General implementation issues


You will find most of what we wrote in Chapter 6, ‚“Workstation and Traditional LAN Applications Step-By-Step ‚½ still applies when deploying client/server applications. You still need to deploy executables, runtimes , reports , Help files, ActiveX controls and COM objects, automation applications, create shortcuts, set up configuration files, determine where to store temporary files, and set items in the registry. From this perspective, the process of generating the deployment package does not change.

What does change is how you architect the application and how you deploy and maintain the data. It is not as simple as copying a handful of files to a folder and starting the application. You need to make sure the SQL backend is installed and configured. This might require expertise you do not have so you may need to hire a certified database administrator. If you have the expertise, you need to spend time setting the server up in advance of deploying your application. If the database server is already established you might have to work with the administrator to add your database and establish the security. It may be you will be the database administrator and have to install the database.

Each client computer might need the appropriate drivers and ODBC components loaded to access the database server. One support issue we ran into with the ODBC Manager is changing the database the Data Source Name (DSN) points to. At first it appears to work, but when you close the dialog it resets back to the original database. This happens if the user does not have administrative rights to the machine when changing a system DSN. It is challenges like this that send an unsuspecting developer on a one- hour tour of wasted time (yes this happened to us).

Backups are handled differently as well. There is no folder to back up because the database files are in use as long as the database server is running. All SQL database servers have a built-in mechanism to back up the data to various backup devices (hard drive, tape, and another computer). You can even schedule the database server to back up the data on a regular basis, even while users are using the application.




Deploying Visual FoxPro Solutions
Deploying Visual FoxPro Solutions
ISBN: 1930919328
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 232

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