Web enabled application development

[JH]

I am trying to convert a GUI based windows application
developed in C++ into the same web enabled application.
My questions are:

1. .NET proveds VB and C# as default languages for web
application in ASP. Am I right?

2. What are the general steps involved in porting all the
work done in the GUI based application?

3. Can somebody suggest a faster and reliable way of
handling such tasks ?

I am really in need of an urgent help inorder to grasp
the overview of such webifying process.
Thanks
John

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Hi John,

1. .NET proveds VB and C# as default languages for web
application in ASP. Am I right?

Actually, VB.Net and C# ship with Visual Studio.Net. There are, in fact,
quite a few languages now for .Net development Visual Studio.Net 2003, for
example, also ships with J#.

2. What are the general steps involved in porting all the
work done in the GUI based application?

Not sure what you're asking here. It's not a matter of "porting" as you're
not porting over an executable to a different platform. You're creating an
entirely different sort of application from your executable. A web
application is about as far from an executable as you can get. It uses HTML
for its' interface, and the interface and back-end are completely
disconnected from one another, to such an extent that you actually have to
rebuild all your server objects with each PostBack from the client. This is
due to the stateless nature of HTTP. In addition, there are quite a few
limitations imposed by the nature of HTML, the browser interface, and HTTP.
You may have to re-design your interface quite a bit.

What you really need to do is to analyze your executable, figure out how to
"map" (ore re-design) interface elements from it to the appropriate HTML,
and, depending upon the structure of the internals of your executable,
either re-write them in .Net, or possibly re-use them (you can use COM
interop, for example, to avoid having to rewrite any COM components of your
executable).

HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft FrontPage MVP
Internet Developer
http://www.takempis.com
Big things are made up of
lots of Little things.

 

[Martin Olson]

1. ("No Answer, a clarifying question") There is several languages for .Net
but can you use them in ASP.Net? Can I, as an example, write 'Control
language="cobol"' or Control Language="js (J#)"?

2. If you manage to get wrapped com+ to work, you shold move all logic from
the presentaion layer of your application to a layer of businesslogic. This
you should do in your GUI application an have it to work there. Future
changes you'll make, you will make in the businesslogic so they will then be
available in both the old GUI application and the new web application.
Changes involwing presentation must of course even be done in the clients.
If this wont work, to wrap your C++ code, then I should do it by convert the
C++ code to a CSharp, nTier solution and then still have the same
oppurtunities as above. Personally I do my new development as a nTier WinApp
with a NoLogic presentation layer and then I do a WebApp where I use the
same bussines layer as in my WinApp. It goes quicker and easier to debug and
to try the functionality in a WinApp than in aWebApp

Regards
Martin

 

[Martin Olson]

1. ("No Answer, a clarifying question") There is several languages for .Net
but can you use them in ASP.Net? Can I, as an example, write 'Control
Language="cobol"' or Control Language="js (J#)"?

2. If you manage to get wrapped com+ to work, you shold move all logic from
the presentaion layer of your application to a layer of businesslogic. This
you should do in your GUI application an have it to work there. Future
changes you'll make, you will make in the businesslogic so they will then be
available in both the old GUI application and the new web application.
Changes involwing presentation must of course even be done in the clients.
If this wont work, to wrap your C++ code, then I should do it by convert the
C++ code to a CSharp, nTier solution and then still have the same
oppurtunities as above. Personally I do my new development as a nTier WinApp
with a NoLogic presentation layer and then I do a WebApp where I use the
same bussines layer as in my winapp. It goes quicker to debug code and
functionality in a WinApp as in a WebApp.

Regards
Martin