Web programming progress report

[andu]

--On Friday, May 02, 2003 09:33:45 -0600 Mark Lacy <mlacy at lpsoftware.com> 
wrote:


> In my un-trained ignorance of many of the details of the client-server
> environment what I think I really want is to develop an application in
> Metacard, upload my application to a server, and have people run my
> application "within a standard browser" just like my artists who use
> Macromedia's Flash for animations are doing.

That, you cannot do, there is no MC plugin for browsers. What you can do is 
MC cgis construct html pages on-the-fly depending on user request so you 
are limited to what html can deliver in terms of UI.

>
> Pierre, and most of the rest of you responding to my request for a web
> solution have encouraged me to examine another dimension of Metacard that
> so far I have only been vaguely aware. Since  I am a devoted fan of this
> great tool for its power and simplicity this immediately attracts my
> attention.

Worth mentioning that we talk here about a mostly undocumented, unsupported 
feature of MC. The reality is that the database and the browser are what 
most clients want as opposed to standalone applications, if they could run 
Photoshop in the browser they would happily do it even if that meant 
cutting down half of the features. Even the new printing protocol (Internet 
Printing Protocol)in OS X runs on top of HTTP and can be configured from a 
browser.
I may be a special case but my bread comes not from the vast UI offerings 
of MC but text files with scripts. The free part of MC is worth more to me 
then the one I pay for;-).

> Monte endorsed Andu's solution and in his several responses tantalized me
> into thinking Metacard can be leveraged to do what I want. My personal
> concern is wether or not as an individual developer with my limited
> resources can I leverage Metacard to do this? Of, course I have to take
> responsibility to learn and study a great deal more on my own but, would
> someone be willing to elaborate a little more on how one goes about
> implementing the solution Andu and Monte have presented?

Here's what happens:
When you click on a "Submit" button on a web page in your browser the forms 
data is sent to a MC cgi script via the web server. The script reads and 
processes the data (calculates things, gets/puts things from/to a database, 
combines different html templates, etc.) and sends it back to the server 
which sends it back to your browser as an html formated page.
(Others who explored this mechanism more recently should be better fit to 
provide you with details)


> Thanks,
>
> Mark
>
>
> Mark Lacy
> LetterPress Software, Inc.
> 1770 North Logan, UT 84341
> (435) 755-5996
>



Regards, Andu Novac