Getting Started with dBASE - BDE on Web Server

Author

BDE on Web Server

Big Al

2005-07-17, 7:23 am

Thanks to the help and encouragement of this forum in helping me 'graduate' from 5.7 to 2.5 I now have a lovely little set of pages and programmes working fine on my LAN. So I'm now ready to deploy it onto my ISP's server but haven't found much info on t
his in these forums and my ISP appears to just have MySQL available.

Does the ISP have to have the BDE installed already or can I do it myself ? If I can't, any suggestions on ISP's who do have it on ? Do I then have to go into the server BDE to set up the aliases ?

Once this is done can I just use my 2.5 disc to install the runtime files on the server ?

Or am I on the wrong track altogether !! A link to some good reading on this part of the exercise would be great.

David Ball

2005-07-17, 1:23 pm

Hi Al

> Thanks to the help and encouragement of this forum in helping me
'graduate' from 5.7 to 2.5 I
> now have a lovely little set of pages and programmes working fine on my
LAN.

Are you running a desktop app on your LAN or is it a bunch of dBASE web
applications running locally? ("pages" sounds like web apps but I gotta ask,
just in case).

> So I'm now ready to deploy it onto my ISP's server but haven't found much
info on this in these

> forums and my ISP appears to just have MySQL available.

Check with your ISP to find out what OS they are running. dBASE and the BDE
require Windows. mySQL can run on pretty much anything.

The dbase.internet group has some good threads on what has to be done, but
you would have to do some hunting to find the nuggets regarding ISP
deployment. I would recommend it anyway, as you will read things that may
not seem important now, but further down the road, when a problem comes up,
you will say to yourself "I remember reading about that on the
dbase.internet newsgroup - I don't recall the solution, but I know where to
find it!"

If money is no object, you can always look into colocation and/or dedicated
hosting, where you get your own box and can install whatever you like.
(Dedicated Windows boxes cost more usually.)

> Does the ISP have to have the BDE installed already or can I do it myself
?

I think you would want the ISP to do it, but I have some vague recollections
of reading about ways to do it yourself. Hopefully, someone else has a
better memory and will provide details. Or will correct my fuzzy memory.

> If I can't, any suggestions on ISP's who do have it on ? Do I then have
to go into the server BDE to set up the aliases ?

As I discovered, ISPs can be a bit leery of installing software, sometimes.
And they just wouldn't take my word for it.<g> (No one wants to take the
risk or blame for some unknown dodgy app bringing down the server at
4:00am - not that the dBASE runtime has ever caused me trouble.)

You can always refer to the dBASE Hosting Index (shameless plug: that's MY
site):
http://www.ChelseaData.ca/dHI/

Your ISP may not be on the list, but they might be happy to install it for
you.

Regarding the BDE alias configuration, that would have to be arranged
between you and the ISP. Some are more protective than others, and will not
allow you direct access to the configuration.

> Once this is done can I just use my 2.5 disc to install the runtime files
on the server ?

Again, this would depend on the situation. You would probably be asked to
send them the disk and they will install it, or you could find the installer
files on the CD and FTP them.

> Or am I on the wrong track altogether !! A link to some good reading on
this part of the exercise would be great.

You appear to be on the right track.
I have a FAQ on some dBASE web issues:
http://www.ChelseaData.ca/ChelseaData/hostFAQ.php

Thank you
David Ball
www.ChelseaData.ca

Big Al

2005-07-17, 8:23 pm

Great stuff, thankyou David, it's obviously not easy but I'll persevere.

I couldn't find dbase.internet, any clues ?

But I don't get it. All these dedicated dBase users and an awesomely powerful programme that's been around for 5 years and still so few places to host it. What does everyone else use ?

PS Mine is what I'd have thought to be a pretty standard kind of an application with a mixture of static pages and dbase generated dynamic pages with results for my yacht club.

David Ball

2005-07-17, 8:23 pm

Hi Al

> Great stuff, thankyou David, it's obviously not easy but I'll persevere.

You're welcome.

> I couldn't find dbase.internet, any clues ?

The news.dbase.com server has a bunch of different groups that you can
subscribe to. Exactly how depends on what newsreader you are using. You
appear to be using something called Web-News v.1.6.2 (by Terence Yim), which
I am not familiar with. If it has a help facility, look for help on how to
subscribe.

> But I don't get it. All these dedicated dBase users and an awesomely
powerful programme that's been around for 5 years and still so few places to
host it. What does everyone else use ?

dBASE, unfortunately, lost market share to others in the 90's. By the time
the dBASE web stuff came along, everyone had gone somewhere else. Their
loss! <g>

> PS Mine is what I'd have thought to be a pretty standard kind of an
application with a mixture of static pages and dbase generated dynamic pages
with results for my yacht club.

But it IS HTML, right? Viewable through a browser, not a dBASE app window?

Good luck!
David Ball
www.ChelseaData.ca

Big Al

2005-07-17, 8:23 pm

> > PS Mine is what I'd have thought to be a pretty standard kind of an
> application with a mixture of static pages and dbase generated dynamic pages
> with results for my yacht club.
>
> But it IS HTML, right? Viewable through a browser, not a dBASE app window?

Correct, viewable through a browser. I installed apache and have used that to see the results.

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