Deployment of Run BASIC apps on Internet website

[fabiosiciliano]

I there,

I'm just a new Run BASIC customer and programmer: I purchased it just two days ago.

All is very interesting but, please, let me understand the following.

I've just installed Run BASIC on my home PC. This is great for developing applications, but what about deploying them on the Internet as working versions inside web pages?

I mean, imagine I've just developed my first application and then I want to deploy it in my web space just to run it as part of my website from the Internet.

Notice: my web space is not on my PC; it is on one of the servers of the company that is also the maintainer of my personal Internet domain.

What I have to do? Have I simply to upload my "myapp.bas" to my cgi-bin folder in my web space? I really don't think so. I think Run BASIC should run on the machine where my web space reside on. Correct?

Now, I think it's not very easy to ask that company to buy and install Run BASIC just to allow me to make work my website BASIC cgis.

So the risk is to have a tool by which I can develop fantastic applications I never will be able to set up on my website.

So, everybody could ask: why Run BASIC? PHP, for instance, is fully supported almost by every web hosting company; Run BASIC is NOT.

Am I right? Am I wrong?

Please, help me to clarify this subject.

Thank you very much and bye.

fabiosiciliano.

[mackrackit]

Assuming you have a router and a static IP, and the router is not one that gives problems...

Set the port forwarding in the router to look for the machine that RP is running on. Then the address to your application would be something like this:
http://..:8008/seaside/go/runbasicpersonal?app=firstTable

Now to have your app run in a web page from another server use IFRAME in your page:
<iframe font="" color="CCFFFF" src="http://www.mackrackit.com:8008/seaside/go/runbasicpersonal?app=PT" height="200" width="30%"></iframe>
The above is what the code looks like in this page:
www.mackrackit.com/mac/www/run_basic/run_basic.html
My set up is like this...
Web server on one machine, RB server on another. They are both behind a router with the same IP, but it will also work if the machines are on different IPs. Just make sure the addresses are correct.

[Chris Iverson]

In a way, it's almost unfair to compare how many people support RB to how many support PHP; because PHP has been well established, and had a very good head start. I'm sure that now, with the Personal license released, RB will start to pick up steam. And it will gather even more once the native Linux RB and the Professional licenses are released. It is a very good system; but like every new system, it will take time to see it fully utilized everywhere.

[agrokid]

I'm with Fabio on this. I can't find a way to develop apps using my home laptop then upload the app onto a commercial host server. Mackrackit's solution seems to involve running your own server 24/7. There's no way I'm going to do that for all sorts of reasons. Will someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[carlgundel]

agrokid said:

I'm with Fabio on this. I can't find a way to develop apps using my home laptop then upload the app onto a commercial host server. Mackrackit's solution seems to involve running your own server 24/7. There's no way I'm going to do that for all sorts of reasons. Will someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Running your own server from home is a viable option for many, but it doesn't fit everyone's needs. In addition, Run BASIC is a great way to develop applications for the office that don't need to be on the Internet at all.

I am looking into the possibility of hosting Run BASIC for an affordable monthly fee by using a VPS service. Customers wouldn't have to purchase Run BASIC Personal Server. Instead they could pay $15 a month, and their apps will be hosted on the Internet indirectly by my company Shoptalk Systems.

Is that a reasonable alternative for you?

-Carl

[agrokid]

Thanks for your contribution, Carl. I've gradually realised that RunBASIC really is a "personal server" - as it says on the box. I was so busy reading how easy it was to implement that I didn't notice the personal server angle. Would your proposal interest me ? At this stage I rather doubt it. There are other things I really need, like FTP, and the ability to change my host easily if things go wrong. I'm not really a home operation. I'm more of a mini-business operation. So at present my ideas are moving towards VB.Net Express and VB.Net for Web Applications Express, coupled with SQL Compact v3.5 (an embedded SQL). Yes, I know this is bloatware, which I don't like, but at least it is free and it can handle the more complicated parts of my application. Also, the cost of RunBASIC was so low that there are no hard feelings if it isn't quite what I was looking for. I have you to thank for that.

