raja_s_patil wrote:

> Hi,
>
> We are in process of porting a Delphi->firebird desktop
> C/S application to web. A test application in flex with
> amfPHP PHP adoDB data abstraction is working.
>
> In this list we were advised to wrap server side php
> web services in a wrapper like bitweaver. Can somebody
> guide us what are the pros and cons of it. Since we
> dont have any experience of web development we are not
> position to judge the gravity of this suggestion so
> please guide us.

Raja
What bitweaver provides is a nice framework, with theming, user
management, and a lot of core functions such as file gallery,
centralised editor, and facilities to add comments to pages. This is
then used to provide 'wiki', 'articles', 'blogs', 'boards' and so on
since all of those are simply means of editing text content. The
'differences' are purely how they are displayed and listed?

We have just been tidying up ldap based authentication, and a number of
other authentication methods are provided, so that users can be handled
via the one login process. This also addresses the security issues, and
handles what areas a user is allowed access to ( this area is a little
messy since we have a number of security models, and ideally you need to
configure things at install that are not as well documented as the basic
stuff ). Just decide on the type of layout you want, but if a client
needs something different for their own site, the colours and layout can
be changed without affecting the 'functionality'.

bitweaver is based on packages, and each package can be installed and
updated on it's own, so I have 'task', 'citizen' and 'nlpg' packages for
handling Local council data in my own systems, and I don't have to worry
about the user management or security since bitweaver takes care of that.

Cons ... It's not a light weight solution, but then there is 4 years
worth of development and additions. Many of the facilities can be
provided 'stand alone' by other tools and that may produce a more
'secure' product for you, but I'm happy to work with a framework that a
number of other heavy users are hammering daily and clearing those litle
niggles that we never have time to find ourselves ;)

--
Lester Caine - G8HFL
-----------------------------
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L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://lsces.co.uk
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Firebird - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php