New Webinterface (2 Viewers)

[thechad]

Adding to my choice of ASP.Net is the new cross browser AJAX library in development by MS. http://atlas.asp.net/

I think ASP.Net would allow a lot more people to be involved in the project as it is:

• very easy to pick up
• easy to seperate code from presentation
• power of C#
• easy use of MP libraries and logic already built into MP
• IDE support with visual studio and visual web developer express
• simple databinding to webcontrols
• rapid development less coding required for results

 

[pirlone]

guys, check this out:

http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=3414

rgs, pirlone

 

[mzemina]

guys, check this out:

http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=3414

rgs, pirlone

You have to pay for Webguide, you have to pay for many of the plugins for MCE. MediaPortal is free.

 

[idioteque]

I disagee with thechad:

In favour of PHP. PHP is very easy to learn and is much more able to be installed with Open source in mind.

 

[samuel337]

I disagee with thechad:

In favour of PHP. PHP is very easy to learn and is much more able to be installed with Open source in mind.

Maybe you're right (I don't think it is, but that's a personal opinion anyway - its quite confusing compared to a language like VB.NET), but the question is, is it worth the performance hit. If PHP was used, they'd have to be a web service handling transactions between MP and PHP. If however, ASP.NET was used, it could communicate with MP directly as they're both .NET. I'm not sure about the performance hits, but chris84 has said that its fairly substantial, and looking at it from a technical perspective, I'd agree ( a lot of serialisation/deserialisation occurring).

And if you bring in the 'open-source argument' at least justify it somehow realistically, not just because open-source is good.

Sam

 

[Maschine]

Hey guys!

A nice discussion that started here! Let me also say some words on the topic. First some background why we used the things for MPW we still use now.

When I started MPW way back I only knew PHP quite good. So the first MPW was only reading and writing the SQL db. Then I met Sam who developed this great webservice to make communication with MP possible. I always used the Apache server before and based on XAMPP it was perfect to use for an easy installer (is think the current MPW is very easy to install).

Currently MPW still accesses the sqlite db file directly. So if TV engine 3 comes, MPW will be quite useless anyway. So this is a perfect point for a complete rewrite anyway, maybe even in a new language or environment.

I don't have a problem using asp instead of PHP (though I needed to learn it completely new) - if it has enough advantages. Same for the webserver. If the new is as easy to install and secure as Apache - no problem to change the situation.

Regarding the webservice (or a MP webservice in gerneral) I'd think this would be nice to have anyway, not only for MPW. Imagine that all kinds of clients (like MPW, XBox, PDA appa, etc.) would have a nice interface to communicate with MP. No matter in which language the clients are written or on which OS they run. In my opinion it would be nice to concentrate on a common solution, better than letting every client find its own solution.

Let me try to sum up some things:

PHP:
+I know it
+runs on Apache
-no direct .net communication
-slow(?)

ASP:
+faster(?)
-I don't know it
-doesn't run on Apache

Apache:
+wide spread, well developed and secure
+easy to install
-much ressources
-no asp support (I read that our mod asp has been discontinued?!?)

IIS:
-No XP home support -> disqualified!

Cassini (only from reading about it):
+small and fast
-does it have all features we need (like password protection for directories, different htdocs dirs for channel logos)

I have to leave now, maybe I'll complete my list later on. I hope my thoughts are a little usefull for this discussion...

Maschine

 

[Bram]

I'd have to learn ASP and some C# too (I know PHP pretty well), but I'd love to help!
It would be very usefull to switch to ASP if this could reduce responsetimes.

I don't intend to disrespect Sam, he put a lot of work in the existing ECP2 plugin.

 

[samuel337]

I'd have to learn ASP and some C# too (I know PHP pretty well), but I'd love to help!
It would be very usefull to switch to ASP if this could reduce responsetimes.

I don't intend to disrespect Sam, he put a lot of work in the existing ECP2 plugin.

Don't worry. My plugin actually works better as a .NET plugin - the web service simply wraps around the .NET bit, decreasing performance but allowing everyone to use it.

There'll always be people who'll use the web service anyway, as its a very easy way to access the data, albeit a bit slow. Its like the APIs that yahoo and google have to their services (e.g. Flickr, Blogger etc.) - you never know what people will think of.

Sam

 

[tkortell]

Hi all,

I'm no expert when it comes to stuf like this but one thought came to mind. Is it at all posible to use ASP on linux? Normaly linux uses apache right?
I'm considering running the MPW on my linux server. (I'm no linux expert either but I managed to setup a Clarkconnect linux server and are realy satisfied with it. would be nice if I could run MPW on it to).

Keep in mind that I might not know what I'm talking about

Regards / Tomas

 

[Bram]

There is a module you can add to apache to support ASP. But I'm not sure if it will support all features.

This could be the solution.
http://www.apache-asp.org/index.html