Sharing Web Application (really expert level question)

[thomas]

Hello All,

The question may seem to be trivial, but I found it really was not, and I am
hoping that someone who has done it could share his/her experience.

How do I share my web application among my clients so it "becomes", or
appears to be, part of their websites?
Example: application showing current weather reports or stack prices, my
clients could "incorporate" into their websites without actually hosting it.
In addition my service application needs to maintain client specific data.
Perhaps even list of each of my client users. You got the idea.

The obvious, simple solution is to create a separate copy of the application
for each client and configure accordingly. However, this is exactly the
solution I am trying to avoid. The reasons are obvious.

So, I think, the alternative is to:
1. tell my clients to setup subdomain forwarding with masking
2. check Request.UrlReferrer, perhaps within Session_Start event, and store
it in the session state
3. fill in Client Context data based on the Request.UrlReferrer, and keep in
the session state

My question is what are the potential problems with this approach?
The one I am aware of is that I will need a custom, smart
MembershipProvider, if I chose to use this mechanism.

Are there any better ways of sharing my service application?

Thank you,

Tomasz

[clintonG]

Some ideas...
Start thinking like the page functioned like a banner ad that is fetched
from another site than which it will be displayed on. You can use a web
service or just simplify with query strings like an affiliate marketing
model. Don't expect any server-side functionality once the page or page
fragments are returned from your server. You can also return AJAX which
could then use JSON to make asynchronous calls back to your server.

<%= Clinton Gallagher
NET csgallagher AT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://clintongallagher.metromilwaukee.com/
MAP http://wikimapia.org/#y=43038073&x=-...8&z=17&l=0&m=h

"thomas" <th****@thomas.comwrote in message
news:eQ**************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

Hello All,

The question may seem to be trivial, but I found it really was not, and I
am hoping that someone who has done it could share his/her experience.

How do I share my web application among my clients so it "becomes", or
appears to be, part of their websites?
Example: application showing current weather reports or stack prices, my
clients could "incorporate" into their websites without actually hosting
it. In addition my service application needs to maintain client specific
data. Perhaps even list of each of my client users. You got the idea.

The obvious, simple solution is to create a separate copy of the
application for each client and configure accordingly. However, this is
exactly the solution I am trying to avoid. The reasons are obvious.

So, I think, the alternative is to:
1. tell my clients to setup subdomain forwarding with masking
2. check Request.UrlReferrer, perhaps within Session_Start event, and
store it in the session state
3. fill in Client Context data based on the Request.UrlReferrer, and keep
in the session state

My question is what are the potential problems with this approach?
The one I am aware of is that I will need a custom, smart
MembershipProvider, if I chose to use this mechanism.

Are there any better ways of sharing my service application?

Thank you,

Tomasz

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)]

The easiest way to share data is to provide a web service. If necessary,
code a page or control they can include in their site that is "pre" set up
to pull the information, pictures, etc.

If this is not an option, you can set up subdomains like
applicationName.domain.com. This requires working rather closely to their
people to set up the DNS entries and may cause you a bit of pain.

Wrapping you functionality in a IFrame, or similar, is another (low-tech)
option.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA
http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com

*************************************************
Think outside of the box!
*************************************************
"thomas" <th****@thomas.comwrote in message
news:eQ**************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

Hello All,

The question may seem to be trivial, but I found it really was not, and I
am hoping that someone who has done it could share his/her experience.

How do I share my web application among my clients so it "becomes", or
appears to be, part of their websites?
Example: application showing current weather reports or stack prices, my
clients could "incorporate" into their websites without actually hosting
it. In addition my service application needs to maintain client specific
data. Perhaps even list of each of my client users. You got the idea.

The obvious, simple solution is to create a separate copy of the
application for each client and configure accordingly. However, this is
exactly the solution I am trying to avoid. The reasons are obvious.

So, I think, the alternative is to:
1. tell my clients to setup subdomain forwarding with masking
2. check Request.UrlReferrer, perhaps within Session_Start event, and
store it in the session state
3. fill in Client Context data based on the Request.UrlReferrer, and keep
in the session state

My question is what are the potential problems with this approach?
The one I am aware of is that I will need a custom, smart
MembershipProvider, if I chose to use this mechanism.

Are there any better ways of sharing my service application?

Thank you,

Tomasz