1. mathews rutto
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. Thursday, 26 March 2020 10:42 AM UTC

Hello,

I have a desktop application which is hosted on Windows VPS.

I want users to be accessing via FTP rather than shared folder.

Now the problem with FTP you need to download .exe and .pbd, when there are undates that become a challenge.

My question is how best can users access Desktop Application (.exe and .pbd) with out using shared folder?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Accepted Answer
mathews rutto Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Thursday, 26 March 2020 16:36 PM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # Permalink

@Armeen

That will be a great thing, waiting to out. Just to ask will it have the architecture of client/server i mean ODBC configuration as to be done to each and every user for the application to connect the database.

Then tell me me more about Desktop Cloud Application.

 

@Kevin Ridley

i am going to try it out as i wait for 2019 R3 December schedule.

Thank you

Comment
  1. Armeen Mazda @Appeon
  2. Thursday, 26 March 2020 17:35 PM UTC
The "Smart Client" is still client/server architecture so DB drivers are required. It is simply making it easy to keep the application updated for all your users.

We are also working on introducing a "Desktop Cloud App" in PowerBuilder 2021. This would not only have the updating benefits of "Smart Client", but it would also make it so you can use your application over Internet connection and deploy your database in the Cloud (i.e. all the communication between the app and the database is HTTP).
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  1. mathews rutto
  2. Thursday, 26 March 2020 20:24 PM UTC
That sound great, where will powerbuilder 2021 be release?
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Kevin Ridley Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Thursday, 26 March 2020 15:27 PM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 1

Armeen's suggestion is the best, but until that's available, you can create an application that checks a version from the database.  If the version you have locally is the most recent version, you just have the version checker app run the main app.  If it's not the current version, you have it download the newer file(s) from your server, and then run.

 

KR

Comment
  1. Roland Smith
  2. Friday, 27 March 2020 18:34 PM UTC
The free PBUpdater tool on this page will allow an app to update itself. The files are uploaded to a web server using FTP and downloaded by the app by HTTP.



https://www.topwizprogramming.com/tools.html

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Armeen Mazda @Appeon Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Thursday, 26 March 2020 14:24 PM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 2

The new smart client feature of PowerBuilder 2019 R3 would solve your problem, and I think much better approach then how you do it today.  Tentatively scheduled for December 2020.

The Smart Client feature offers centralized deployment of your application to all users with automatic updating.  It compiles your app to special PBDs that can be incrementally installed and updated by a new web installer we will provide.  You simply copy your app files to some web server, such as Microsoft IIS.  When the web installer is run the first time it will get the app installed with shortcut.  Then in future, each time the user starts the app it will automatically check the web server to see if there is an updated versions of the PBDs and automatically update.   

Comment
  1. mathews rutto
  2. Thursday, 26 March 2020 15:15 PM UTC
Wow that will be a great, how does Smart client feature works?
  1. Helpful
  1. Armeen Mazda @Appeon
  2. Thursday, 26 March 2020 15:37 PM UTC
The Smart Client feature offers centralized deployment of your application to all users with automatic updating. It compiles your app to special PBDs that can be incrementally installed and updated by a new web installer we will provide. You simply copy your app files to some web server, such as Microsoft IIS. When the web installer is run the first time it will get the app installed with shortcut. Then in future, each time the user starts the app it will automatically check the web server to see if there is an updated versions of the PBDs and automatically update.
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Roland Smith Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Thursday, 26 March 2020 11:14 AM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 3

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It copies files from a server to the local machine.

Using RDP you can create a local shortcut that runs the application on the server.

 

Comment
  1. mathews rutto
  2. Thursday, 26 March 2020 15:16 PM UTC
Thank you, this the same as shared folder?
  1. Helpful
  1. Roland Smith
  2. Thursday, 26 March 2020 15:35 PM UTC
No, RDP Remote Applications do not require a shared folder.
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