gmane.comp.lang.active4d.devel

[OFF]Question about how BBEdit Colorizes A4D Files

Douglas von Roeder — 2008-08-28T19:08:42

This is a "Doh" question… I'm using BBEdit to modify A4D files. When I open on one of the files ("thankyou.a4d") the contents are colorized. This file contains HTML and the HTML and non-HTML text is colorized. When I open the file "post_RefRom.a4P", the contents are not colorized. There is no HTML in the file but when I add HTML, the contents do not colorize. Can someone steer me in the right direction so that I can enable colorizing all A4D files? Thanks.

JSON debugging tip

Brad Perkins — 2008-08-28T17:25:12

Firebug is great for seeing what is being sent and returned when doing 'AJAX' style development (XHR). However, if you are working on a page that expects a JSON response and your back end code returns output in addition to the JSON , your client side Javascript probably won't work as expected because the extra data invalidates the JSON. I'm working on a project that uses jQuery, and in my usage I recently experiences this. The problem was that in this case the additional output was my doing. I'd put some "write" calls in the code to debug something. Of course I could have used write to console, but my A4D code is running on 4D client in a machine in a server room. I wanted to see the output in the response. I discovered that you can do a couple of things to fix this. (1) Return your debugging output in the JSON. The downside of this is that the debug out is harder to read and may loose any intended formatting. (2) Output your debugging output inside a Javascript /* */ comment. This keeps the JSON valid, plus allows you to easily read it in Firebug. hth, Brad Perkins

My 'for each' is broken. Or at least myunderstanding is.

Michael Check — 2008-08-20T19:25:29

Using A4D 4.5r1 with 4D 2004.5 I've been staring at this way too long. Can anyone see an obvious reason why the for each below does not work the way the for loop does? CODE writebr(concat(" "; 'Records found:'; string(size of array(account_AT)))) if(size of array(account_AT)>0) c_longint($idx) c_text($value) for each (account_AT; $value; $idx) writebr('Account: %1%' % $value) writebr('Password: %1%' % password_AT{$idx}) end for each writebr for ($idx; 1; size of array(account_AT)) writebr('Account: %1%' % account_AT{$idx}) writebr('Password: %1%' % password_AT{$idx}) end for end if RESULTS Records found: 3 Account: 11111 Password: password Account: 11111 Password: password Account: 22222 Password: password Account: 33333 Password: password Thanks, Michael Check

A4D 4.5 Demo Firefox img

Steve Alex — 2008-08-18T20:01:44

I can't seem to get images to load from the web-static directory in Firefox (2.0.0.16). Works fine in Safari, IE. CSS loads fine, just images. I've been converting a site to 4.5 and used much of the structure of the demo. All was working fine in Safari. Went to IE and of course I had to tweak the CSS, but when I went to Firefox, images flat won't load. This is in either is CSS or with an img tag. Can anyone else confirm this? I can do xxx.xxx.xxx:8080/images/ myimage.jpg and it works fine. Think I even got it to cache it for one screen load. Steve Alex

Starting ODBC project with A4D

Michael Check — 2008-08-18T19:22:59

We have a database that we've created to be exclusively accessed via A4D; there is no other user interface. Part of the data that we need to collect is read-only in a SQL Svr on the LAN. So we need to, for instance, authenticate users via a MS SQL db table, but they will be mostly using the data in 4D. So we have ODBC access to the MS SQL Svr, which we can query from 4D, but my question is the best way to access the queries and data via A4D. Should we write a bunch of 4D wrapper methods that we can call from our qry_selectMany.a4d files (we're using fusebox)? One real bummer about that is using rowsets, which we want to do. I'm not sure I can see how to get the data into a rowset unless I first pull it via ODBC, populate arrays, then push into rowsets. That's a lot of work, ugh. And so then, should the wrappers be written in A4D, mimicing the 4D ODBC commands, and calling the 'Execute 4D Command' from with the A4D method? Or write the wrappers in 4D, calling them as methoids from A4D. I know I could experiment, but if someone has some advice on direction, it could help me jump a few steps. Thanks! Michael Check

Custom error page and processing

Peter Schumacher — 2008-08-17T16:25:36

Hi, I've setup a custom error page (for syntax errors and so) and in case of an error it displays. Fine. But as soon as I want to do something like <% write("Hello World")%> I get the good old error display (native) of A4D showing my test error. A4D 4.0.3b39 4D 2004.7 build 3 hotfix 2 MacOSX 10.5.4 The test error is generated so: <% write($Test) %> $Test is not defined. My custom error page shows up. OK, but any A4D code I put in there displays "write($Test)" as error and not my custom page. Frankly, I have no idea where to lock for something. :) Mit freundlichen Grüßen [4D-Consulting.com]eK, Wiesbaden Peter Schumacher -------------------------------------------------------- Web: http://www.4D-Consulting.com/ FreeCall: 0800-434 636 7 Tel.: 0611-9406.850 - Fax: 0611-9406.744 4D-Consulting.com eK - Scharnhorststr. 36 - 65195 Wiesbaden HR Wiesbaden: HRA 4867

v4.5 key files

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-08-15T22:55:00

Greetings, The bug with key files has been resolved. The key files were fine, it was the routine that retrieved license info that had a bug. So I will have to release v4.5r2 to ensure 'get license info' works correctly. Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

Sorry for the delay...

