One application hosted on one machine run by many users

[Guru2B]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to write one app...deploy it on one machine - say a server, create shortcuts on users' desktops and allow them to run multiple instances of the same program?

Further is this wise? I have been playing with webclasses, but my experience is slowing things down. I can build the same app in an afternoon with traditional VB6 methods.

Thanks in advance

 

[RalphBrown]

I've always found you get best performance having your program file stored locally (say C-drive), even if any data accessed may be on a server, and if your app is multiuser.

Any reason you specifically want to have your program only on a server?

Ralph

 

[sunaj]

Hi,

If you are sure that all necessary dlls are present on the client pc (the best way of doing that is to install the program and then delete the executable without uninstalling it), you can place the executable on a server and place shortcuts to it on the client pcs. That has the advantage that you only need to replace one program when you do updates (unless you use new dlls!). The program will still run on the client pcs even though the program exe is stored on the server.

Sunaj
'The gap between theory and practice is not as wide in theory as it is in practice'

 

[Sashanan]

Are there any performance issues associated with running a serverstored program that way? I store the latest .exe on the server also, but I have the clients run the application from their local C-drive: I've provided each of them with a .bat file that automatically copies the latest file from the server to the right directory on their systems, and made a little routine in the program that checks whether or not it's the latest version, and warns the user if it isn't.

It'd save me a lot of headaches with users apparently incapable of double-clicking on a .bat-file or constantly misplacing it if I could just let them run the .exe off the server instead, but can I be sure that they get the same kind of performance that way?
"Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me."
(Lee Wilson Dodd)

 

[sunaj]

Well everytime a client starts the program, it has to be loaded into the client memory/cache from the server and that will of course put some load on the network (depending on the size of the program). But once the program is running it runs extacty as if it was started from a local drive. That is at least my experience on a winNT & win2000 network. I have been trying to find some documentation on what exactly happens when you run a program this was, but haven't really found any. So if somebody out there has got some facts on how the program is loaded into the client memory/cache I'm interested.
Sunaj
'The gap between theory and practice is not as wide in theory as it is in practice'

 

[Sashanan]

Well, the application is about 1.2 mb now and won't ever be more than about 1.5 mb in the foreseeable future, so I guess the network strain is limited. I should seriously consider having people just run from the network then, I'm getting rather tired of having to explain how to run a batch file from your desktop, to the same people, several times.

It always amazes me how selective computer knowledge can be - there are people here who can do impressive things in Excel and even one who makes complicated queries in Access without actually knowing a thing about databases, but nearly all of them have trouble using the Windows Explorer.
"Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me."
(Lee Wilson Dodd)

 

[Guru2B]

Hi...

Well the thinking was that if in the future I needed to make an adjustment or totally redesign the entire project, deployment would be smooth and simple - change ONE program file.

So what I understand is that the app can be run across a network. Is there anything special I have to take into account when coding this? Apartment threading comes to mind...I have no idea what it is, but have seen the switches when I compile. Is there anything special I need to do to compile the app?

Thanks again

 

[Ogi]

Hi,

If you run a W2K Server with Citrix, you can Publish your application and run it from the server to your users and your only constraint would be Citrix Licenses!

May be a costly approach for a small application.

Cheers,
Carl.

 

[Guru2B]

Hi...

Well the thinking was that if in the future I needed to make an adjustment or totally redesign the entire project, deployment would be smooth and simple - change ONE program file.

So what I understand is that the app can be run across a network. Is there anything special I have to take into account when coding this? Apartment threading comes to mind...I have no idea what it is, but have seen the switches when I compile. Is there anything special I need to do to compile the app?

Thanks again

 

[jlschulte]

You do not need to do anything special when compiling. We put all of our in house apps on a network drive, so that we only have to recompile that version with any chenges.

We go to every workstation and install the necessary VB dlls on their local drive, but put ActiveX dlls on the network. You have to register the ActiveX dll on the client machine, but thats all (list all of your properties right the first time so that you do not have to reregister the dll.)

The only performance improvements that we have found with installing on a local drive come at startup, but once the program has loaded, it should be in the memory, so there should not be any other performance gains.

Sashahan, your solution does sound like a support nightmare, but I bet your teaching skills are greatly improved because of it.

Jeff

 

[Sashanan]

It's an unintended lesson, that's for sure. But as some philosopher once said, experience is the comb life gives you after you've lost your hair, so I'm doing my best to learn from my mistakes while I'm still young. If I'm not going to have this application run from the network, at least my next one will.
"Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me."
(Lee Wilson Dodd)

 

[Guru2B]

Thanks people.