Web App alignment?

General
1

Hi,
I have just tried to view the Web App recorded webinar, but it seems to be corrupted??

The question I have is:
When you create a new web app, the web page size is 600x400. This indicates to me that web apps will always be aligned to the top left edge of the user’s browser window. Is there no way to centre a web app on the user’s browser?

I’m considering buying a web license, but this concept seems strange, as if the user has a large screen - the web app would appear small in the top left corner of the browser.

Thank you all in advance

2

Hi Richard

You are correct in your assumption that the contents of the window will be top left. I place my contents in a container which is centred at the top of the page. See http://www.axisdirect.co.nz as an example.

3

Wayne,
I can’t quite understand how that is possible, as surely the container is centered in the Xojo web page - which in turn would be top left aligned in the browser?

I am obviously missing something here.

4

The web page will fill the browser size, but it’s contents will be aligned to the top & left of the window. In a web app it is possible to turn off both the left & right alignments making the object align centre. This technique allows a web container to be centred in the browser. You can turn off top & bottom to align the object vertically as well.

To add scroll bars you need to specify a minimum page size greater than the browser available size again both width & height.

But of course you can just try it. You only need the license to build a finished product.

5

Wayne,
If the web page will fill the browser size - why does the web page have width and height settings?

I started a new project - 600 x 400 and placed a button in the center. The window (or web page as it is called) did not fill up the whole browser, otherwise surely my button would have been center of my screen, as opposed to off to the left.

This is the concept I do not understand.

6

Turn off alignment locking for the button & try again. The button will stay in the centre even as you resize the browser. Unlike a desktop project which must be aligned to left or right and top or bottom a web object can “float”.

7

Ahhh - thanks Wayne.

1 other question, what is needed on the server in order for web apps to run?

8

That depends on your application & how you want to run it. I run my web apps as standalone windows services on the same hardware as my DB server.

9

Look under “Compiled Applications” for the respective OS :slight_smile:
A shared hosting account isn’t recommended though. Go for a VPS.

http://documentation.xojo.com/index.php/System_requirements

10

Hmm - that still seems a little ambiguous, or I am just being dumb.
I was wondering if CGI support needs to be enabled on the server, and also any other gotchas?

Thanks.

11

I find CGI deployment a bit troublesome. It might be that I’m not that savvy on apache…
I think Xojo Cloud runs in CGI mode, but I’ll leave this to someone that knows more about how to configure apache.
My apps run as Stand Alone on a Linux VPS :slight_smile:

12

I use 123-reg.co.uk as my host, and was just wondering if I could just upload and run an app.
It seems however, that as Wayne suggested - it depends on my app and what it does.

Therefore impossible for me to know if it is suitable or not.
Oh well, guess I will forget Xojo web for now :frowning:

Thanks anyway guys - much appreciated.

13

[quote=145036:@Richard Summers]I use 123-reg.co.uk as my host, and was just wondering if I could just upload and run an app.
It seems however, that as Wayne suggested - it depends on my app and what it does.

Therefore impossible for me to know if it is suitable or not.
Oh well, guess I will forget Xojo web for now :frowning:

Thanks anyway guys - much appreciated.[/quote]

You can always try and see what happens :slight_smile:
Upload your WE app built in CGI-mode in a subfolder in your root. According to 123, the root folder(or cgi-bin) should be cgi enabled.

Be aware though that they might have systems in place to stop your app if it uses to much CPU/RAM etc. on shared hosting accounts :slight_smile:

14

Thanks Albin. Unfortunately however, I can’t upload a test WE app, as I do not have a build license for the Web Edition.

15

You may want to request a test build from customer service.

If it does not run on your host, you may want to consider http://1701software.com . It is by far the easiest way to run Web Edition applications, apart from Xojo Cloud of course.

16

Most Linux web servers are 64 bit so you’ll want to get very specific information regarding the distribution type and version. Example: CentOS 5 is too old and CentOS 7 doesn’t support 32 bit compatibility libraries but CentOS 6.5 works just fine.

I just went through this exercise with a client. We ended up having to get the ISP to install the 32 bit compatibility libraries in their VPS. They had version 5.x and they had to upgrade to version 6.5. Kind of a pain for the client (because they charged him for it). After that it was relatively simple to install a Xojo cgi app and getting it running (mostly messing around with permissions).

17

Thanks Michel and Bob - I will look into it :wink:

18

Looks like your host can provide either Windows or Linux VPS https://www.123-reg.co.uk/vps-hosting/

19

[quote=144972:@Wayne Golding]The web page will fill the browser size, but it’s contents will be aligned to the top & left of the window. In a web app it is possible to turn off both the left & right alignments making the object align centre. This technique allows a web container to be centred in the browser. You can turn off top & bottom to align the object vertically as well.

To add scroll bars you need to specify a minimum page size greater than the browser available size again both width & height.

But of course you can just try it. You only need the license to build a finished product.[/quote]
Hi @Wayne Golding ,

please excuse my newbie question. I’m looking at the “LoginExample” from Xojo which is under “Examples/Web” (LoginExample.xojo_binary_project).

Could you please explain to me how I can change the login page (MainPage) so that it always stays in the middle (centered) of the browser)? If I understand you correctly, this is done by putting the controls into a WebContainer (means all the controls of the MainPage) and then turning off top & bottom alignment.

Is that correct?

I’m trying to build a prototype and this is my first try at Xojo WE. I want everything to stay in the middle of the screen so that different screen size (desktop) won’t have part of the app off the page (need for scrolling). I do understand that access via mobile devices such as tablets and phones will still fail to display the website properly (need to address that responsive design in another forum post).

Thanks in advance for your help,

Andreas

20

[quote=144931:@Richard Summers]Hi,
I have just tried to view the Web App recorded webinar, but it seems to be corrupted??

The question I have is:
When you create a new web app, the web page size is 600x400. This indicates to me that web apps will always be aligned to the top left edge of the user’s browser window. Is there no way to centre a web app on the user’s browser?

I’m considering buying a web license, but this concept seems strange, as if the user has a large screen - the web app would appear small in the top left corner of the browser.
[/quote]

I just noticed that old post today, since it was revived by a question.

Today the solution exists that fits any browser and device size : my RubberViewsWE class which you can see and download an evaluation project at http://rubberviews.com/rubberviewswe.html

Try this in the Shown event of LoginPage :

LoginSection.Left = (self.width-LoginSection.Width)/2 Label1.Left = (self.width-Label1.width)/2 RegisterLink.Left = (self.width-RegisterLink.Width)/2