Announcement

**Richard Rabins** · 02-23-2009, 09:51 PM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

two comments

1. it depends a lot on how you design your apps

2. you will see dramatic speed increases in the coming months in Alpha Five

please email me at [email protected] for more info
thanks

**Richard Rabins** · 02-23-2009, 10:06 PM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

An example of a Web app that runs rapidly that was built in Alpha Five v9

This Web App was built for a Fortune 20 Company
in Alpha Five v9 for deployment in 5000 locations.

Please click here http://www.alphasoftware.com/alphafi...080917echurch/ for a short recorded demo.

**Steve Wood** · 02-24-2009, 03:47 AM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

Most applications are not as simple as the one you describe (1000-1500 records and grids with max 10-20 fields and 2 or 3 dropdowns.) which sounds like one or two tables. I think if you had even experience in both PHP and Alpha that an easy app would be easy in both environments. But the same experience level for a moderately or highly complex web app (which they become quite fast), that you would be a better developer faster in Alpha. I could not live without Alpha's built-in security model, not sure how you implement that in PHP. Not speaking of just simple login, that's easy everywhere, but beyond that to filtering user records, coordinating menu selections based on security, individual field access based on security, as well as several modes to the functionality for grids (insert, delete, update, etc).

I also like that Alpha Five is a one-stop-shop for my apps, I don't have to reach out to this or that resource to tack on. But I can still incorporate other API's if I need to.

I've converted dozens of PHP scripts to xbasic. There are lots of PHP scripts out there that come in handy. I'm not a PHP expert, I'm know the language is very powerful, but the obscure syntax always baffles me, its like working with Clipper.

Here's an example. I took this PHP code and rewrote it in xbasic for a photo upload process. First the PHP, then the xbasic. The two scripts don't do exactly the same thing, but its the syntax I am exposing for review here.

PHP

Code:

$galleryPath = "../Gallery/";

$absGalleryPath = realpath($galleryPath) . "/";
$absThumbnailsPath = realpath($galleryPath . "Thumbnails/") . "/";

function saveUploadedFiles()
{
	global $absGalleryPath, $absThumbnailsPath;
	
	$packageIndex = $_POST ["PackageIndex"];

	if ($packageIndex == 0)
	{
		$handle = opendir($absGalleryPath);
	
		while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle)))
		{
			if (is_file($absGalleryPath . $file))
			{
				unlink($absGalleryPath . $file);
			}
		}
		closedir($handle); 
	
		$handle = opendir($absThumbnailsPath);	
		while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) 
		{
			if (is_file($absThumbnailsPath . $file))
			{
				unlink($absThumbnailsPath . $file);
			}
		}
		closedir($handle);
	}

	$descriptions = new DOMDocument('1.0');

	if ($packageIndex == 0)
	{
		$descriptions->appendChild($descriptions->createElement("files"));
	}
	else
	{
		$descriptions->load($absGalleryPath . "Descriptions.xml");
	}
    
	if (!$_FILES["SourceFile_1"]['size'])
	{
		return;	
	}
	$fileName = getSafeFileName($_FILES["SourceFile_1"]['name']);
	move_uploaded_file($_FILES["SourceFile_1"]['tmp_name'], $absGalleryPath . "/" . $fileName);
    
	if (!$_FILES["Thumbnail1_1"]['size'])
	{
		return;	
	}
	move_uploaded_file($_FILES["Thumbnail1_1"]['tmp_name'], $absGalleryPath . "/Thumbnails/" . $fileName . ".jpg");

	$xmlFile = $descriptions->createElement("file");
	$xmlFile->setAttribute("name", $fileName);
	$xmlFile->setAttribute("width", $_POST ['Width_1']);
	$xmlFile->setAttribute("height", $_POST ['Height_1']);
	$xmlFile->setAttribute("description", $_POST ['Description_1']);
	$descriptions->documentElement->appendChild($xmlFile);	

	$descriptions->save($absGalleryPath . "Descriptions.xml");
}

function getSafeFileName($fileName)
{
	global $absGalleryPath;
	
	$newFileName = $fileName;
	$j = 1;
	while (file_exists($absGalleryPath . "/" . $newFileName))
	{
		$newFileName = $j . "_" . $fileName;
		$j = $j + 1;
	}
	return $newFileName;	
}
saveUploadedFiles();

Code:

strImagePath  = "[PathAlias.photos]\\" + session.__protected__album
strThumbsPath = "[PathAlias.project]\\" + "thumbs\\" + session.__protected__album

if file.exists(strImagePath) = .f.
	file.dir_create_recurse(strImagePath)
end if
if file.exists(strThumbsPath) = .f.
	file.dir_create_recurse(strThumbsPath)
end if

dim tbl as p
tbl=table.open("[PathAlias.ADB_Path]\photoimage")
	tbl.enter_begin()
		tbl.User_id 	= session.__protected__ulink
		tbl.Albumid 	= session.__protected__album
		tbl.Filename 	= SourceFile_1.filename
	tbl.enter_end()
tbl.close()	

'"-BLOBS-----------------------------------"
file.from_blob(strImagePath+"\\"+ SourceFile_1.filename,SourceFile_1.data)
file.from_blob(strThumbsPath+"\\t1_"+FILE.FILENAME_PARSE(SourceFile_1.filename,"n")+".jpg",Thumbnail1_1.data)
file.from_blob(strThumbsPath+"\\t2_"+FILE.FILENAME_PARSE(SourceFile_1.filename,"n")+".jpg",Thumbnail2_1.data)

**valtron** · 02-24-2009, 05:55 AM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

@steve :

I don't see what the speed of developing the application or the simpler syntax of alpha 5 has to do with the speed of execution of the end user application.

