BR Web Server Limitations

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gordon
Posts: 358
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:02 pm

BR Web Server Limitations

Post by gordon »

The latest copy of the BR Web Server and documentation can be obtained from ftp://ftp.brulescorp.com/Dll_Distr/web_server/.

The BR Web Server presently supports HTTP 1.0. There is a major update to HTTP (HTTP 1.1) that has been implemented in many web servers. Updating BR to support HTTP 1.1 is in the works. Meanwhile many of the 1.0 limitations can be worked around by running the BR web server in conjunction with Apache. This is described near the end of the Web Server documentation.

The main reason why HTTP 1.1 is needed is because of limitations built into Microsoft networking. Older Microsoft servers have a 12k per message imitation. Server 2012 has a 68k limit. These limitations can be circumvented through a concept called "chunking" which is included in the HTTP 1.1 specification. However, if the user data you serve to your web applications does not exceed 68K in a single transmission, then the BR web server may be what you need.

The most important feature of the BR Web Server is the ease of debugging. The second most important feature is its ease of setup.
gordon
Posts: 358
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:02 pm

Re: BR Web Server Limitations

Post by gordon »

The computer industry is in a transition to web (browser) based user interfaces for many business applications. This is similar to the move from character based applications to graphical windows that took place late in the twentieth century. Right now the graphical applications available on tablets and smart phones exceed the power of desktop applications in many respects by virtue of their mobility and capabilities built into the devices. Meanwhile accounting, billing, inventory and sales applications are more prevalent on desktops because of the capacity of larger screens to display more data concurrently. I expect that in the future there will be more of a blending of desktop and tablet applications. Eventually applications that are not "responsive" will be phased out. In this case the term "responsive" denotes automatically conforming to the geography of the delivery platform.

At the BR conference two "dynamic data" web development tools were discussed:
Both work with JQuery Javascript libraries which implement a broad variety of user interface capabilities on multiple delivery platforms.

In my opinion, many more tools will become available in the marketplace before this rapidly developing technology stabilizes. Meanwhile we can enjoy the plentiful availability of intermediate developments for selected applications. That is, specific programs within a a desktop business application can be moved to a web interface without the need to reface the bulk of desktop oriented programs.
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