Macintosh

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Gabriel
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Macintosh

Post by Gabriel »

I wrote a quick BR app to help a friend who's running her first non-profit. But she uses macintoshs, and I don't know very much about Macs. Can anyone here help me get my software running on a macintosh?

These are the problems I ran into:

1) There doesn't appear to be any BR Native for the mac. It seems like the only way to run BR software on the Mac is by using the Client Server model of BR. Is this true?


2) If I have to run the Client Server model, can't I install the server on the mac and then tell the client to connect to "localhost"? How do you install the CS Server on a mac? The only instructions I can find are for Linux and Windows.


3) IF I can't install the server on a mac, I could still host the application on our windows server and my friend can connect to it over the internet from her Mac. But I can't figure out how to tell the client which computer to connect to. Under windows, you simply add the host IP address (or DNS name) and the Label as command line arguments to the brclient.exe. You can do that by making a shortcut to brclient.exe and typing the command line arguments directly in the shortcut properties.

I can't figure out how to make a shortcut on a macintosh. I made something called an "alias" which I think is the same thing as a shortcut, but I could not figure out how to specify command line parameters in a macintosh alias. Is it possible to specify this information in command line parameters on a macintosh?


4) Even if I can't specify command line arguments on the mac, I have seen reference in the Client Server documentation to some sort of a br_parms.txt file or something, that you can put in the client folder, that will tell it which hostname and ip to use. I just got it working that way (even as I was writing this email). So now I have a beginning solution, I can host it on my windows server and she can connect to it over the internet.

For anyone curious, the file is called br_parms.txt and it needs the following two lines:
host=[ip address or dns name]
label=[the label you are connecting to]

You place it in the BR Client folder.


But if anyone could help me with questions 1 or 2 above, It would really help. It would be a better solution for her if she was able to run it locally, either with a brnative for the mac or with instructions to install the CS server on the macintosh.

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. If someone could answer even just one of these questions, it would probably be enough to get me going. There are a lot of ways to get where I'm trying to go.

Gabriel
bluesfannoz
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Post by bluesfannoz »

I can help you with all those questions if we can coordinate a time for me to connect to your machine.
Steve Koger
Computer Specialist
SEKESC-MACS Division
Gabriel
Posts: 412
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:37 am
Location: Arlington, TX
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Post by Gabriel »

I wanted to thank everyone for their help getting BR set up on the Mac. I received many messages both on and off the forum. Special thanks goes to Gordon and Dan for getting me the specifications for the br_parms.txt file, and to Steve Koger for calling me and answering all of my remaining questions.

I've always thought that one of the coolest features of BR is its ability to run the exact same program on Linux, Windows, or Macintosh. It just seems like there should be more information available on how to do it.

There should be a "Macintosh" page on the wiki with installation instructions, at the very least. I would add it myself except that there are still gaping holes in my understanding of the process and I don't think I could do an adequate job yet.

Anyway, I eventually got things going by running the BR Server on my windows server here at the office, and configuring my friends BR Client to connect to it over the internet. It runs plenty fast enough and it works for now. The trick was telling her BR Client which IP address to connect to. For that you have to create a br_parms.txt file and enter the HOST=IP or DNS Name, and LABEL=Client Server Label.

My br_parms.txt looks like this:

host=dsg.ftpaccess.cc
label=NonProfit

Security for client server uses Windows Authentication on the server pc. So all I had to do was add a user account for my friend and she was good to go.

The only thing I still don't understand how to do is to run BR Server on a Macintosh. It would be really helpful if there were instructions on the Client Server page in the wiki for Macintosh. They have detailed instructions for installing the CS Server under Windows and Linux, but nothing about Macintosh.

If anyone knows how to install the BRCS Server on a Macintosh and would like to volunteer their time to add that information to the Wiki, I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated by the BR Macintosh Community. :)

Then maybe more of us can begin to take advantage of this really wonderful and underappreciated feature of BR - the ability to have your software running with some users on a Mac, some users on Windows, some users over a LAN and some over the Internet, some even on Linux, and all working together and running at the same time in the same DataBase (the same BR data files).

