Registering DLLs on free Webhost

[xux42]

I have an that application uses classic ASP to call functions in compiled VB6 DLLs, so the DLLs need to be registered on the webserver.
All good on own PCs, but now I want to publish it on a free host for prospective clients to look at.
I've registered for a free subdomain with Awardspace but the Help/FAQ seems to assume your website is all script with no references to hosting DLLs. at all. The only ref to EXEs is to state that they can't be uploaded.

What I want is a minimal website as a wrapper around substantial object based, compiled programs.
Its compentency in Visual Studio 6 OBP I'm interested in showing and developing, not website script skills.

Am I going about this the wrong way? I'd rather not have to create my own webserver or pay for hosting just to have a good facility to demo on.

BTW I'm just trying to login to my free Awardspace hosting to create a ticket asking about DLLs and its falling over in the login dialogue - not especially encouraging!

[VectraMan]

If they don't allow you to upload and execute native EXEs, they're hardly likely to let you upload and execute native DLLs.

[thunderlizard]

Your prehistoric choice of technology will give you some problems finding a host: however web hosting is an unnervingly competitive business so I'm sure there will be somebody somewhere who'll do it. Maybe on a managed dedicated or semi-dedicated server. You will have to pay them, but probably under £100/month.
My web hoster (WinServe) lets me run a .NET windows service that populates a database and refreshes some indexing, for example.

[xux42]

Your prehistoric choice of technology .

Hi - thats not the problem. Lets say instead then that I'm trying to use a compiled VB 2008 Class Library from ASP.net.
AFAIK I still need a way to register the Class DLL on the Webserver.

Done a bit more digging and it seems I am not alone in struggling to find free web hosting for 'web enabled' apps the bulk of whose code is compiled rather than scripted.
I have found some ASP which will register a DLL on the host silently. It might work, it might not. If it works and the sysadm finds it and doesn't like it I might get locked out I suppose.
There are also tips on how to 'smuggle' C# onto the host and get it compiled on 1st invocation. For me that approach has the downsides of learning C# and rewriting the app - hardly a quick fix! (and the source code is exposed on the host webserver).

Please bear in mind the Web aspect of this is just a means to an end which I want to keep to a minimum - its the back end processing & its hosting that interests me.
Please don't provide explanations as to why Classic ASP is a bad choice! At least not yet...
Ta.

[thunderlizard]

Hi - thats not the problem. Lets say instead then that I'm trying to use a compiled VB 2008 Class Library from ASP.net.
AFAIK I still need a way to register the Class DLL on the Webserver.

That's what I meant - that is the main problem. It's only really Microsoft COM components, like VB6 produces, that need registering. .NET, Java and most other frameworks just need the component to be sitting in the right folder. (there is an optional way to register .NET dlls, in the GAC, but not many people do it that way).

If you speculatively email lots of providers with your requirements up front, I'm sure one of them will be able to do it, and for the sake of a few tens of quid a month you'll save yourself having to jump through all manner of hoops.

[Durbs]

Hi - thats not the problem. Lets say instead then that I'm trying to use a compiled VB 2008 Class Library from ASP.net.
AFAIK I still need a way to register the Class DLL on the Webserver.

No, you don't in 99% of cases with .NET, you just dump it in the bin folder.

If using classic ASP though, as has been said, your options are to look at dedicated or semi-dedicated hosting. No host worth their salt are going to let Joe Bloggs register executables on their shared boxes.

[xux42]

That's what I meant - that is the main problem. It's only really Microsoft COM components, like VB6 produces, that need registering. .NET, Java and most other frameworks just need the component to be sitting in the right folder.

OK - well that would explain the scarcity (but not total absence) of references to this problem.
Thanks, thats valuable info. My background is legacy maintenance of complex but dated MS/IBM apps written 96-05 ie up to the point where .net really took off (at least in big financial services co.s).

Studying hard and not struggling with anything yet IRO .net, but its difficult to make headway with VB6 clients who want to migrate to newer technology when you have no commercial experience of .net or whatever their chosen target environment is.

[VectraMan]

Studying hard and not struggling with anything yet IRO .net, but its difficult to make headway with VB6 clients who want to migrate to newer technology when you have no commercial experience of .net or whatever their chosen target environment is.

FWIW I managed to get a gig two years ago with a client looking to migrate C++ software to .NET. Their immediate need was for somebody who could maintain the C++ side of it, but with the conversion a longer term project, and as a C++'er I could do the former and learn C#/.NET on the job.

A lot of clients have legacy software that they can't afford to immediately abandon even if they are working on something better.