xb2net future 3.5 release and CXP like functionality

[Cliff Wiernik]

I noticed on the xb2net newsgroup that just recently that Boris will be support CXP like capabilities for Xbase 2.0 and 1.9. It will allow the running of Xbase++ code within the xb2net server via a prg file or dll that can automatically be reloaded when changes occur.

Code: Select all

Happy New Year to all!

I have some exciting news - Xb2.NET v3.5 will provide support for dynamic,
on-the-fly compiled, PRG files.

What this means is that you will be able to drop a standard Xbase++ .PRG
file into a www_root folder and execute that prg from a browser. If the PRG
is modified, the Xb2.NET engine will automatically recompile it on demand.
The development cycle is greatly simplified because you do not need to
restart the server every time the source for a web function changes.

Here are two simple examples:

http://xb2.net/prg/hello.prg
http://xb2.net/prg/colors.prg

If you look at the linked source code, you will see that the PRGs are
standard Xbase++ code with nothing fancy. Because it's standard Xbase++
code, it means that this will work with all versions of Xbase++
(1.82 and up).

The Xb2.NET engine also makes it easy to resolve compile and link errors.
Here is what happens when the dynamic DLL can't be generated:

http://xb2.net/prg/compile_err.prg
http://xb2.net/prg/link_err.prg

Essentially, this will provide you with all the advantages of Alaska
Software's CXP without any of the additional complexities.

[rdonnay]

That's interesting.

I thought of adding this capability to one of my Xb2Net applications myself but I couldn't get over the issue of unloading the DLL when a source code change was made. I figured out how to do this in CxpHttpServer. I think that Boris' solution still requires shutting down and restarting the application.

I'm sure that Brian Wolfsohn will be testing this because his application is totally committed to Xb2net.and I look forward to his feeback.

[Cliff Wiernik]

Not according to Boris in his comments. He automatically unloads and reloads dlls. I know Brian has posted on the newsgroup. This is a lengthy discussion over this topic there.

[rdonnay]

If this is a good solution then I would expect that Boris would show up at some Xbase++ events and show us what he has for us. We haven't seen him for years. That's the main reason I have stopped using Xb2net.