
active connections.

Looping Through the Contents

You can loop through the "Contents" collection, to see the values of all the Application variables:

<%
dim i
For Each i in Application.Contents
  Response.Write(i & "<br>")
Next
%>

If you don't know how many items are stored in a "Contents" collection, you can use the "Count" property:

<%
dim i
dim j
j=Application.Contents.Count

For i=1 to j
  Response.Write(Application.Contents(i) & "<br>")
Next
%>

Looping Through the Objects

You can loop through the "StaticObjects" collection, to see the values of all the objects stored in the Application Object:

<%
dim i
For Each i in Application.StaticObjects
  Response.Write(i & "<br>")
Next
%>

Lock and Unlock

You can lock an application with the "Lock" method. When an application is locked, the users cannot change the Application variables (other than the one currently accessing it). You can unlock an application with the "Unlock" method. This method removes the lock from the Application variable:

<%
Application.Lock
  'do some application object operations
Application.Unlock
%>

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