The Big Question...

[Terry Mulvany]

I am constantly struggling with the problem of what 'type' of application to
develop. WinForm or WebForm?
The customer says I need a central database for all sites but the sites are
geographically disperse limited to DSL Internet access (VPN solution not an
option due to huge support burden).
The users at each site want a rich, high performance interface but the folks
back at headquarters want a birds-eye view of all data.
It would be nice to provide a solution that provides the richness and
performance of Java Applets all hitting a central DB. I've tried no-touch
deployment/href exe and do not like the fact that I'm restricted to the
IEExec 'sandbox'.
What is the equivalent to Java Applet in .NET?
I spent 10 minutes slapping together a quick href exe that just brings up a
form and I launched it over the Internet and was pleased with it, but when I
tried adding simple DB access (to SQL Server), either directly through
ADO.NET SqlClient or through a Web Service... nightmare! All kinds of
security errors. In my opinion the only protection .NET should provide is
on the client machine (file I/O, registry, etc.), not on the server as in
the case of DB access. I even gots error when I added that web site (where
the exe lives) as a Trusted Site in IE. Are these errors correctable on the
server or the client? If it's the client, then we would have to support
hundreds of people which would be crazy!
Any advise or recommended reading on this supject is greatly appreciated.

-Terry Mulvany

[Dan Brussee]

Windows or Web is more a case of exactly what you suggest - a
maintenance issue. A Windows program could be made to use HTTP and the
web as it's connection to the data source - possibly using web methods
as you suggest. So... the main question is why you are having so many
problems with Web applications.

The richness and performance of Java Applets has me confused. Java has
a very strict "sandbox" approach. This is because the applet runs on
the client - not on the server. .NET web applications are server side.
The result of a .NET web appliction is an HTML interface to a .NET
backend application. There are lots of nice tools to make the user
interface work more like a windows app, but it's still just HTML.

Make sure you are always aware of where code is running. The client
has no idea of SQL Server or where it is. Only the .NET (server) code
should know about that, so your rights, etc are completely kept to
code, computers and connections that you create and are in control of,
so there should be no surprises with security there.

More explanation and examples would help to get more specific.

Bottom line, Java applets and .NET are (usually) not playing in the
same ballpark.
On Mon, 1 Mar 2004 20:11:10 -0800, "Terry Mulvany"
<te***@istartschool.com> wrote:

I am constantly struggling with the problem of what 'type' of application to
develop. WinForm or WebForm?
The customer says I need a central database for all sites but the sites are
geographically disperse limited to DSL Internet access (VPN solution not an
option due to huge support burden).
The users at each site want a rich, high performance interface but the folks
back at headquarters want a birds-eye view of all data.
It would be nice to provide a solution that provides the richness and
performance of Java Applets all hitting a central DB. I've tried no-touch
deployment/href exe and do not like the fact that I'm restricted to the
IEExec 'sandbox'.
What is the equivalent to Java Applet in .NET?
I spent 10 minutes slapping together a quick href exe that just brings up a
form and I launched it over the Internet and was pleased with it, but when I
tried adding simple DB access (to SQL Server), either directly through
ADO.NET SqlClient or through a Web Service... nightmare! All kinds of
security errors. In my opinion the only protection .NET should provide is
on the client machine (file I/O, registry, etc.), not on the server as in
the case of DB access. I even gots error when I added that web site (where
the exe lives) as a Trusted Site in IE. Are these errors correctable on the
server or the client? If it's the client, then we would have to support
hundreds of people which would be crazy!
Any advise or recommended reading on this supject is greatly appreciated.

-Terry Mulvany

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Dan Brussee <db******@nc.rr.com> wrote:

Bottom line, Java applets and .NET are (usually) not playing in the
same ballpark.

Although in fact, they can - .NET smart clients are the equivalent of
Java Applets, and .NET server-side stuff is doable in Java too.

In short, for the most part whatever architecture the OP is
considering, there'll be a .NET solution to match and a Java solution
to match. I entirely agree that applets shouldn't be connecting to the
database directly, btw.

--
Jon Skeet - <sk***@pobox.com>
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

[Terry Mulvany]

thanks, i understand.

"Jon Skeet [C# MVP]" <sk***@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:MP************************@msnews.microsoft.c om...

Dan Brussee <db******@nc.rr.com> wrote:

Bottom line, Java applets and .NET are (usually) not playing in the
same ballpark.

Although in fact, they can - .NET smart clients are the equivalent of
Java Applets, and .NET server-side stuff is doable in Java too.

In short, for the most part whatever architecture the OP is
considering, there'll be a .NET solution to match and a Java solution
to match. I entirely agree that applets shouldn't be connecting to the
database directly, btw.

--
Jon Skeet - <sk***@pobox.com>
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too