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Thread Web access DBISAM (or ElevateDB) database
Mon, Oct 26 2009 11:24 AMPermanent Link

Brian Kennedy
Hello.  We have been authoring Delphi / DBISAM applications for about 9 years for the PC platform.  We are about to embark on an addition to our PC desktop-
based application which will allow users to access and write database information via the web. The desktop-based application will remain as it is our power user
GUI, but SOME functions will be made available to users via the web through a scaled down web interface.  

Currently, everything is written in Delphi 2009 with a DBISAM 4.28 back end but may upgrade to ElevateDB.

Anyway, this is all new to us.  The customer will still be operating the PC based application with their database stored on their local server.

1) What needs to be done in order to access the DBISAM (or Elevate DB database) via the web application?  (BTW, most customers would be okay to host their
own web server.)

2) I have read some about web servers.  Any recommendations on which one to use with DBISAM / Elevate DB?

3) I have read about Intraweb.  Has anyone used this?  Some broken links and out-dated info on their site concerns me.

4) I have also looked into VS2008 for the web form development.  Would this be able to hookup easily with the DBISAM / Elevate DB?

I have been having difficulty determining the most efficient way to go about this.  Any insight that can be provided to any of these questions would be greatly
appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Brian
Tue, Oct 27 2009 7:10 AMPermanent Link

Tim Young [Elevate Software]

Elevate Software, Inc.

Avatar

Email timyoung@elevatesoft.com

Brian,

<< Anyway, this is all new to us.  The customer will still be operating the
PC based application with their database stored on their local server.

1) What needs to be done in order to access the DBISAM (or Elevate DB
database) via the web application?  (BTW, most customers would be okay to
host their own web server.) >>

As long as they're hosting their own web server, then everything is very
easy.  You just have the web applications (ISAPI, CGI, ASP, ASP.NET, PHP,
etc.) just access the database using normal methods.  I would probably
suggest that you start using the DBISAM Database Server (or ElevateDB
Server) on the existing server machine so that you can rest easy knowing
that if the web process or any of its threads goes down that it won't
corrupt the database.

<< 2) I have read some about web servers.  Any recommendations on which one
to use with DBISAM / Elevate DB? >>

Well, the options range from IIS and Apache to rolling your own with
IntraWeb/Indy, etc.  It really depends upon how the web application is
built.  We actually use a custom web server here at Elevate Software that is
(now) an HTTP, NNTP, POP3, and SMTP component called TElevateServer, so if
you want to take a look at it, I can send it to you.  The nice thing about
it is that you have one single event called OnResource, and it is called any
time there is a need for content that isn't static (.htm/.html pages).  You
can then use the event handler to generate HTML code from anywhere.  Most of
the Elevate Software site is dynamic and comes directly from our DBISAM
databases.  For example, this URL calls the OnResource event handler, which
calls some Delphi code to generate the dynamic page:

http://www.elevatesoft.com/prodinfo?action=list

<< 4) I have also looked into VS2008 for the web form development.  Would
this be able to hookup easily with the DBISAM / Elevate DB? >>

You can use the DBISAM ODBC Driver along with the ODBC.NET data provider
with VS.  ElevateDB can do the same, but also adds the option of the
ElevateDB .NET Data Provider, which is more like using the
TEDBTable/TEDBQuery components in Delphi, but under C# and .NET instead.
For example, there's an EDBDataCursor class that allows bi-directional
access to any table or query result set using methods that you're pretty
familiar with:

http://www.elevatesoft.com/manual?action=mantopic&id=edb2dac&category=3&topic=30

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tue, Oct 27 2009 10:07 AMPermanent Link

Brian Kennedy
Tim,

Thanks for the detailed reply...really appreciate the insight.  We are currently using the DB server so we're off to a good start there.

Yes, if you wouldn't mind sending the the TElevateServer component, that would be great.  I really want to provide a integrated web server solution with my application to make
things easier for the customer.  

