Using the Chilkat ActiveX in Classic ASP

install once on the IIS server, then create Chilkat objects with Server.CreateObject

Windows · IIS, 32-bit or 64-bit application pools · VBScript or JScript pages · Chilkat ActiveX v11

The Chilkat ActiveX is a COM library, so Classic ASP pages can create Chilkat objects such as Chilkat.Http, Chilkat.JsonObject, or Chilkat.Crypt2 and call their methods. That gives an ASP site HTTP/REST calls, email, FTP/SFTP, Zip, PDF, encryption, digital signatures, JSON, XML, and the rest of the Chilkat API. Chilkat runs on the web server, inside the IIS worker process.

On this page: Bitness Install Unlock First page JSON to a table ASP tips Troubleshooting

Setup

<%
' chilkat_unlock.asp -- include this on every page that uses Chilkat.
Function ChilkatReady()
    Dim glob, ok
    Set glob = Server.CreateObject("Chilkat.Global")
    ok = (glob.UnlockBundle("Anything for 30-day trial") = 1)
    If Not ok Then Response.Write "<pre>" & Server.HTMLEncode(glob.LastErrorText) & "</pre>"
    ChilkatReady = ok
End Function
%>

Examples

Your first page: fetch a URL

<%@ Language="VBScript" %>
<!--#include file="chilkat_unlock.asp" -->
<%
If ChilkatReady() Then
    Dim http, s
    Set http = Server.CreateObject("Chilkat.Http")
    s = http.QuickGetStr("https://www.chilkatsoft.com/helloworld.txt")
    If http.LastMethodSuccess <> 1 Then
        Response.Write "<pre>" & Server.HTMLEncode(http.LastErrorText) & "</pre>"
    Else
        Response.Write "<p>" & Server.HTMLEncode(s) & "</p>"
    End If
End If
%>

Browse to hello.asp. The page shows Hello World!. The ProgID is Chilkat. plus the class name, for example Chilkat.JsonObject or Chilkat.Crypt2. Server.CreateObject and plain CreateObject both work; Server.CreateObject reports failures as ASP errors with more detail.

Show JSON from a web service as an HTML table

This page calls a URL that returns JSON, parses it with Chilkat.JsonObject, and writes an HTML table. The same pattern works for any REST API: send the request with Chilkat.Http or Chilkat.Rest, then read the fields with StringOf, IntOf, and SizeOfArray.

<%@ Language="VBScript" CodePage=65001 %>
<!--#include file="chilkat_unlock.asp" -->
<%
Response.CodePage = 65001
Response.Charset = "utf-8"

If ChilkatReady() Then
    ' {"apple":"red", "lime":"green", "banana":"yellow", ...}
    Dim http, json, jsonText, i
    Set http = Server.CreateObject("Chilkat.Http")
    http.ConnectTimeout = 10
    http.ReadTimeout = 20
    jsonText = http.QuickGetStr("https://www.chilkatsoft.com/exampledata/sample.json")

    Set json = Server.CreateObject("Chilkat.JsonObject")
    If http.LastMethodSuccess <> 1 Then
        Response.Write "<pre>" & Server.HTMLEncode(http.LastErrorText) & "</pre>"
    ElseIf json.Load(jsonText) <> 1 Then
        Response.Write "<pre>" & Server.HTMLEncode(json.LastErrorText) & "</pre>"
    Else
        Response.Write "<table><tr><th>Fruit</th><th>Color</th></tr>"
        For i = 0 To json.Size - 1
            Response.Write "<tr><td>" & Server.HTMLEncode(json.NameAt(i)) & "</td><td>" & _
                Server.HTMLEncode(json.StringAt(i)) & "</td></tr>"
        Next
        Response.Write "</table>"
    End If
End If
%>

CodePage=65001 and the two Response lines make the page UTF-8 end to end, so non-English text from the web service displays correctly. See Using Non-usascii Literal Strings in Classic ASP.

Things to know when calling Chilkat from ASP

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

• 📖 Chilkat Classic ASP Reference Documentation — every class, method, and property
• 💻 Chilkat Classic ASP examples — thousands of ready-to-run examples
• 📦 Chilkat ActiveX downloads (MSI installers and ZIP files)
• ✉ Contact Chilkat support

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