There’s not much interest so I’ll keep it as short as I can. Basically we had a site built by a contract developer who used PHP+MySQL. The developer took about 2 months to build the site. I don’t say he was busy every minute of every day – I have no idea of actual hours worked. But he took 2 months to deliver the site to us. I decided to re-build the site in WebDev as a learning experience.

The quick version:

Have never built a WebDev site before so I had to learn the ropes along the way and without having any of my own code libraries and tools yet built. I estimate the entire site took me just 10 eight-hour days to replicate, from beginning to end including learning curve time.

The long version:

WebDev uses the same language as WinDev i.e. same commands, functions, coding style, etc. A WebDev website is effectively the same as a WinDev project which is the same as a VFP project. You build a site the same way as you build a project. Instead of forms you have pages. But otherwise its all the same; create a page, drop some controls on it, add some code to control events, read in some data, save some data, etc. All stock standard just like building a VFP project. So learning the WinDev or WebDev language gives you immediate familiarity with the other platform tools in the suite (including WinDev Mobile platform).

The main difference is this; a website has code that can execute in 2 places; in the browser or on the server. A button’s click event fires code in the browser AND on the server and you have to wrap your mind around this model. Stuff that can be done in the browser may or may not be possible on the server, and vice versa. WebDev makes this as easy as possible with each control having code sections for browser code and server code so you can see what you are doing. But still, it is a new paradigm if you haven’t built website before.

Pros:

You can inline JavaScript in place of WebDev WLanguage. I understand that a WebDev site actually gets translated into JavaScript anyway. I did not do this as I don’t know JavaScript but I know people who have done so.

Supports Ajax/HTML5

Supports PHP integration

Very fast to build pages; lay them out visually, add code, build back-end database, etc.

Very complete product. It contains so many controls, charting, image controls, tables, schedulers, etc. etc. All with built in functionality; tables can be sorted and searched without coding, charts are animated and interactive without coding, etc. Huge.

Ability to add custom html before and after for each page and each control.

Fast test/debug cycle. Make changes, run, test, debug, run again.

Familiar model to building a website – like building a VFP project

Can use a shared database from WinDev applications

Can use any back-end database you like, does not have to be WinDev HyperFile database which comes free with WinDev

There are different types of websites you can build. With “classic” sites state context is entirely managed by WebDev. You can have global variables and shared variables and all sorts of things you would do in a VFP project all handled automatically. But WebDev “AWP” sites are different and context state must be managed by you by passing variables (i.e. state) between page calls. Classic sites cannot be indexed by search engines but AWP sites can. So one has to decide what type of site is required before starting. Obviously a classic site where the entire user state is managed for you is by far the easiest option.

Extensive help documentation and inline help, intellisense, suggestions, wizards, etc.

Easy to deploy – literally modify your pages and click a button to deploy to a live server. The site is packaged, zipped, FTP’d to the server, unpacked, installed, database files updated/modified, etc. – in just a couple of mouse clicks. Incredible.

Supports themes and easy ability to switch and apply different themes.

Supports IIS and Apache

Supports Windows and Linux

There are many more positives - too many for me to list.


Cons:

A big con is not WebDev specific but the fact that what might work perfectly on one browser might not work perfectly on another. I tested an entire site in FireFox only to find certain things not working in IE11. So you need to test on all browsers you intend to support.

Mentally getting your head around what can be done on a browser and what can be done on the server. PLUS, some functions can work in one place but not in another. PLUS, some functions can work if the control is Ajax enabled but not if it is not enabled, and vice versa. So there are many conditions which determine if something is allowed/disallowed.

Getting your head around pages that can be very long, can scroll, can expand width and length, or perhaps should not. All design issues that is perhaps not a “con” of the product but adds complexity beyond simply designing a VFP form.

WebDev is not perfect – the IDE crashes at least twice a day. But recovers my project each time perfectly. I don’t know why this is but I expect PCSoft will release fixes and patches in due course. The product has not been around as long as WinDev (although both carry the same version number, currently 21).

Sometimes I find things just don’t make sense – why can I use function X in one control but not in another one – I don’t know if it’s just a learning curve thing or whether these inconsistencies really exist and will be resolved as the product becomes more and more mature. Sometimes I feel like things should just work but instead I need to make a kludge work-around. Or maybe I am just not familiar enough – don’t know.

PCSoft do not release bug lists or lists of bug fixes – a big complaint in the development community. This means you can hit a problem but no way to see if it’s you or if it’s the product.

I know the product is VERY extensive but still, there are some things that should be better handled. I spent 2 days trying to figure out why I couldn’t upload my site to the server with useless error messages like “there was an error”. In the end I was missing the prefix “http://” for my server address. Ridiculous and very frustrating to waste time on this when a simple useful error message could have solved it in 10 seconds.

Another non-WebDev gotcha – you have to understand what a web user will have rights and access to on your server. Most problems in deployment are related to making sure your users have the necessary rights to various folders. WebDev installation wizard and documentation does guide you but you must follow it step by step and be very exact about it. Once setup, though, it’s a piece of cake.

I’m sure there are more cons but overall I am blown away that this site, simple as it is, could be built with so little effort and coding.


Example:

It is a straight forward site designed to give users the ability to lookup information on JSE listed companies. It is a free service so the data is limited. Basically, users can register for free and access some content. Content includes textual data, numerical/tabular data, charts, can download some PDF files, and various other stuff an average retail investor might like. I have attached a screenshot which shows a typical page from the site – everything you see is part of WebDev and there are no 3rd party controls involved at all. Screenshot here: http://www.TimBukOne.com/images/WebDev_Screenshot.png

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