Thanks Tim.

Brian

"Tim Young [Elevate Software]" wrote:

Brian,

<< Anyway, this is all new to us.  The customer will still be operating the
PC based application with their database stored on their local server.

1) What needs to be done in order to access the DBISAM (or Elevate DB
database) via the web application?  (BTW, most customers would be okay to
host their own web server.) >>

As long as they're hosting their own web server, then everything is very
easy.  You just have the web applications (ISAPI, CGI, ASP, ASP.NET, PHP,
etc.) just access the database using normal methods.  I would probably
suggest that you start using the DBISAM Database Server (or ElevateDB
Server) on the existing server machine so that you can rest easy knowing
that if the web process or any of its threads goes down that it won't
corrupt the database.

<< 2) I have read some about web servers.  Any recommendations on which one
to use with DBISAM / Elevate DB? >>

Well, the options range from IIS and Apache to rolling your own with
IntraWeb/Indy, etc.  It really depends upon how the web application is
built.  We actually use a custom web server here at Elevate Software that is
(now) an HTTP, NNTP, POP3, and SMTP component called TElevateServer, so if
you want to take a look at it, I can send it to you.  The nice thing about
it is that you have one single event called OnResource, and it is called any
time there is a need for content that isn't static (.htm/.html pages).  You
can then use the event handler to generate HTML code from anywhere.  Most of
the Elevate Software site is dynamic and comes directly from our DBISAM
databases.  For example, this URL calls the OnResource event handler, which
calls some Delphi code to generate the dynamic page:

http://www.elevatesoft.com/prodinfo?action=list

<< 4) I have also looked into VS2008 for the web form development.  Would
this be able to hookup easily with the DBISAM / Elevate DB? >>

You can use the DBISAM ODBC Driver along with the ODBC.NET data provider
with VS.  ElevateDB can do the same, but also adds the option of the
ElevateDB .NET Data Provider, which is more like using the
TEDBTable/TEDBQuery components in Delphi, but under C# and .NET instead.
For example, there's an EDBDataCursor class that allows bi-directional
access to any table or query result set using methods that you're pretty
familiar with:

http://www.elevatesoft.com/manual?action=mantopic&id=edb2dac&category=3&topic=30

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com
Tue, Oct 27 2009 9:56 PMPermanent Link

"Raul"
It would be just a "small" step then to roll a DBISAM (and EDB) Web-Services
Server - REST (and maybe /JSON/SOAP) access to DBISAM data. Customers could
use any language/environment then to access data and you could license it
similar to full dbsrvr. Anyways, just an idea - obviously bit more complex
but basic table/query access and insert/update/delete using something like
REST is very straightforward.

Raul

> built.  We actually use a custom web server here at Elevate Software that
> is (now) an HTTP, NNTP, POP3, and SMTP component called TElevateServer, so
> if you want to take a look at it, I can send it to you.  The nice thing
> about it is that you have one single event called OnResource, and it is
> called any time there is a need for content that isn't static (.htm/.html
> pages).  You can then use the event handler to generate HTML code from
> anywhere.  Most of the Elevate Software site is dynamic and comes directly
> from our DBISAM databases.  For example, this URL calls the OnResource
> event handler, which calls some Delphi code to generate the dynamic page:

Wed, Oct 28 2009 6:59 AMPermanent Link

Tim Young [Elevate Software]

Elevate Software, Inc.

Avatar

Email timyoung@elevatesoft.com

Brian,

<< Yes, if you wouldn't mind sending the the TElevateServer component, that
would be great.  I really want to provide a integrated web server solution
with my application to make things easier for the customer.   >>

I've uploaded it to the Binaries newsgroup:

http://www.elevatesoft.com/newsgrp?action=openmsg&group=13&msg=1726&page=1

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Wed, Oct 28 2009 4:31 PMPermanent Link

Brian Kennedy
Got it...I'll have a look.  Thanks Tim.

Brian
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