Django AMF Service

Now that the basic Django framework is in place (admin, views, urls), the focus shifts to data and services. In the past, WebORB has been adept at providing RPC between ASP and RIA, so it's tempting to use it again in a Linux environment.

Since the current project is Apache, one option is to utilize Apache Tomcat. Tomcat is readily available in MediaTemple's (dv) configuration to provide a pure Java HTTP server environment. This would pair well with WebORB for Java, a robust middleware solution for RIA data synchronization.

Good enough but the tiers don't fully align with the planets yet. My goal is to utilize remote procedure calls to mySQL and take advantage of the schema I've built in Python-based Django. That will not be possible until my Python objects can be called from Java. So, is it possible to port Python code to WebORB via a Python -> Java compiler?

In a word, Jython.

Jython runs in Tomcat as an implementation of the Python programming language. By compiling the Django code, Jython could route between Flex on the front end and the mySQL admin system within the framework of Django.

Incidentally, I'm not going to implement this cookbook recipe just yet. I've worked with WebORB and am sold on it's strengths, but in this instance I'm looking for a lighter and more agnostic solution for the frontend than a uniform rich presentation server.

Namely, I'm going to move forward with Django AMF PyAMF. This allows some of Django's front-end capabilities to shine, and also enables javascript and ajax elements to be plugged into the site design.

More posts to come on this direction.

Out of curiosity, has anyone else tried the setup I outlined above, i.e. Django <-> Java <-> RPC tier <-> RIA? Furthermore, would you go a completely different route or change any of the tiers from the architecture I outlined? It is one of countless possibilities, and on that note, in my experience, one of the most direct and stable available.

More Miva Merchant

There have been some interesting revelations here. What I've found can be summarized thus:

• Miva Merchant up to vers 4 uses a proprietary form of SQL called MIVA SQL. While it uses Structured Query Language, it does not share compatibility with MS SQL. Thus it is locked in its own fishbowl.
• Miva Merchant 5 and on to current 5.5 gives resellers the option of configuring their product to reposit with MySQL instead of MIVA SQL, which provides a substantial performance boost. My webhost of choice for this project opted for the MySQL configuration. This is good.
  
• Miva Merchant offers a range of export options for financials, including .dat files and the like. They do not currently offer any RESTful services of any kind. Thus the question of whether to REST or RPC for Miva is conclusively RPC or bust.
  

Contacting both HostMySite and Miva Tech Support in CA has confirmed the above. They recommend using Miva forums, but there is but scant info on this topic that I have found. The webhost tech department has been very cool and receptive to my questions and has custom configured my Miva-driven MySQL DB to allow me to connect and read data directly from it. This means there is finally a way to export data from the CMS portion of Miva and feed it to my custom Flex front end.

Now then.

The question remains, how will WebORB interpret the schema of this Miva-built DB? I hope well. Hand-coding RPC is out of the budget and timeline for this project. I am relying on the savvy of WebORB to translate the schema into useful server and client side code libraries such that, if all goes well, I can pull the inventory on the fly from Miva to my Flex application.

Between this and a lack of experience working with a MySQL .NET hybrid, I'm hoping it will go smoothly. I'm now creating the DSN to allow ODBC between the weborbconsole and MySQL, so I'll let you know what happens.

httphandlers and asp.net

HTTPHANDLERS

They're a critical link in remoting, such as between a .Net application and a Flex presentation server. They can also be customized for other uses, such as dispatching synchronous or asynchronous data. Once you break the seal on httphandlers, you will likely discover they are profound in their utility.

This example demonstrates how to use HttpHandler technology using Asp.Net2.0 and C#.NET

This tutorial only uses the default namespace. The System namespace contains the EventHandler.

HttpHandler is a class that implements the IHttpHandler and IHttpAsyncHandler interfaces. This section describes how to create and register HttpHandler and provides examples of a synchronous handler, an asynchronous handler, and a handler factory.

First, you need to create a classlibrary HttpHandlerDLLVB. The code as follows:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.SessionState;

namespace HttpHandlerDLL
{
public class MyHttpHander : IHttpHandler,IReadOnlySessionState
{
public bool IsReusable
{
get { return true; }
}

public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
{
context.Response.Write("<h1><b>HttpHandler Test</b></h1>");
context.Session["Test"] = "Invoke a session in HttpHandler.";
context.Response.Write(context.Session["Test"]+"<br>");
context.Response.Write("<a href='HttpHandlerCsharp.aspx'><b>return</b></a>");
}
}
}

Then create a website project and reference classlibrary HttpHandlerDLLVB.dll.

At last configure your web.config as follows.

<httpHandlers>
<add verb="*" path="ViewHttpHandler.aspx" type="HttpHandlerDLLVB.HttpHandlerDLLVB.MyHttpHandlerVB,HttpHandlerDLLVB"/>
</httpHandlers>

The front end HttpHandlerVB.aspx page looks something like this:

<a href="ViewHttpHandler.aspx">Test HttpHandler</a></p>
</div>

The flow for the code behind page is as follows.

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

}
}