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-08-14T15:27:36

Hi, If you ordered new deployments or Premium Support in the past few days, thank you! I just discovered there is a critical bug in my key file generator, any v4.5 key file you have won't give you unlimited time. I'm working on a fix and will send you a new one as soon as it's ready. If you have not yet received a key file, please be patient while I fix this problem. Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

A4D & SproutCore??

Todd Freese — 2008-08-13T21:31:40

Has anyone played with or are using the SproutCore AJAX frameworks? Apple gave it a huge endorsement at WWDC and said it is heavy used in the new Mobile Me. (Problems aside!) Todd Freese The Filmworkers Club

A4D as a general-purpose scripting engine

Steve Alex — 2008-08-13T15:28:46

There is a line in the Active4D reference manual that I'm not sure what is the correct method of implementation. Uses for Direct Execution Direct execution is useful in cases where you are not responding to an HTTP request. In fact, you could easily use Active4D as a general-purpose scripting engine by executing ﬁles or blocks of text that are nothing but Active4D code. You need only enclose the scripts in the <% %> tags. We've tried this over the years with mixed results. Now that we're upgrading I need to ask a couple questions. We are currently and probably will continue to run Active4D on a client. There are some things I created in Active4D that it sure would be nice if we could call them from the 4D (GUI or process). While this worked on our development server (probably because I had an expired license on it) it did not work on the real server since Active4D is not running on the server. For instance, we created a cron process on the 4D server and tried to execute some Active4D code stored in a record. That crashed the 4D server - so we put that off to the side and said we'd get back to it sometime. I think we figured out the licensing problem and was going to use Execute on Client, but never got around to it. I guess my questions are: What is the best way to implement Active4D as a general-purpose scripting engine (in client based web server environment)? Should I buy two deployment licenses, one for the client web site and one for the server? Has anyone tried to execute Active4D text/file on a client from the server? I guess the option of two licenses would allow us to have a fallback solution if the client died. Also would allow development of a limited access site that I'm not sure what I'd do with - but then something will come to mind sooner or later (long running reports, conversion routines that are one heck of a lot easier to do in Active4D, etc.) Of course that would require another 4D Web Server license. Which brings up another question. Will Active4D work on a box that does not have a web server running on it? Steve Alex AIDT _______________________________________________ Active4D-dev mailing list Active4D-dev< at >aparajitaworld.com http://mailman.aparajitaworld.com/mailman/listinfo/active4d-dev Archives: http://mailman.aparajitaworld.com/archive/active4d-dev/

Active4D v4.5 demo

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-08-12T17:36:28

Greetings, It has come to my attention that a file was missing from the Active4D v4.5 demo. This has been fixed. If you downloaded the demo before 1:30pm New York time (EDT), please download it again. https://www.aparajitaworld.com/site/products/Active4D/download.php Thank you! Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

Active4d 4.5 and AJAX

Steve Alex — 2008-08-10T23:28:44

First off, I really like some of what I've seen. Played with the demo and like the pretty URLs and the Controllers/Models/Views approach. Thought it was so neat I tried to convert an existing application using the demo structure. With just a little moving stuff around, I found that ALMOST everything worked - that is until I got to my few ajax calls. Just to save some other people time, thought I'd relay my experience. First of when I said convert, I mean more than just Active4D 4.5. I decided to get rid of a bunch of crappy CSS I inherited and some other crap. I started with the pure Demo and just moved some stuff around getting it to work. Moved a couple circuits to the Controllers/Models/ Views approach, but then started trying to clean up the CSS. When I got to my first ajax call, it failed with an error of an unknown fusebox circuit. Took me a long time to figure out that in my old Active4d.ini it executed all *.a4d files. The demo is set just to index.a4d and image.a4d. After a few hours I was still having problems. I had moved my ajax.a4d file from the root level to the controllers folder - where sed and image where located. Still could not get it to work. I had some code: $path := "ads/app/estimates/lineitems/pos/po_detail/" + $page + ".a4d" if(file exists(join paths(get root; $path))) include("ads/app/estimates/lineitems/pos/qry_allVendors.a4d") include($path) else .... But it would error out on the include($path) with an invalid path that ended in controllers (mac hd/users/salex/desktop/ads4.5/web/ controllers/ads,,,, or something like that. Almost seems like get root was giving path to the executable (/web/controllers/ajax.a4d). I gave up and put my ajax.a4d file back at the root level and now all is fine. I'll do some more debugging later on, but I'm too busy throwing away crap. Steve Alex

upgrading to v4.5

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-08-10T19:24:55

Hi, One thing I did not make clear in my previous emails -- you MUST get a new key file to deploy v4.5. If your license is current, you will automatically have a new key file emailed to you in the next few days. Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

Active4D v4.5r1

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-08-07T23:16:54

Hi, If you downloaded the Active4D v4.5r1 plugin archive before 7:15pm on Thursday (and the archive contains a "target" folder), you can delete the "target" folder, that was a mistake. Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

