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Remotely Access Alpha Table

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    Remotely Access Alpha Table

    Hi,
    Is it possible from Alpha 5 V9 running as a desktop application to access an Alpha 5 V9 Table hosted on a VPS server and return data to a desktop table?

    Thank you,
    Richard Hyams

    #2
    Re: Remotely Access Alpha Table

    Originally posted by edocx View Post
    Hi,
    Is it possible from Alpha 5 V9 running as a desktop application to access an Alpha 5 V9 Table hosted on a VPS server and return data to a desktop table?

    Thank you,
    Richard Hyams
    access an table on a vps server and return to a desktop table? I think That's what I conclude from your question...
    Yes: you can access a DB and table(s) on a vps server from your desktop application (using alpha5).
    Return it to a desktop table? Yes you could synchronise a table on the VPS to a table on your desktop with alpha. Not sure why you want to this though...You can access it already directly..Seems redundant, unless you like to work offline with a snapshot of the live data.
    regards, Ron

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Remotely Access Alpha Table

      Maybe I don't understand how the data tables work in an A5 website. So let me say what I want to do in a different way.

      Setup a form on the web for users to login to. The user will fill out a workorder on the web. How would one link to that data on the web to update our back office desktop table with the needed workorder data?

      Most of what I've seen either mentions linking to a SQL database or uploading data to web based tables.

      Thank you,
      Richard Hyams

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Remotely Access Alpha Table

        Richard

        With v9 Platinum you can link via your desktop to sql/dbf or a whole bunch of other formats without any issues. Now from the web end it is the same principle. If a user completes a form the data is then sent to wherever it is directed, this may be a table located on the web server, it may be a table located on a completely different server. In theory it could even be the table sat on your desktop machine as long as you have an internet connection and a static ip address.

        Hope this makes sense but I am sure someone will put this more elouqently than me!

        Regards
        Glen Schild



        My Blog

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Remotely Access Alpha Table

          Originally posted by glenschild View Post
          Richard

          With v9 Platinum you can link via your desktop to sql/dbf or a whole bunch of other formats without any issues. Now from the web end it is the same principle. If a user completes a form the data is then sent to wherever it is directed, this may be a table located on the web server, it may be a table located on a completely different server. In theory it could even be the table sat on your desktop machine as long as you have an internet connection and a static ip address.

          Hope this makes sense but I am sure someone will put this more elouqently than me!

          Regards
          Hey Glen -

          You've got my curiosity peaked -- is it really possible to have information entered by customers in a WAS dialog form saved to a desktop machine that has a static IP?

          I'm in the same boat with Richard - I want to collect the information from the user using the form on the VPS because if I host it on my local machine I am afraid it won't be as reliable for speed and uptime. But my office workers will need to work with the data that's collected from the dialog form on the desktop in our office.

          Right now, I'm using NetDrive to map the VPS to my desktop as if it were another hard drive. Then I run an Append Operation on the local machine to append the records that have been added to the database on the VPS to the local database.

          I'd welcome any suggestions for how to handle this better. I tend to "overthink" things where Alpha Five is concerned and often find out that I've made things a lot more complicated than they really are. Would be thrilled if I've done it again and somebody has a simpler way.

          Thanks

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Remotely Access Alpha Table

            Charlain

            At a recent UK Users Group meeting I saw a real time example presented by Graeme Smith where a completely independent web site "included" a WAS dialog which it was picking up from a machine running the WAS locally inside a small network and therefore directly populating data tables on that machine.

            The technical aspects of this I may get wrong, perhaps best for Graeme to confirm but basically the web site pointed to the assigned ip address for the machine and a specific port was opened on the router to allow direct access.

            Regards
            Glen Schild



            My Blog

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Remotely Access Alpha Table

              Hi

              To create a Hybrid application like this here are the steps:-

              a) Set up your Alpha WAS on your local network pointing to local tables, etc
              b) Set up your Router to allow users to log onto a static IP address that is yours (the Linksys or Zyxel routers are great for this)
              c) Use a NAT (Network Address Translation) to point protocol requests to your database (such as 81.150.4.119:89) if the WAS is running under port 89
              d) Test your web app from your web browser - ie can you run it from a browser at home? Run http://81.150.4.119:89 and see if your page appears
              e) Create your web pages in Dreameaver or similar
              f) Add a region (In Net Objects it's called an Inline Frame) that points to your external link

              If there is sufficient demand I'm sure the folks at Alpha would be quite happy to run a Webinar on this subject

              Hope this helps

              Graeme Smith

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Remotely Access Alpha Table

                Thanks for the information Glen and Graeme.

                Not quite sure it would work for me -- I want the information entered into a dialog form on the VPS because I don't think hosting it in-office would be as reliable. (For some reason our office suffers more than the average amount of power outages at night and our in-office computers are old and slow.)

                I have the dialog form working on the VPS, and the information is being saved into a database on the VPS.

                The people in my office need to be able to retrieve the data from the database on the VPS and work with it locally.

                Right now, an append operation using NetDrive is working -- it's slower than I want it to be, but it is working.

                I hoping there was a better way to keep the local and the remote databases in sync.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Remotely Access Alpha Table

                  Just a thought, and I don't know if this applies to your particular circumstance...

                  have you considered passive link tables?

                  http://support.alphasoftware.com/alp...ked_Tables.htm


                  -Mj.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Remotely Access Alpha Table

                    Originally posted by Charlain View Post
                    Thanks for the information Glen and Graeme.

                    Not quite sure it would work for me -- I want the information entered into a dialog form on the VPS because I don't think hosting it in-office would be as reliable. (For some reason our office suffers more than the average amount of power outages at night and our in-office computers are old and slow.)

                    I have the dialog form working on the VPS, and the information is being saved into a database on the VPS.

                    The people in my office need to be able to retrieve the data from the database on the VPS and work with it locally.

                    Right now, an append operation using NetDrive is working -- it's slower than I want it to be, but it is working.

                    I hoping there was a better way to keep the local and the remote databases in sync.
                    Hi Charlain

                    There is another way that might help you.

                    Let's assume you have a server that's hosting the WAS and you've got your application running OK on the web.

                    What's to stop you using Terminal Services (Remote Desktop) to access the main system on the same server?

                    You could then run all your users on Remote Desktop onto the server. RDP uses port 3389 and is present on all XP machines and it's also present on all Windows 2003 servers. However to licence a W2003 server to run more than 2 users you need to ensure that you are not running Small Business Server as the sole machine, as Small Business Server cannot be configured as a full Teminal Server. However, you can run up to 30 users on the same box as RDP users if you have enough memory (120 MB per user) on the server.

                    And by the way, even really cruddy old office PC's will work at lightening speed on this configuration - AND you get the added benefit that if you have power outages the connection is only video and therefore your database is always intact, even in a power cut at the client side (but don't forget to back up!).

                    Hope this helps :)

                    regards

                    Graeme

                    Comment

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