| Subject | Re: Questions from dBASE prospect |
| From | David Ball <No.Spam@All.com> |
| Date | Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:36:23 -0500 |
| Newsgroups | dbase.getting-started |
Hi Jim In addition to Christopher's fine advice: IIRC, MS Access has a conversion utility to put your apps on the web, doesn't it? I don't know if you've looked at that - it may be a shorter learning curve. Or it might be a sales pitch for Visual Studio; I never checked it out so I don't know what it does. The main thing here is that a web browser can only speak HTML (well yeah, and all that web 2.0 stuff also) but a browser can't use dBASE forms or Access forms. All of the screens must be converted to HTML, and all of the logic has to be rewired to HTML events/controls, etc. > 1. Would I need dBASE Plus, dQuery, or both? Other than > dBASE and/or dQuery, is there any other software that I > need to include? dBASE would do it all. dBASE installs the Borland Database Engine, which it needs to talk to any data source. > 2. If I deploy a dBASE app to the web, does the end user > need to have any software installed on his PC other than a > web browser? No. > 3. If I design an app in dBASE, do I have to re-design > the forms/reports/queries/logic to deploy the app over the > web? Yes. This is a major hurdle for moving any desktop app to the web, because a browser cannot understand dBASE or Access forms or controls. > 4. Can any dBASE developers provide links to web sites > that have been developed and deployed with dBASE? I would > like to see some real-life examples. www.ChelseaData.ca has some dBASE web apps, but the publicly-visible ones are not the best showcase. There are some lame sample apps, but they are outdated and I lack motivation to update them. The best apps are password-protected, members-only sites. (Note: For 10 years, I have run ChelseaData.ca and I provide web hosting for dBASE web applications.) > 5. Can any dBASE developers comment on > capacities/performance of dBASE apps that are deployed > over the web? How many concurrent users can it support? > What kind of response times does it provide? I would > appreciate any real-life statements as to actual web > performance/capacity. I have seen some discussions regarding this, but I haven't had any overloading issues myself. Others who have done testing and tuning may be able to comment better on this. > 6. Can a single server deploy multiple web sites that > have been developed in dBASE? Yes. Special note: dBASE, being a Windows-only product, requires a Windows-based web server. I run the dBASE Hosting Index ( www.ChelseaData.ca/dHI/ ), which tracks dBASE-capable internet servers. I'm sure there are others out there, and if you can always run your own anyway. I do! > 7. The dBASE product info describes the > Forms/Reports/Menus Design tools as GUI-based. But they > do not describe them to be WYSIWYG Painters for > Forms/Reports/Menus. Are the design tools really WYSIWYG? Yes, but they cannot be used for web applications. Thank you David Ball www.ChelseaData.ca "Jim Allbright" <AllbrigJ@bellsouth.net> wrote in message news:1CHo8CvmKHA.1856@news-server... >I am a prospect for dBASE. I am an experienced MS Access >developer. I've written several Access apps for work, Boy >Scouts, Church, etc. I have the need to deploy a Boy >Scouts Access app over the web. (I also have the need to >deploy an Access app I wrote for a small businessman over >the web as well. But, if I can deploy the Boy Scout app, >then I can do the other one as well.) > > Assume I can provide the following: > 1. Windows 2003 Server with IIS. > 2. I can purchase & install dBASE Plus and dQuery (if > needed as well). > 3. I think I can use ODBC to directly interface into my > Access database, but I am willing to redevelop in DBASE if > that provides efficiencies and better performance over the > web. > > Here are some questions: > 1. Would I need dBASE Plus, dQuery, or both? > Other than dBASE and/or dQuery, is there any other > software that I need to include? > 2. If I deploy a dBASE app to the web, does the end user > need to have any software installed on his PC other than a > web browser? > 3. If I design an app in dBASE, do I have to re-design > the forms/reports/queries/logic to deploy the app over the > web? > 4. Can any dBASE developers provide links to web sites > that have been developed and deployed with dBASE? I would > like to see some real-life examples. > 5. Can any dBASE developers comment on > capacities/performance of dBASE apps that are deployed > over the web? How many concurrent users can it support? > What kind of response times does it provide? I would > appreciate any real-life statements as to actual web > performance/capacity. > 6. Can a single server deploy multiple web sites that > have been developed in dBASE? > 7. The dBASE product info describes the > Forms/Reports/Menus Design tools as GUI-based. But they > do not describe them to be WYSIWYG Painters for > Forms/Reports/Menus. Are the design tools really WYSIWYG? > > These are probably too many questions for one post. I > will be appreciative of any information that I receive > from real dBASE developers. Your insight will help me > evaluate the product. > > Thanks in advance. > Regards, > Jim Allbright | |