When I changed my software to run under Client Server, the only lines I had to modify were my Shell Calls. They need to know if you want them to run on the Client or on the Server. Everything else just worked, just as if it was running under BRNative.exe on my local PC.

Gabriel
bluesfannoz
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Post by bluesfannoz »

I will gladly help you Gabe when I have time. I got swamped with calls this afternoon.

We have written a mac installer specific for us. I was going to make a generic installer that everyone can use. Just have not had time to because we are at a very busy time for us, and up until now, we have been the only ones using it.
Steve Koger
Computer Specialist
SEKESC-MACS Division
bluesfannoz
Posts: 291
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Location: Lawrence, Kansas
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Re: Macintosh

Post by bluesfannoz »

Gabriel wrote:I wrote a quick BR app to help a friend who's running her first non-profit. But she uses macintoshs, and I don't know very much about Macs. Can anyone here help me get my software running on a macintosh?

These are the problems I ran into:

1) There doesn't appear to be any BR Native for the mac. It seems like the only way to run BR software on the Mac is by using the Client Server model of BR. Is this true?


Current there is only a client server version of BR for the MAC


2) If I have to run the Client Server model, can't I install the server on the mac and then tell the client to connect to "localhost"? How do you install the CS Server on a mac? The only instructions I can find are for Linux and Windows.


Yes that is how we run standalone machines. It is important that you use localhost, because if their not connected to a network, there will be no ip address, but localhost will still work, the same goes for windows or linux client server.



3) IF I can't install the server on a mac, I could still host the application on our windows server and my friend can connect to it over the internet from her Mac. But I can't figure out how to tell the client which computer to connect to. Under windows, you simply add the host IP address (or DNS name) and the Label as command line arguments to the brclient.exe. You can do that by making a shortcut to brclient.exe and typing the command line arguments directly in the shortcut properties.

I can't figure out how to make a shortcut on a macintosh. I made something called an "alias" which I think is the same thing as a shortcut, but I could not figure out how to specify command line parameters in a macintosh alias. Is it possible to specify this information in command line parameters on a macintosh?

The only way to pass parameters to the client is through the br_parms.txt file that you mention below. You can write terminal scripts for the MAC. But they cannot be used to pass parameters to the brclient.



4) Even if I can't specify command line arguments on the mac, I have seen reference in the Client Server documentation to some sort of a br_parms.txt file or something, that you can put in the client folder, that will tell it which hostname and ip to use. I just got it working that way (even as I was writing this email). So now I have a beginning solution, I can host it on my windows server and she can connect to it over the internet.

For anyone curious, the file is called br_parms.txt and it needs the following two lines:
host=[ip address or dns name]
label=[the label you are connecting to]

You place it in the BR Client folder.

This is correct. We actually have clients that have a PC server and a mixture of MAC and Windows clients and Vice Versa. A MAC Server with a mixture of MAC and Windows clients. We do this by having a MAC label and PC label in our brlistener.conf file. That way we can have specific settings for each platform. Even differing wbconfig files. I usually have a wbconfig.mac and wbconfig.pc that point to the same location and programs but may have different attributes and fonts set for the differing platforms. We usually use Monaco as our default font on the MAC.


But if anyone could help me with questions 1 or 2 above, It would really help. It would be a better solution for her if she was able to run it locally, either with a brnative for the mac or with instructions to install the CS server on the macintosh.

I will try to put together a generic installer that people can use to get started. It may be a week or two before I can get it put together. But I will gladly connect to a machine and help you get it setup manually in the mean time.

Steve


Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. If someone could answer even just one of these questions, it would probably be enough to get me going. There are a lot of ways to get where I'm trying to go.

