Combining ColdFusion & ASP

To mix or not to mix, how stuipid is this?

[Randy]

Has it been done or should it be done?

I'm an asst. webmaster running an ecomm site using ASP and MSSQL 2K, and there's talk about purchasing a new mail order/shipping program that runs on ColdFusion.

I say convert the site to Coldfusion because this new program has so many things that the company needs and will tie together many things that need to be, but the ("the web master") says "keep the site on ASP."

Besides being a PAIN in the butt to code and maintain an ASP site and then have write code to pass this data into a shopping cart which is done in Coldfusion, can I have some opinons against (or for) this idea? We host our site and process all information including credit card #'s.

We're already doing the "session variable dance" with our current ordering managment system it's very inefficent and UNSAFE.

Opinions please!

[edit_g]

Move it all over to coldfusion. It will save you many a gray hair in the long run. We had to consider the exact change about a year and a half ago. After trying to make the two "be friends" we decided to just plump for CFM alltogether.

CFM is easier to use than ASP (IMHO) and integrates very well with MSSQL.

The only reservation I would have is that https and CFM are hard to combine- but if you're buying something then I suspect that aspect will already be sorted out.

Maybe the Webmaster doesn't want to learn CFM ;)

[Randy]

Thanks for the input. Funny that it's been tried before. I'm sure it can be done, but why? Maybe if two companies are trying to work together, but the same company in the same building. We're buying CF so why not use it.

I need some "technical" facts that I can throw in besides "it's just stupid". You know how that goes over.
Server config issues?
Session issues?

Oh yea, I think there is some hesitation of learning CF, but he will never admit to it.
His ASP isn't real pretty!

[sun818]

ColdFusion is much easier to use than ASP. If your developer can code ASP, he will pick up ColdFusion in a few hours. Only disadvantage is that ASP comes with every IIS web server so it is more portable. But ColdFusion requires its own Application Server on top of a web server.

[hasbeen]

Another thing to consider is the host. Do they offer servers with both ASP and ColdFusion installed? Some do and some don't. Apart from the coding issues, there could be site moves/transfers you need to consider.

I agree about CF being easier to code. I also believe, and this is personal opinion, that the CF community is very tight-knit and seems to be more helpful than the ASP community. I can't tell you how many people I talk to that have made the transition from ASP to CF and are much happier.

Good luck.