Standalone Web App - NO internet - using SSL

Targets Web
1

Hi,

I have a Xojo Standalone Web App, running on a Windows PC (Win 10).
The clients are all Android Tablets, running the app in full screen with Chrome, using the Windows10 IP Address and port for connection.
There is no internet connection, no web server in the LAN.

The problem is the warnings received on the tablets because using http rather than https.

I don’t succeed creating a self-signed certificate accepted by the Android Chrome browser.

I tried with the Xojo sample Web Standalone SSL app but with no luck.

Has anyone an idea or a solution ?

Thanks,

Olivier

2

We have an EAM (emergency action message) that was cut off during transmission

Just letting you know that somehow your post got cut off and I’m sure you had more info to provide

3

Thanks @brian franco , I was thrown out. I could complete my post.

4

Ah ok

I just wanted to make sure you got a chance to know and finish so you can get help :slight_smile:

5

If you want to deploy ssl certificate (free certificate let’s encrypt) on windows 10 use “win-acme”

See this video to deploy xojo web apps with IIS and reverse proxy option.

That’s works perfectly on my personal server.

6

[quote=@JrmeLeray ]If you want to deploy ssl certificate (free certificate let’s encrypt) on windows 10 use “win-acme”
[/quote]
Thanks Jrme. Installing IIS was easy. However I dont see how to solve my problem completely.
The video explains how to install the self-signed certificate in IIS and to connect to the local server in https. Thats what I did.
But I still get a warning in Chrome because of the self signed certificate.
I can live with it but the warning message is worrying my client and the end users working on the tablets.

AFAIK Lets encrypt is for named domains, did you succeed in creating one for a local domain ?

7

@Olivier Colard ,

I believe you will always get the error with chrome using a self signed cert as the cert has not been issued by a 3rd party authority.

And yes from my experience Lets Encrypt is for named domains

8

If you want to use a self signed cert and get rid of the error message you need to install the cert on each device that uses the site. Another option would be to install your certificate authority’s cert on each device then any new certs would be trusted.

It’s usually easier to just set up let’s encrypt and a domain name so you can install the cert that way and not have to mess with the individual devices.

9

You might also want to consider the open source version of NGINX. There are some threads here about NGINX. NGINX can manage your certificates in front of the Xojo Web App and give you some other features. IIS would not be needed. It is also VERY light weight and you configure it with a simple text file.

It is not a Web Server (although I think it can be) but can act as as reverse proxy. You can put NGINX on your “public” (internal) IP and then run the Xojo Standalone Web server on any IP and Port you want. It can also do load balancing if you want.

You can also use the open source NSSM (Non-Sucking-Service-Manager) to launch the Xojo app and run as a service.

Everything can be configured to survive an unattended reboot.

Just a thought.

10

Many thanks to all of you.
All suggestions are interesting and could be investigated, but none of them is really easy for the size and benefits of this special app.
This application is running in a remote located building, with no internet connection. The server is a small Windows10 desktop and the clients are a dozen Android tablets. The single and only app needed is this Xojo web app.

I’m actually testing and very simple workaround by using a « Kiosk » application (Fully Kiosk Browser) which seems to solve the problem and provides better control on authorised apps.
When running the app (full screen or not) within the Kiosk, I don’t get any annoying messages about security.
This kiosk app uses the chrome engine and seems to work perfectly with my xojo web app.

I’ll let you know if some other problem appears.

Thanks anyway for your answers.

11

Hi Olivier,
please, could you tell me more about your kiosk app solution ? How to do it ?
I’ve have the same your problem in the same situation too.

Thanks

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I’d be curious too.

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Hi @Markus Winter & @Ercole Gosi,

It’s quite simple :wink:
The web app is developed as standalone (Xojo 2017v2.1) and runs on a small Win10 PC, listening a port.
Clients are Android tablets (Huawei T5).
Small LAN, no internet connection.

On each table I installed the kiosk app Fully Kiosk Browser (via google play).
In Fully Kiosk settings I specify my Win10 IP http://address:port as “start URL”, and voilà ! The web page is displayed full screen, no annoying message about insecure url.
No status bar, no address bar, …

Fully Kiosk is using Android Webview (Chromium) and seems to be fully compatible with the Xojo web apps.

For some tablets, placed in public areas, I bought the “Plus” license to make it impossible to quit the Web App without knowing a PIN code.
The Plus license is 5.90€ per device, taxes included, volume licenses available (> 10 devices).

I’m using Bluestacks (Win & Mac) Android emulator. It’s free and it lets you install Fully Kiosk via google play to test all features (including “PLUS”) before buying.

Bluestacks is really performant, installing Fully Kiosk is easy.

Using Bluestacks I could test all Fully Kiosk PLUS features without buying a license and without annoying message or watermark.
On the real devices, there are big watermarks if you use PLUS features without buying the license.

If you need more details tell me.

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Thanks - much appreciated :slight_smile:

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Thans Olivier