matching string with database

Question

I am coding simple 404 seo for my website. I am little confused at one point. I need codes to go over categories table and see if it matches with the string. If yes, then it should print category's name, if not then it should display "page not found" message. I dont understand where I went wrong here...

> > <%
> >     WebsiteQueryString = Request.QueryString
> >     SplitQueryString = split(WebsiteQueryString, "/")
> > 
> >     SQL = "SELECT C.CATEGORYID,
> > C.CATEGORYNAME"     SQL = SQL & " FROM
> > CATEGORIES C"   Set objCategory =
> > objConn.Execute(SQL)    
> > 
> >     If objCategory("CATEGORYID") =
> > SplitQueryString(4) Then     %>
> > 
> > <%=objCategory("CATEGORYNAME")%>
> > 
> > <% Else %>
> > 
> 
>     enter code here`page not found.
> 
> > 
> > 
> > <% End If %>

Answer 1

OK, I'm a little rusty on the Classic ASP, but it seems that you probably want something more like this:

<% 
    WebsiteQueryString = Request.QueryString 
    SplitQueryString = split(WebsiteQueryString, "/") 

    ' I'm assuming SplitQueryString(4) is a number, as is CATEGORYID
    SQL = "SELECT CATEGORYNAME FROM CATEGORIES WHERE CATEGORYID = " & SplitQueryString(4)
    Set objCategory = objConn.Execute(SQL)     

    If objCategory("CATEGORYNAME") <> "" Then

    Response.Write(objCategory("CATEGORYNAME"))

    Else %> 

  enter code here`page not found. 

<% End If %> 

One other major comment on this. Taking this approach makes you severely susceptible to SQL injection attacks. I'd suggest a Stored Procedure.

Answer 2

Some hints:

1/ use cInt (or cStr)

If objCategory("CATEGORYID") = SplitQueryString(4) Then   

If SplitQueryString(4) is a number, try putting cInt( before both operands as in

If cInt(objCategory("CATEGORYID")) = cInt(SplitQueryString(4)) Then   

If have come across situations where I needed to do this to have a good comparison.

2/ try writing the values on screen before you compare them (are you sure you are comparing with the correct element ?)

Response.Write( "[" & objCategory("CATEGORYID" & "]")
Response.Write( "[" & SplitQueryString(4) & "]" )

I always put brackets around them as to see if an empty string is present

3/ Test for IsNull()

Try testing for IsNull() for your objCategory("CATEGORYID") , since I think field values are Null if not present in the record

4/ Make sure you use the correct field name (CATEGORYID) - check spelling