Looking for a few opinions.
One of the projects I am currently working on has escalated from a hardware prototype to systems integration work. The client assured me, ‘The software is done.’ But it turns out what they had was a very carefully constructed demonstration. My client is an entrepreneur who has proven to me they will spend for results but doesn’t do detail, technical or, “It’s difficult.”
There are three Cloud platforms involved, all with REST APIs, driven by JSON, secured behind OAuth2 and one being Google Workspace. I have managed to progress from a demo to a production system by documenting the demo and working up platform configurations and working procedures for human arbiters to follow. What I have currently can be made to work but will not scale beyond a few well trained employees as there is way too much scope for operators to make mistakes.
The requirement is essentially for a Server to Server application to automate a few tasks that need to be coordinated across the Cloud platforms while gathering input from each of the platforms and a disinterested end user. I’ve completed an initial proof of concept investigation using PHP and carefully avoiding the Google auth. It’s clear from the investigation the Google auth will need to be grasped to take the project forward. Projected growth is for 5 systems initially, 50 systems, 150 systems and a wishful thinking maximum of 400.
I am considering using Xojo web to shorten the front end development. Time to market is a high priority and I hate writing HTML and CSS forms, and while I am pretty adept with Xojo my JS is close to non-existent.
Questions
- Does the integration sound like something Xojo web can do robustly?
- Will it scale reliably?
2.1. Will it scale without requiring the mother of all servers with a software stack the height of the Eiffel tower at the back end? - How does one go about calling server side PHP from Xojo web?
4.1 Is there a server side Xojo alternative as robust as PHP? - Are there ready rolled code snippets for Google’s 2 legged auth?
5.1 Are there ready rolled code snippets for internal authentication and session management?
My concern with utilising Xojo is long experience of discovering issues one might never expect, being difficult or impossible to resolve, just as you thought the job was near complete. I have messed around with Xojo web before but either ended up with ‘string and sticky tape’ or back with desktop and console apps to turn out something that worked in the timescale available. I would like to avoid the outcome where I spend longer trying to get a Xojo web app working robustly than it would take to use a traditional long-winded toolset in the first place.
For those who don’t know I’m a Real Basic veteran who fell out of love during the transition to Xojo. Software development is not my 9 to 5 but more an aside to what I can best describe as a, ‘3rd Line Projects Engineer’ for the last 30 years. I’m reasonably adept at turning out narrow scope, desktop and console apps in a variety of toolsets to carry out socket level network tasks, database tasks and file based data-transformations. After a 7 year break I finally renewed my Real Basic license in 2019 to get the TLS1.2 upgrade, and to be honest was not so impressed with the ‘progress’ to want to renew at the price Xojo Inc are asking.
My client will not hesitate to spring for a new license but Xojo has to deliver what I say it will deliver. However long it takes will be too long.
One thing I have learnt about RAD in general and Xojo in-particular is, test early and test often. To test a web application the infrastructure should be tested at the same time, which entails compiling the code and placing it on a server, IMHO. Access to compiled web applications was the very reason I first upgraded to a Real Basic Studio license and was sorely disappointed. And here I am, over 10 years later with another expensive Xojo Pro license, still waiting for Xojo web to convince me it is more than a toy.
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