DataFlex Web Framework Symposium – Part 7 Starting a Web Application Stephen W. Meeley Development Team

Where are you coming from? DataFlex Character Mode Visual DataFlex  Various revisions Legacy Web Application AJAX Library Application Non-DataFlex Application An idea…

What do you need to start? At the very least, the idea. And your starting point matters greatly…  How to use the Studio  The DataFlex Language  The DataFlex Classes  Data Dictionaries (both knowledge and existence)  Connectivity (if using SQL)  The DataFlex Web Framework

The Basic Steps Create a Workspace Create (or Connect to) Data Create (or use) Data Dictionaries and business rules Create a Web Project Use the Wizards Lather, rinse and repeat…

DataFlex Character Mode Depending on exclusivity and type of character mode use, this may be similar to starting from a non-DataFlex environment  Procedural or Object Oriented?  Also use Visual DataFlex? Have data structure and business rules (may not be expressed in DDs) but perhaps not much more…

Visual DataFlex Many different starting revisions Knowledge of Studio, language, classes, data dictionaries, etc. Don’t let multi-revision migration issues cloud your project  Are you updating the Windows app?  Get whatever you are bringing in up-to-date before adding features  Kinda like telling a child to clean up their room before opening Christmas presents…  …but it will save you a lot of grief!

An Editorial Opinion Even if you are not planning on Web Framework projects in the short term, update your Windows applications to 17.x if at all possible  No, I’m not just trying to sell you something! There are tons of benefits and the What’s New illustrates thatWhat’s New If you can, this will smooth out your Web Framework development experience greatly and allow you to take advantage of all the other great things in Visual DataFlex 17.x And now back to our regularly scheduled program…

Legacy Web Application Some knowledge of HTML and CSS Some appreciation of “lack of persistency”  Were you using process pooling or not? Some appreciation of a Web interface Reuse the non-UI components (DD’s, BPs, etc.) No opportunity for “migration” of the actual legacy application  But the app can still compile and run

AJAX Library Deeper knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript Some client-side APIs are similar (it was a big part of our design heritage) Appreciation of web properties, DDO synchronization and lack of persistency  You had to consider these while working with AJAX Library Have already done design of a Web interface

AJAX Library Reuse the non-UI components (DD’s, BPs, etc.) No real opportunity for “migration” of the actual AJAX application  Could theoretically migrate partially but would make big sacrifices  We recommend a clean slate

The Workspace Question “Default” mode:  Migrate workspace to 17.1  Create Web Project  Start working… Specialized Workspace Option:  Migrate Windows workspace to 17.1  Create a secondary 17.1 workspace for the web project  Change the Data and DDSrc paths to the same as the “Windows” workspace  Start working…

Specialized Workspaces Less “clutter” No need to switch between Windows and Web projects and reparse Run Windows and Web side-by-side Specialized Class Palette  Who new? Easier to give to someone else to look at…

Using the Basic Steps Can it really be that straightforward? Studio