Re: ASP.NET application alone can't do it!!! Right???
From: Boyd Ferris (boydferris_at_gmail.com)
Date: 09/10/04
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Date: 10 Sep 2004 04:33:17 -0700
Hey DB,
Here are my Reponses:
>...[I]s it possible for the user (once the app is downloaded into
cache) to
execute the app without going to the web? Any ways to prevent this if
the answer is yes?
Yes to both. When a user accesses a No Touch Deployment application,
the system streams the application and its dependencies to the user's
computer, storing the files in the user's Assembly Cache. A savvy
person could retrieve and use these files. However, the application
architecture can prevent the person from using the program by having
the client application request activation from the server, which will
work with your intentions of charging a subscription fee. For
instance, if the user opens the application, then the client calls a
function on the server (using .Net Remoting or Web Services) to notify
of its use. If the user does not have a subscription, the function
will return a value that will cause the client to disable or limit its
effectiveness.
Is your intention of using No Touch Deployment (NTD) to make it easer
to charge a subscription? If so, then that is not the reason to use
NTD. NTD should be used if you want your users to always use the most
updated code base for a desktop application without ever running a
setup program. Regardless of deployment and application type, the .NET
Framework makes it very easy to create distributed applications.
Though, if you wanted to, you could quickly and easily modify the
current VB6 application to make activation requests to a server. You
don't even have to use a typical, soap based Web Service. You could
just have a web page that validates a username and password posted to
it, and have your VB6 application post to this web page, parsing the
response and looking for whatever message you want to use to indicate a
valid or invalid subscription. (This would be an easy system to spoof,
but it would still prevent most people from cheating the system.)
Though, the .NET Framework (using either VB.NET or C#) blows VB6 away
when it comes to development, deployment, and code maintainability.
> ... Can I still use resources found on the web server, (images for
example) in the app? Can I touch the instance of the app server-side,
or does the app become just a client-side component?
Any .NET Framework application (regardless of Windows Forms or Web
Forms) can easily access distributed components. .NET Remoting and Web
Services are two options. I like to use .NET Remoting hosted on IIS
using the binary formatter, it balances performance with quick
development, and it also provides the built in security features of
IIS. Though, Web Services provides the quickest and easiest way to
implement a distributed environment. I do not think that there is an
easy way to retrieve stand alone files, such as an image, from the
server. However, you can use DLLs and executables from different
locations by configuring your config file or using assembly.load. You
can also embed data, such as image, into your application:
HOW TO: Embed and Access Resources by Using Visual Basic .NET
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;319291
> I struggle to a point of desperation, would you be willing to pitch
in on the project?
Just ask if you need any help. Whether I have time depends on my work
load.
Good luck,
Boyd
- Next message: Craig: "Application variables"
- Previous message: Paul: "ASP.Net and CustomError Handling"
- In reply to: Danny Bloodworth: "Re: ASP.NET application alone can't do it!!! Right???"
- Next in thread: WJ: "Re: ASP.NET application alone can't do it!!! Right???"
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