Moving to the new support plans

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-08-07T18:37:35

Dear friends, Now that I FINALLY got v4.5 released, it will take me another day or two to convert everyone over to the new support plan. Here is what will happen: - Anyone whose license is currently in force will become a member of the Premium Support forum automatically. Your membership will expire when your current license does. - Everyone else will have a chance to join Premium Support for the one- time reduced price of $199, down from $270. You will receive an email with instructions on how to get the discount. Thank you for your continued support! Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

[ANN] Active4D v4.5r1

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-08-07T18:28:20

Dear friends, I am very happy to announce the release of Active4D v4.5r1 with exciting new Ajax features and a new low price! ABOUT ACTIVE4D -------------- Active4D is the ultimate 4D web development environment, offering you unparalleled power and simplicity while leveraging your existing 4D programming knowledge. It's the perfect complement to the 4D Ajax Framework. "Active4D is truly a beautiful product. I rarely give such praise. It’s a classic case of a complex piece of work wrapped in a simple and elegant covering. The power it gives to a developer is remarkable." - Will Mayall, 4D Legend This new release includes dozens of new features and enhancements. Out of the box, Active4D gives you: • A ready to run HTTP server with virtual hosting and advanced security features • A blazing fast, fully dynamic embedded scripting engine which executes real 4D code • Nearly 300 new web-focused commands to increase your productivity • Extensive Ajax support, including JSON and UTF-8 • The perfect complement to the 4D Ajax Framework or other Ajax frameworks like ExtJS or Prototype • Enhancements to the 4D language that dramatically increase its power and productivity • Automatic, world-class session support • Transparent cookie and file upload support • Powerful regular expression text processing • A host of both client-side and server-side debugging tools • Unparalleled ease of development with the Fusebox framework • And much, much more! PRICING ------- With the release of v4.5, Active4D is not only powerful but affordable! • Development is free as always • Deployment licenses are now only $270 per server, with unlimited usage and NO YEARLY FEES! With all of the great time-saving features Active4D gives you and your clients, you can't afford NOT to give it a try. In addition to new software, extended Premium Support plans are now available, including hotfixes! So now is the time to see what you've been missing. For information, please go to http://www.aparajitaworld.com/products/Active4D. Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

Restricting access to uploaded files

Brad Perkins — 2008-08-05T18:25:04

In one application we use A4D to upload files. We store the uploaded files in various folders served by Apache. Database records store a URL to these files. Even though the file uploads and published URLs are in a password protected web app, Apache doesn't restrict access to the uploaded files. If someone can guess a file path they can get the file. Apache is configured to not allow directory listings and the documents in question aren't sensitive, so this isn't a big deal. However, I've been asked to add file upload capability to another web app that runs on the same server. In this case access to the uploaded documents would need to be restricted. How have others achieved this w/ A4D without physically storing the documents in the database? Thanks, Brad Perkins

new name

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-08-04T04:29:53

Hi, Forget I asked about changing the name, I just want to get v4.5 out the door at this point... Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

new product name?

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-08-04T03:42:38

Hi, One of the biggest new features in Active4D v4.5 is extensive support for Ajax: - Transparent conversion of UTF-8 data (which is what Ajax uses) in 4D 2004! (Something 4D Ajax Framework can't do.) - New library, a4d.json, for no-brainer generation of JSON data (with automatic UTF-8 conversion) that most Javascript toolkits expect. - New commands, 'mac to utf8' and 'utf8 to mac', if you are returning XML or HTML to an Ajax request. I'm thinking that with this release maybe I should rename Active4D to Active4D/Ajax. What do you think? Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

A4D on better on Server or Client?

Darin Schroeder — 2008-08-02T18:07:54

I've been running A4D using 4D Client since the beginning, but am contemplating moving it onto the 4D Server machine. (I am aware of the licensing issues when using 4D's Webserver). Lately, the thought of having A4D automatically run as soon as 4D Server starts up seems appealing, instead of relying on two machines for the task. I know for security's sake, the preferred method is to use 4D Client, but really, how much of a risk is there to putting it on 4D Server? Are there steps that can be taken to help safeguard the data? Or should I even be concerned at all? I also seem to recall problems if emails were sent out of A4D when using 4D Server? Something about timing out A4D? ... but I can't really remember for sure. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks, Darin

hotfix support

Aparajita Fishman — 2008-07-31T20:29:05

Hi, Since no one seems interested in Gold Support, the main feature of which is hotfixes, I would like to propose an alternative. Instead of paying $700 a year for unlimited hotfixes and direct email support, I would like to propose a per-hotfix fee of $270, available to those who are in the Premium support program. In other words, let's say you find a bug that is causing real trouble for your mission-critical application. After I look into it, I determine that it is a bug and that there is no workaround. At that point you have two choices: 1. Report the bug in the issue tracker and wait until the next release. 2. Ask me to fix the bug immediately. When the fix is complete, you pay $270 and I deliver the fix. If you compare my cost to that of other software vendors, I think you will find this to be an extremely reasonable cost for the service provided. Thoughts? Regards, Aparajita www.aparajitaworld.com "If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed." - Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org