ASP Tips: Tip 11: Batch Inline Script and Response.Write Statements

The VBScript syntax <% = expression %> writes the value of "expression" to the ASP output stream. If response buffering is not turned on, then each of these statements results in writing data to the browser over the network in many small packets. This is slow. Also, interspersing small amounts of script and HTML causes switching between the script engine and HTML, reducing performance. Thus, use the following tip: Replace closely-bunched inline expressions with one call to Response.Write. For example, in the following sample, there is one write to the response stream per field per row, and many switches between VBScript and HTML per row:

<table>
<% For Each fld in rs.Fields %>
 <th><% = fld.Name %></th>
<%
Next
While Not rs.EOF
%>
<tr>
<% For Each fld in rs.Fields %>
  <td><% = fld.Value %></td>
<% Next
</tr>
<% rs.MoveNext
Wend %>
</table>

The more efficient code, below, has one write to the response stream per row. All of the code is contained within one VBScript block:

<table>
<%
For each fld in rs.Fields
   Response.Write ("<th>" & fld.Name & "</th>" & vbCrLf)
Next
While Not rs.EOF
 Response.Write ("<tr>")
 For Each fld in rs.Fields %>
   Response.Write("<td>" & fld.Value & "</td>" & vbCrLf)
 Next
 Response.Write "</tr>"
Wend
%>
</table>

This tip has a much bigger effect when response buffering is disabled. It's best to enable response buffering, and then see if batching Response.Write helps performance.

(In this particular example, the nested loop that builds the body of the table (While Not rs.EOF...) can be replaced by a carefully constructed call to GetString.)