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I need feedback in web app

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  • son04littleelm
    replied
    Re: I need feedback in web app

    Hi Mario,
    I am very new to all this "HTML" and alpha 5. What you mentioning above about not using web components, are you referring to generating the UI with HTML text commands? and using xbasic to provide the necessary client/server interactions? for instance, instead of using the the alpha 5 genie to gather using input data on your form, you are using xbasic command to individually capturing each input field and using alphaDAO to update, store the user input into the database?.. and what is the ratio of speed difference here? thank you in advance for your prompt reply.
    Sept 27th 2013.

    Leave a comment:

  • Steve Wood
    replied
    Re: I need feedback in web app

    Thanks bunches. I can follow that. It will be a few days before I can write something up. What will be more difficult is to mimic other grid features like summary values, calculated fields, etc. Earlier Gary asked 'where's the xbasic' (the stuff under the xbasic tab for a grid), to which I suppose the answer is that you don't need it since you define exactly what you want in the html. That must partly account for the great time savings.

    Leave a comment:

  • Mario Prieto
    replied
    Re: I need feedback in web app

    Ok here is the web page named hoh.a5w for you all too look at. I don't claim to be an expert or anything like that so do not pick up bad coding habits from this.

    Code:
    <html>
<head>
<meta name="generator" content="Alpha Five HTML Editor Version 9 Build 1457-3177">
<title>Head of Household</title>

<style type="text/css">
	#column{color:#000080;font-family:times;font-size:15px}
	#records{color:#ff0000;font-size:15px}
	#values{font-size:15px}
	table{background-color:#b9c3ce}
</style>

<%a5
'********** Security ****************
if eval_valid("session.__protected__logged")then
    if session.__protected__logged<>"yes" then
        response.redirect("login.a5w")
		end
    end if
else
	response.redirect("login.a5w")
	end	
end if
'********** Security ******************
%>

</head>
<body bgColor=#c8c8c8>
<%a5 
dim nrecs as N
dim i as N
dim row1 as C
dim row2 as C
dim link as C
dim filter as C
dim sort as C
dim orderby as c
dim path as C
dim numrecs as C

path="c:\datafiles\ewap"+chr(92)

'Search by Last
if eval_valid("s_last")then
	if s_last<>"" then
	    filter="'"+s_last+"' $ last"
	end if
end if

'Search by SSN
if eval_valid("s_ssn")then
	if s_ssn<>"" then
	    filter="'"+s_ssn+"' $ ssn"
	end if
end if

'If both variables have nothing then filter is set to '.t.'
if filter="" then
    filter=".t."
end if

'Get number of records

nrecs=tablecount(path+"hoh.dbf",filter)
numrecs="Number of records:"+str(nrecs)

%>

<p align=center><font color="#000080" size="4">WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANT PROGRAM</font></p><!---------------------- Start search form --------------------->


	<form method="post" action="<%a5 ?Request.script_name %>">
<table align="center" border="1">
	<tr>
		<td>Find by Last Name:</td> <td><input name="s_last" input<></td>
	<tr>
		<td>Find by SSN:</td> <td><input name="s_ssn" input<></td>
	<tr>
		<td></td>
		<td> <input type="submit" value="Search"><input type="reset" value="Clear"><input type="submit" value="Show All"></input></td>
	</tr>	
</table>
	</form><!----------------- End Search form ----------------------------><!--------------- Start table of records -------------------------------------------------------------->
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" align="center" >
<tr>
	<td colspan="3" id="records"><%a5 ?numrecs %></td>
	<td></td><td>Click here to <a href="login.a5w"><font size="4" color="#0000ff">Logout</font></a></td> 
</tr>
<tr><td colspan="3" align="middle"><a title="Creates a new e-wap application" href="hoh_addnew.a5w" >
	<font size="3" color="#000080">New HoH</font></a></td></tr> 

