Running application on website

Chomeur

I'd like to run a Visual Basic application which I've developed online, in the same way that applications run on http://www.zoho.com/. This is because I think that asking users to download the application could be a bit of a block.

I've spoken to my web hosting company, 1 & 1, and they tell me (although I'm not 100% confident that what they say is right) that this is no problem and that I need their Business Windows package (http://www.1and1.co.uk/MsHosting) to do this. Without knowing anything about my application, the person I spoke to told me that 50GB would not be enough "webspace" so I needed the most expensive package. The application itself is only about 1MB.

Anyone able to comment on whether one of the cheaper packages would suit my needs? And whether it is indeed as simple as they seem to suggest to run an application online?

Thanks.

FireMatch

If you have a compiled executable or an ActiveX component then users won't download and run it

ASP.NET applications can be written in VB. If your app is not already an ASP.NET app then your best bet is to convert it to one/re-write it in ASP.NET with VB if you want to run it as a web based app, without users having to download or install anything.

For your hosting, you will only need Windows hosting with ASP.NET enabled and unless you will be storing lots of images or data online then you should only need a small amount of webspace.

Chomeur

FireMatch wrote: »

If you have a compiled executable or an ActiveX component then users won't download and run it

ASP.NET applications can be written in VB. If your app is not already an ASP.NET app then your best bet is to convert it to one/re-write it in ASP.NET with VB if you want to run it as a web based app, without users having to download or install anything.

For your hosting, you will only need Windows hosting with ASP.NET enabled and unless you will be storing lots of images or data online then you should only need a small amount of webspace.

Thanks very much, that's pretty much what I thought to be the case, although 1&1 made me hopeful that I wouldn't need to convert the app to Asp.net because they list under "Programming" "ASP, .NET", suggesting that the application can be in ASP or VB.NET. Sounds like I'd better start looking into ASP. The guy I spoke to was just a salesman basically and I had no confidence in his advice.

FireMatch

It sounds like they were just trying to get a sale on their top package out of you. The sales guy probably had no idea whether or not they can host your app by the sounds of it.

Be sure to look into ASP.NET and not just "ASP" because back in the old days we had something called ASP which is now known as Classic ASP, and that is the old version. ASP.NET is the newer technology and if you look at ASP.NET MVC rather than (or as well as) Winforms you'll be fine.

Chomeur

FireMatch wrote: »

It sounds like they were just trying to get a sale on their top package out of you. The sales guy probably had no idea whether or not they can host your app by the sounds of it.

Be sure to look into ASP.NET and not just "ASP" because back in the old days we had something called ASP which is now known as Classic ASP, and that is the old version. ASP.NET is the newer technology and if you look at ASP.NET MVC rather than (or as well as) Winforms you'll be fine.

Thanks I hadn't appreciated that there were two things.

The sales guy I spoke to wasn't as bad as the girl I spoke to before him. She insisted that she had to know the name of my application in order to determine whether or not they could support it.

InsideInsurance

Assuming you've made it in WinForms VB.Net then to convert to ASP.Net isnt going to be horribly painful (depending on how you developed it as a WinForm) but isnt a 10 minute job either.

"ASP" is normally called "Classic ASP" these days to help distinguish and likewise lazy people, like me, will often refer to ASP.Net simply as .Net. Classic ASP was written almost exclusively in VBScript and was horrible but what I cut my teeth on too many moons ago

Chomeur

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Assuming you've made it in WinForms VB.Net then to convert to ASP.Net isnt going to be horribly painful (depending on how you developed it as a WinForm) but isnt a 10 minute job either.

WinForms is not a concept I'm aware of, but reading the wikipedia entry for WinForms (A Windows Forms application is an event-driven application supported by Microsoft's .NET Framework) suggests to me that I have made it in WinForms! I've created it as a Windows Application in vb.net. No problem if it takes a few days to convert it.

FireMatch

Winforms can refer to a part of ASP.NET, the alternative to ASP.NET Winforms is ASP.NET MVC (Model-view-controller which is a better design pattern). Winforms can also mean a Windows desktop application (which sounds like is what you have). With ASP.NET (and the rest of the .NET framework) you can code in choice of lanuages such as VB or C#.

ASP Classic is effectively dead as far as new development is concerned.

booler

1 & 1 are legendary for the incompetence of their support. Find a new hosting company. They are not an ethical company.

T_T_2

I'd be less concerned about webspace and more concerned about the number of active connections that your webhost will allow to the functioning database that drives your application.

Chomeur

T_T wrote: »

I'd be less concerned about webspace and more concerned about the number of active connections that your webhost will allow to the functioning database that drives your application.

Yes, although I guess the priority is to get the application up and running somewhere. If I then find that it's not supporting enough connections then I can look to moving it.