What I'm still a little fuzzy about is, say I'm already using .asp to connect to and extract a response from my U2 database. What does a product like Redback do for me extra? Why would I need it?
Will,
I'm coming in on the middle of this thread, so I may be missing some details. What do you mean by "extract a response"? Do you mean return generated HTML/XHTML/WML/XML or return extracted data to be converted into a web page using ASP/PHP/Cold Fusion/others?
Brian Leach touched on some of the key benefits of RedBack:
thread safe
connection pooling
application development tools (URL parsing, session management, etc.)
and all of them are also implemented by the other Web Development tools (Web Wizard, Coyote, etc.) that are out there and to one degree or another in the bare connection tools (mvInternet and others). Some other factors to consider are: your knowledge and or willingness/availalbe time to learn HTML, WML, etc., cross platform compatibility and ease of re-using existing code.
Web Wizard enables you to use externally created HTML/XHTML/WML/XML, if you have the knowledge and expertise available, or you can use a Web API that allows you to build web pages using just BASIC subroutine calls. Another advantage of the Web API is that it will automatically adjust if it needs to send out WML, etc. instead of plain HTML.
I'm assuming that most folks on this list use U2 because that's what their employer uses, but for the consultants, and any company that is thinking of migrating to another multi-value database, cross platform compatibility is an issue. Redback is essentially the same across U2, but if your customers use D3, mv.Base, U2, jBase, etc. there's a definite advantage using a tool that will be the same across platforms. There are tools beside Redback that can be used with U2 and I'm not aware of anything in the licensing that prohibits the use of web tools other than Redback (if there was than the 600+ DataTel schools would all be in violation, some of them doubly so because they use Web Wizard in parallel with DataTel's WebAdvisor).
The other factor regarding cross platform compatibility is at the web browser side. Some tools rely on an ActiveX component, which will limit the end users to a recent version of Internet Explorer on Windows (typically OK in a business INtranet setting, but not good in Education, Publishing, Architecture, Graphic Arts, etc. or any EXtranet settings). There are similar issues with Java connections. Java is supposed to be write once, run everywhere, but unfortunately it isn't always the case. IMHO, the best solution is to keep the data going back and forth standards compliant HTML, XHTML, etc. via HTTP.
And the third factor is the ease in which the tool allows you to reuse your existing code. This is definitely easier in some tools than others and only a careful evaluation will tell if the tools fits your programing style.
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