POLL: LiveCode Server deployment
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 1:05 am
I'm curious about how people are using LiveCode Server - please pick the option that best describes how you use it.
Questions and answers about the LiveCode platform.
https://forums.livecode.com/
No worries - that's part of my motivation in conducting this survey, to assess needs in the community for tutorials and/or tools to make these things easier.livfoss wrote:I also said that I run it on a dedicated server, without really knowing what this means - out of my comfort zone again.
The distinction in type of server has more to do with how the server is set up than your use of it:Basically, we've got a bit of space on DreamHost for a small set of web sites, and I've put LC Server Commercial into the cgi-bin of one of them. Is that dedicated?
This is a challenge that will be difficult to overcome, since shared hosting companies each have their own configuration for handling CGIs like LC Server. What works on Dreamhost will be different from what works on Hostgator, InterServer, or others.I suppose the answer to all my grumbling is to have a complete worked example of LC Server deployment, including what directory structures and permissions are needed and a long list of gotchas. The LC documentation could do this, but it doesn't.
This usage scenario would make for an interesting talk at the LiveCode Conference.asayd wrote:I guess I'm closest to B. I run LC Server on several physical and virtual servers that are wholly owned by my department at the university. That means I can configure them for all or just selected virtual hosts on each server. Typically I will modify the host config file for only those virtual hosts that want to use LC Server.
The main thing I use Server for is to write middleware--APIs for interacting with MySQL databases that serve as the backend data store for my desktop applications. So instead of the old school approach of establishing DB connections directly from my applications, I write task-specific .lc scripts that access the DB. This way I don't have to pass DB access credentials over the network. Credentials are stored, encrypted, on the server where the .lc scripts reside. When a script is called it reads and decrypts the credentials, makes the DB connection, executes the transaction, then closes the connection. Subjectively, I have found execution time to be very fast, at least as fast or faster than direct connections from the application.
BTW, my use of decryption means I need to use Server Commercial version.
Devin
Being able to embed credentials in protected stacks is certainly a nice convenience, but not absolutely necessary.asayd wrote:BTW, my use of decryption means I need to use Server Commercial version.
Thanks for the link, Richard. Actually, I store the credentials in text files, where I have written out text encrypted with the encrypt command in LC desktop. Then I read the encrypted text in on the server, using decrypt. It sounds like there may be other options. Maybe I should look into using shell calls to encrypt/decrypt.FourthWorld wrote:Being able to embed credentials in protected stacks is certainly a nice convenience, but not absolutely necessary.asayd wrote:BTW, my use of decryption means I need to use Server Commercial version.
The most common middleware for DB access is PHP, which has no common means of protecting scripts. Instead, they either store credentials in a file outside the web root, or set values for them in the Apache config file - see the post on the latter in the middle of this page:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9798 ... rds-in-php
There's a lot to be said for encrypted LiveCode stacks, but users of LiveCode Community can accomplish anything users of other great languages enjoy also.
That's an interesting idea, David. I'll think on that. I consider myself sort of a self-taught novice-to-interemediate when it comes to writing middleware. But that's one of the stories that we can tell with LC--how it enables you to do powerful things with minimal learning curve.dsimpson wrote: This usage scenario would make for an interesting talk at the LiveCode Conference.