I have a Delphi Win32 application that connects to an EDB database on a cloud-hosted Windows server for a client. They have asked how hard it would be to get some reports on an iPad. I was originally thinking of writing a simple server app that returned JSON (or even using DataAbstract) and then building a native mobile app, but the needs are quite simple (just reporting right now) and I don't want to go buy a Mac just so I can support one iPad!

So I started thinking in terms of a web app instead and was looking at EWB but realized I could probably do everything I need simply enough in PHP.  I was looking through some old posts here and remembered a thread about a year ago where I was pondering adding .NET and doing stuff with Oxygene (which I have) and it dawned on me that I also have the option of writing an ASP.NET web app using Oxygene.

I've done quite a bit of PHP in the past and am confident I can get something up for the client relatively inexpensively, but the lure of learning more .NET technologies and adding one more skill to my palette is tempting--although there would be quite a steep learning curve, I imagine.

But before I ask the question hinted at in the subject line, I need to know what version of Visual Studio is supported. The main product page shows 2012, but manual only shows 2010 (http://www.elevatesoft.com/manual?action=viewtopic&id=edb2dac&topic=NET_Application_Compatibility).  What about version 2013?  Is the .NET adapter not kept as current as other component sets?

So the big question is: does anyone have experience between building a PHP web app and building an ASP.NET web app?  Like I mentioned, I have PHP experience, so that's the obvious choice, but I'd like to learn ASP.NET--is it worth it?  Are there performance problems?  I'd much rather write in Oxygene--PHP is one of my least favorite programming tools, and it has been several years since I had to do much with it.

Another thought about going with the .NET side is that I could do both ASP.NET and WinForms or WPF Windows applications with it.  And Tim said last year he would be looking to convert the code base for the .NET adapter to use Oxygene since it was still based in an old Delphi Prism compiler.  I'd be very interested to hear about that progress, because then I could write a mobile EDB app using Oxygene.  That would be cool!

Anyway, I've strayed from the original question now, but am interested in hearing about any experiences using EDB in these environments.
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David Cornelius
Cornelius Concepts