[carlgundel]

agrokid said:

Thanks for your contribution, Carl. I've gradually realised that RunBASIC really is a "personal server" - as it says on the box. I was so busy reading how easy it was to implement that I didn't notice the personal server angle. Would your proposal interest me ? At this stage I rather doubt it. There are other things I really need, like FTP, and the ability to change my host easily if things go wrong. I'm not really a home operation. I'm more of a mini-business operation. So at present my ideas are moving towards VB.Net Express and VB.Net for Web Applications Express, coupled with SQL Compact v3.5 (an embedded SQL). Yes, I know this is bloatware, which I don't like, but at least it is free and it can handle the more complicated parts of my application. Also, the cost of RunBASIC was so low that there are no hard feelings if it isn't quite what I was looking for. I have you to thank for that.

Are you planning to run your system on a VPS? If so, there's no reason why you can't use Run BASIC and still have FTP. I'm not sure how SQL Compact v3.5 compares with SQLite, but SQLite is a solid performer.

Anyways, good luck with your small business projects!

-Carl

[agrokid]

Carl will be amused to know that after a few days thinking about it I'm beginning to see the attractions of a Personal Server ! It involves breaking down my existing desktop application into two parts. First a timed, daily task of collecting yesterday's stock market prices and putting them into an SQLite database. Second, and quite separate, the business of sending charts of those prices to anyone who accesses my site. (Just a few friends.) When I think about it like this I can visualize a very, very fast application made from quite simple building blocks. Only snag remaining is to protect my home laptop from attacks via my wireless broadband router which the personal server would also use. Whatever happens, RunBASIC has made me think. Thank you, Carl.

[borstensohn]

fabiosiciliano said:

So the risk is to have a tool by which I can develop fantastic applications I never will be able to set up on my website.

This is exactly what I think, too. Why use Run BASIC for building web applications, if you can't normally use them on your web site. Makes no sense to me.

[carlgundel]

borstensohn said:

fabiosiciliano said:

So the risk is to have a tool by which I can develop fantastic applications I never will be able to set up on my website.

This is exactly what I think, too. Why use Run BASIC for building web applications, if you can't normally use them on your web site. Makes no sense to me.

You use it when you want to host your own web apps, or if you want to host a local area network app at home or in the office.

Also, we are thinking of hosting Run BASIC apps for people on a VPS service.

-Carl

[tnorvell]

I've set up a dedicated server at ThePlanet.com - less than $100/month and installed RB personal server on my 2003 server machine. It is running perfectly with no lock ups.

For those of you who are doing similar torture tests on RunBasic, here are some things I've found out:

1. If your hosting/server farm company deploys their machines with Microsoft IIS installed, IIS will keep RB from being able to serve pages on port 80. I turned off IIS at the windows service level and everything came to life.

2. Plesk for Windows (v8.2) seems to want to periodically cause RB to crash. Once it was deactivated, I've had no trouble.

3. I'm doing some tests with MS-SQL Server right now - so far, I think the SQL lite that comes with RB is better to Q&D (quick and dirty!) applications.



I've been trying to get RunBASIC apps to run without specifying "seaside/go" for cosmetic reasons. The slimest I've been able to get the link to is:

11.22.33.44/seaside/go/?app=myfreepos

(sorry I didn't want to post my Beta server's IP address)

Any ideas on how to get a shortcut to work without the seaside/go - or how to rename seaside/go to something else?

RB is VERY VERY stable. I've been testing the language at a ridiculous level and its amazingly solid considering how new the product is. Carl is a coding guru.

[carlgundel]

borstensohn said:

Why use Run BASIC for building web applications, if you can't normally use them on your web site. Makes no sense to me.

Run BASIC makes it easy to create web applications that would be lots and lots of work in just about every other web programming system. If you are able to host your own server, Run BASIC can be a powerful answer to many problems.

That's why.

-Carl