Once you are finished developing your app x times faster than using php, the end user has to live with th end product which is running x times slower ??

Regards,

Val

**Steve Wood** · 02-24-2009, 06:20 AM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

Well you have to compare apples to apples. What database do you have feeding your application, MySQL perhaps. So you'd have to test your Alpha grid with the same database. MySQL will be much faster than Alpha's "default" dbf tables. The PHP app will still be faster, but maybe its 2x not 8x now, I don't know. If your dropdown boxes have lots of selections, that is going to be greatly affected by the database since each selection has to be created in the HTML before the page is displayed. MySQL could rip out 100 selections in the same time the dbf table gets through 10. Alpha Five can use any SQL backend instead of the dbf tables.

And you also have to test the complete app to get an "X faster/slower comparison", not just one grid. Grids have a pretty large overhead since they deliver tons of options that perhaps are not required in every case. The majority of time the Grid takes on the page is reworking the HTML to form the grid itself and all of those options. The Alpha server has to work a bit harder to determine what to display,then display it, every time the screen is refreshed. Static pages probably exhibit the same speed in both applications.

The enhancement Richard is referring to will virtually eliminate the drag Grids have on performance.

You are more familiar with PHP and MySQL, I (we) are more familiar with Alpha Five, xbasic and dbf tables. So each of us would build better applications in the environment we are most familiar with.

**drgarytraub** · 02-24-2009, 08:36 AM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

Just some more thoughts on this:

The speed of the grids is the one area that I think speed CAN be an issue - but hand coding a simple grid is really so easy that when needed, it is not hard to do. Also, this is one of the areas that I suspect will be vastly improved with version 10, which apparently will have AJAX powered grids!!

Also, what about the support - from this message board and from alpha itself.

Last night, I submitted a bug report about email_send() not working - at 10:48 pm. Within 6 minutes, Selwyn Rabins, present/ceo of Alpha Software, emailed me back with code that solves my problem. Six minutes! From the owner/president of the company! Wow!

Gary

**rleunis** · 02-24-2009, 04:45 PM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

See:

http://blog.alphasoftware.com/search...20Version%2010

"
With Version 10, we'll be introducing codeless Ajax. Alpha Five developers will be able to build for the Web and deploy on the Web, giving their users rich Internet database applications that are as interactive and as responsive as any desktop database application.

Because it's codeless, developers will never have to write a single line of code to enable this rich Internet functionality.
"

V10 promises to give you just what you need performance wise, without having to digg into programming. Unless you are willing to torture yourself with php..Or any other 3rd g web dev programming language.

**Henkie** · 02-24-2009, 05:21 PM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

To be honest I'm not much of a developer... Just had to get into it because the non-profit organizations I work for can't afford a professional developer.
Thanks to programs like PHPMaker and Alpha5 I am able to make nice and usefull applications anyway.
It's true that one can build the best apllications in the environment that one is experienced in. Maybe I expected a bit too much from A5AppServer, after making my first application in A5Desktop in just a few hours and found it to be looking and working great.

For now A5AppServer is a bit too heavy for me, things I can do in PHP I can't in A5 without learning Xbasic.
I do hope v10 will bring what's been mentioned here, I'll sure give it a chance...
Henk

**rleunis** · 02-24-2009, 05:39 PM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

I do not want to be a programmer (anymore) either...
Believe me, I have reviewed wavemaker, morfik, smartclient, backbase, tibco, windev, webdev and the likes. They al promise to be web frameworks and easy to use, but they really lack the maturity Alpha has displayed to me in terms of ease to use, ease to develop, ease of mature sgl database connectivity, and full control of the end product...

You're right, without programming or knowledge how to deal with implementing AJAX, it is difficult to compete with lower level language like php in terms of performance. Even if development time with Alpha is much faster compared to others, you still have to deal with the performance of the end product. I have never wanted to digg into XBASIC, because if i would like that, I would digg into a more accepted general language like java to name one..

Alpha has much more potential for the business user developer than anything else out there. The only thing is performance. Now you are comparing php development against easy development of grids with point and select Alpha dev options.... You should at least compare php against xbasic scripts to be fare. I understand if you do not want to digg into xbasic. But then do not compare it to straight php development..

The std SQL DB access possibilites, together with the security framework and the inbuild reportwriter out of the box is well up to against any of the competiton. Even if you still want to create old fashioned desktop apps. This aside the passionate Alpha user community, which I have yet to come across any other platform and is mostly much bigger currently than any competition.

Now I am willing to wait to see how V10 will live up to my hefty expectations:

Desktop like performance combined with the unrivalled development and DB connectivity possibilities of Alpha now.

I am waiting for this release a long time already. I advice you to give it a chance.

**Steve Wood** · 02-24-2009, 05:57 PM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

FYI web apps - I host a free web seminar every Friday Noon Pacific time where we cover web aspects. I've done this for the last 18 months, each session is different based on who shows up. Netherlands time is about 6PM Friday night. I use GoToMeeting, so you can use VOIP to connect to keep the tele cost down. See my website if interested.

**MikeData** · 02-25-2009, 12:44 PM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

Is alpha 10 releasing this week?
I need it now.

**mmaisterrena** · 02-25-2009, 02:29 PM

Re: Goodbye for now Appserver...

Thats the attitude Mike, I need it now too!
'Just joking, it would be nice dough

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