On Apr 11, 2011, at 5:53 AM, Mark Dootson wrote: > Hi, > > On 11/04/2011 09:44, Hal Vaughan wrote: >> I have an unusual situation where I'm going to be running a program on a >> Linux server via either PuTTY or ssh. The client could be running Windows >> (pretty much any version from XP on up), OS X, or Linux. The GUI will show >> up on the client (if it's Windows, I'm using Xming as an X server). >> >> Is there any way for a Perl program, using WxPerl and on Linux, to show a >> style or look and feel for a different OS? For instance, can I change a >> setting within the program so instead of getting the Linux look and feel, I >> would get a Windows one instead? > > No. There is no way to do that. What you see via an Xserver is down to the > Xserver. > > If a native look or native desktop application is very important, you could > reconsider your whole design and have a native wxPerl client talk to a > service / processing side on your Linux server. That might be a major reason > for choosing wxPerl: single codebase gives native client on different > operating systems. And being Perl, you have a huge choice of tools and > toolkits to do the client - service conversation.
I gave that idea some serious thought, but my clients are small business people. While I love working with them, I find there are some brick walls I run into over and over. There are also some oddities. I tell them my services need another system on their LAN (a Soekris 5501, looks harmless because there's no keyboard or monitor). They're okay with that. I ask to forward a port on the firewall and 95% of the time they freak out and say, "Don't touch that. It took me months to get it working," or something like that. Usually their cousin Freddie set up their firewall from a HOWTO guide, had no clue what he was doing and messed it up, so now that they paid someone who used another HOWTO guide, they won't let anyone touch the router/firewall no matter what their background. So when it comes time to installing software on their systems, well, I've seen them download really bad games and install them without a second thought (they're sure the virus checker scans them on download), but I say, "I need to install this on your desktop computer," and I've actually had a few freak on me, like the firewall issue. So I want it all on the box I'm putting on their LAN. No update issues on their workstation, no fussing about what gets installed or explaining to their kid who's had a few computer classes in high school what I'm doing, just one box to plug into the LAN. I know it sounds whack, maybe it's just the people around here, but if I can get it all working in the code and setup, that means the rest is a breeze. I'd rather solve the issues up front than fuss with clients later. I did consider supplying a version of Perl for Windows on my server on their LAN so it could be accessed by an SMB share, but I'm not sure a "LiveCD" version of Perl would work well and that would create compatibility issues with the libraries. Hal
