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I need feedback in web app

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    I need feedback in web app

    Hi guys, I am in the process of writing a web application using A5 V9 web server.
    I have decided to use html and xbasic ( no web components) only. yes I know, web components save me time but I want more speed. I have found a huge increase in speed by not using web components.

    Anyways, I would love if you guys can do some testing in my web app and give me some feedback. This app will be for a client of mine.

    It is not complete.

    The address is :
    http://70.56.214.140:8080/ewap/login.a5w

    username: alphaholic
    password: alpha5

    love to hear comments.
    The Mexican

    #2
    Re: I need feedback in web app

    Looks good so far Mario! Yeah, if you can code and get what you want without components, a definite speed increase. I have some really fancy complicated stuff that never could have been done with a component, and it's speed is outta this world. Cal Locklin demonstrated this early on as well.
    -Steve
    sigpic

    Comment


      #3
      Re: I need feedback in web app

      All data in the app is fake!!
      so don't worry about ssn.
      The Mexican

      Comment


        #4
        Re: I need feedback in web app

        Very quick indeed, I am quite impressed

        Is this hosted on your internal machine?

        Glad to hear the ssn's are fake lol...

        Comment


          #5
          Re: I need feedback in web app

          yes, this is hosted in my own web server. Private servers are a little bit expensive, they want mucho pesos.
          All I need to do is to buy a domain for $10 bucks a year and pointed to my web server.
          Of course i will backup everyday. I know some people are worried about dbf table corruption, but in my 4 years of programming with Alpha and 8 desktop applications used by hundreds of users, I have not had any data corruption yet.
          The Mexican

          Comment


            #6
            Re: I need feedback in web app

            Hi Mario,

            WOW. Looks really great!!

            In the page source, I can see the HTML, but where is the Xbasic?

            Gary
            Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: I need feedback in web app

              On page source you should not be able to see the xbasic. It is the same for all programming languages (php,ASP) to protect from hacking.
              You only see HTML.

              Feel free to add and edit on the web page. I want it tested as much as possible!!!
              The Mexican

              Comment


                #8
                Re: I need feedback in web app

                Hi Mario,
                I noticed that when I created a new Head of Household that the Phone field was required although it was not indicated as such with an asterisk. Also when prompted for two incomplete fields they were listed one right after the other with no space or comma (didn't notice it at least) as separation but when only one was incomplete a comma was included after the field's name.

                Up to your client, but although the field name was in the error prompt no other indication of why the error occurred--or any example of what the format should be so eventually guessed to create the new record! Such as SS# should be 000-00-0000 format, Phone say should be 000/000/0000.

                Everything else I saw looked good.

                Hope the information/critique is useful.
                Mike
                __________________________________________
                It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
                It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
                Henry David Thoreau
                __________________________________________



                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: I need feedback in web app

                  It certainly is fast compared to what I believe it would be using components.

                  Are you sure you have to include ssn for viewing and as a search criteria? You can at least hide or obscure it (show only the last four digit) where not absolutely required.

                  I think you are not using security framework, are you encrypting the database and planning to use ssl to protect this information?
                  Steve Wood
                  See my profile on IADN

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: I need feedback in web app

                    Hi Steve thanks for your feedback: I am planning in encrypting the social security number using encrypt_string() and decrypt_string() in the url. I tried a little this morning but I got some weird errors like social with a letter in the middle 34589K821 after decrypting it. I think it has to do with urlencode or something. Will take a look this weekend.
                    I am not sure if I will be encrypting the database for two reasons:
                    1) dbf files are in a folder outside the webroot
                    2)If somebody can hack and get access to the dbf files in the server then that person should have no problem decrypting the tables.


                    Thanks to MikeC for your feedback I will take a look at the mentioned issues.
                    The Mexican

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: I need feedback in web app

                      If you are trying to use encrypt functions in calculated grid fields, I always had trouble with do that, often produced an error. Same problem using rand and rand_sring functions. Not happy running as a calculated field.

                      I ended up only highly 'obscuring' important information using string manipulation. But by important I mean an Order No. or a sequential number. I would never put a ssn in a URL encrypted or not; and there is no reason to. Alpha has a new UUID function (haven't used it yet) that creates a unique and highly non-guessable value. Create one of those when you first create a given record, then put that in the URL to bring up child records. I don't do that now and in fact use a sequential value. But I know I will be shifting to it at some time (sequential values have the problem of what if you delete a record and then reuse that person's old "unique id" for someone else). UUID's are nice because you don't have to encrypt them as you pass them around.

                      Using SSN as a 'unique id' for individuals was popular 10 years ago, used often by colleges and the like. But no respected institution would get caught dead exposing them now.

                      I've even done tricks where the URL contained the date and time, and was only valid for the next X minutes. That keeps the URL from being used later on. I do that in my emailed 'registration confirmation links' for double opt-in - they have to confirm their registration within a week or so, else the link becomes invalid (I mean what if someone 'confirmed' a year or so later and your whole database changed in the mean time, who knows what would happen when they click the link).
                      Steve Wood
                      See my profile on IADN

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: I need feedback in web app

                        Mario,

                        How do you plan to enter and edit data without components? Are you going to hand code the fields, or is this application search and display only?

                        Pat
                        Pat Bremkamp
                        MindKicks Consulting

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: I need feedback in web app

                          Mario,
                          In your estimation, how much overhead would using web components have added to this example?
                          Andrew

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: I need feedback in web app

                            Pat the application already enter and updates data, go ahead and try it. There are no components. A web component is nothing more than xbasic and Javascript that produces html. What I do is I create the dialogs using HTML and CSS and use XBasic for data manipulation and validation. It takes a little bit longer to create the screens in a web app by hand but the speed increase is great.

                            achung: There are no web components in my application.

                            Steve: Thanks for your great input I will follow your advise and start using UUID's. The client wants to be able to see ssn in the main screen because that is how they id a client. I will use UUID for urls as ids within the app.
                            The Mexican

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: I need feedback in web app

                              Would you be willing to share one of your A5W pages with a hand-coded "grid" or "dialog"?
                              Steve Wood
                              See my profile on IADN

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