Gabriel
Steve Koger
Computer Specialist
SEKESC-MACS Division
gordon
Posts: 358
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:02 pm

Post by gordon »

From the above postings there are a few key concepts that are apparent:
  • There is no standard model for the MAC. Only Client-Server.
  • To run the equivalent of the standard model, run both client and server on the same machine and specify LOCALHOST for the IP.
  • The client directory MUST have a file named BR_PARMS.TXT which contains
    • host=[ip address or dns name or localhost]
      label=[the BRLISTENER.CONF label you are connecting to]
  • Specify FONT=Monaco in the BRCONFIG.SYS file.
Several questions remain:
  1. What form is BR distributed in if not an EXE?
  2. How do you apply this type of file to a MAC or install this type of file on a MAC ?
  3. Where does the listener get installed?
  4. Where does the BRLISTENER.CONF file reside?
  5. What is necessary to activate the listener as a service?
bluesfannoz
Posts: 291
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:01 am
Location: Lawrence, Kansas
Contact:

Post by bluesfannoz »

gordon wrote:From the above postings there are a few key concepts that are apparent:
  • There is no standard model for the MAC. Only Client-Server.
  • To run the equivalent of the standard model, run both client and server on the same machine and specify LOCALHOST for the IP.
  • The client directory MUST have a file named BR_PARMS.TXT which contains
    • host=[ip address or dns name or localhost]
      label=[the BRLISTENER.CONF label you are connecting to]
  • Specify FONT=Monaco in the BRCONFIG.SYS file.
Several questions remain:
  1. What form is BR distributed in if not an EXE?
  2. How do you apply this type of file to a MAC or install this type of file on a MAC ?
  3. Where does the listener get installed?
  4. Where does the BRLISTENER.CONF file reside?
  5. What is necessary to activate the listener as a service?
I can answer all the above questions. The issue is that we were charged for this product. More than just a license. We put MANY man hours into making it work. Freely sharing only happens in open source projects. BR is not an open source project. As I stated to Gabe. If you contact me directly, I will gladly assist you in setting up a machine when I can fit it into my schedule.
Steve Koger
Computer Specialist
SEKESC-MACS Division
Gabriel
Posts: 412
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:37 am
Location: Arlington, TX
Contact:

Post by Gabriel »

Thank you everyone, especially Steve Koger and Macs for all your help.

The software is installed and running, and my friend loves it.

There's only one feature of my software that doesn't work.

Its a program for managing a lending library. The library is not limited to books, but they lend out bicycles and other things as well. The program keeps track of all the people, and the things they can borrow, and which people have which things. It can even automatically write and send collections emails for you.

It has one feature that I can't get working on the Mac. If the user selects a person and clicks "Map Em" then it pops up Google Maps and shows you right where their house is. (With a further click you can visit Google Maps Street View and actually see a picture of the front of their house. Of course I didn't do that, Google Maps did, but it still looks really cool.)

I do that by giving a shell call that says:

EXECUTE "system -C -M start http://maps.google.com/maps?q="&SREP$(TRIM$(F$(P_STREET))&","&TRIM$(F$(P_ZIP))," ","%20")

On windows, this launches Google Maps with their default browser and sends them to the street address on file (stored in F$(p_street) and f$(p_zip)).

But of course this doesn't work on the Mac, which has no "start" command.

Does anyone know how to launch Safari or Firefox on the Macintosh with a shell call, and send it to a specific url?
Gabriel
Gabriel
Posts: 412
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:37 am
Location: Arlington, TX
Contact:

Post by Gabriel »

Yes, if someone was willing to explain the answers to these few remaining questions about installing the CS Server on a Mac, I would be willing to volunteer the time to place the information on the Wiki, so that more people can begin to take advantage of this wonderful and underdocumented feature.

Gabriel



Several questions remain:
  1. What form is BR distributed in if not an EXE?
  2. How do you apply this type of file to a MAC or install this type of file on a MAC ?
  3. Where does the listener get installed?
  4. Where does the BRLISTENER.CONF file reside?
  5. What is necessary to activate the listener as a service?
[/quote]
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