<tr align="middle" bgcolor="#82b1d7">
<td></td><td id="column"><a href="hoh.a5w?orderby=ssn" >Ssn</a></td>
<td id="column"><a href="hoh.a5w?orderby=rank">Rank</a></td>
<td id="column"><a href="hoh.a5w?orderby=first" >First</a></td>
<td id="column"><a href="hoh.a5w?orderby=last" >Last</a></td>
<td id="column"><a href="hoh.a5w?orderby=phone" >Phone</a></td>
<td id="column">Gender</td>
<td id="column"><a href="hoh.a5w?orderby=age" >Age</a></td>
<td id="column"><a href="hoh.a5w?orderby=nationality" >Nationality</a></td>
<td id="column"><a href="hoh.a5w?orderby=gross" >Gross</a></td>
<td id="column">Related</td>
<td id="column">Employee</td><td id="column">Disabled?</td><td id="column">Disability</td>
<td id="column"><a href="hoh.a5w?orderby=app_date" >Applied</a></td>
</tr>

<%a5
 

dim arrRecs[nrecs] as P
arrRecs.initialize_from_table(path+"hoh.dbf",filter)

arrRecs.sort("A",orderby)
'Create fields
for i=1 to nrecs
	?"<tr align='center'>"
	?"<td id='values'><a href='members.a5w?hoh="+arrRecs[i].ssn+"'>Members </a></td>"
	?"<td id='values' title='Edit Head of Household'><a href='hoh_edit.a5w?social="+arrRecs[i].ssn+"'>"+mask(arrRecs[i].ssn,"   -  -    ")+"</a></td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].rank+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].first+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].last+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+mask(arrRecs[i].phone,"(   )   -    ")+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].gender+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].age+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].nationality+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>$"+arrRecs[i].gross+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].related+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].employee+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].disabled+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].disability+"</td>"
	?"<td id='values'>"+arrRecs[i].app_date+"</td>"
	?"</tr>"
next i	
%>

</table><!-- End Table that shows records -->

</body></html>
    I am sending the rest of the app to Steve Wood so he can create something that will better serve our Alpha community.

    Leave a comment:

  • drgarytraub
    replied
    Re: I need feedback in web app

    Mario,

    Please, please, please ... I wouild love to see the behind thge scenes of how to do what you did...

    Gary

    Leave a comment:

  • Pat Bremkamp
    replied
    Re: I need feedback in web app

    Mario,

    Thanks for demoing this. Yes, I believe a lot of people (including me) will be interested.

    Taking nothing away from your work, which is excellent, since you asked for feedback, I noticed one error and have one suggestion.

    I entered Fred Flintstone, and put him as "Other", but the field defaulted back to "American Indian". Also, it's not clear to a new person like me how the data is to be formatted in the entry form, so maybe you could add a column for examples. For example, for the date, I entered 01/01/08 and got an error. Also, for ssn, do you put in the - ? 11-222-3333, or 11223333?...that sort of thing.

    If you are going to hand code the pages, is there an advantage to using Alpha over, say php? Or is it just that you already know Xbasic and have Alpha?

    Pat

    Leave a comment:

  • Mario Prieto
    replied
    Re: I need feedback in web app

    I am a firm believer of Open source Alpha. I like the idea of the paper so others can understand it. Maybe I'll send it to you privately and then posted with a better explanation.

    Leave a comment:

  • Steve Wood
    replied
    Re: I need feedback in web app

    Well I don't know. I can't publicly ask for them privately! I know others are interested and would like the process demystified. I'd offer to render the information in to a paper that others could work from more effectively. On the other hand, it's the product of your work effort.

    Leave a comment:

  • Mario Prieto
    replied
    Re: I need feedback in web app

    Do you want it privately send or posted??
    Have in mind that I use .aex files loaded to the page. So I can send you those as well.
    I am not sure if there are anymore interested people but if there are I can post a page here on the message board.

    Leave a comment:

  • Steve Wood
    replied
    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"?

    Leave a comment:

  • Mario Prieto
    replied
    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.

    Leave a comment:

  • achung
    replied
    Re: I need feedback in web app

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

    Leave a comment:

  • Pat Bremkamp
    replied
    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

    Leave a comment:

  • Steve Wood
    replied
    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).

    Leave a comment:

  • Mario Prieto
    replied
    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.

    Leave a comment:

  • Steve Wood
    replied
    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?

    Leave a comment:

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