New proyect in Delfos

[Carlos Gimenez 0]

Hello, I have to make a new desktop project with a database in the cloud. They suggested I use Datasnap, but with the release of Rad Server I was told that datasnap may be discontinued. Then DMVC Framework was recommended to me, but I don't know it (just the name). I would like some advice... With DMVC Framework can I do the same as with Datasnap? What dou you recommend? Sorry for so much ignorance, I'm quite a beginner.
greetings

Edited November 27, 2023 by Carlos Gimenez

[FPiette 382]

33 minutes ago, Carlos Gimenez said:

Saludos cordiales

Please post in English. Use Google Translate if you don't know English. Edit your message to make it in English. Thanks.

[corneliusdavid 214]

DMVCFramework is a good way to build a REST server; it's open-source, well supported, and well documented but has a steep learning curve for newbies. RAD Server also allows you to build a REST Server but requires the purchase Delphi (or RAD Studio) Enterprise or higher, so it's not cheap if you don't already own that edition of Delphi.

 

But neither of those solutions are explicitly "database in the cloud" products. They can be written to access databases and provide remote data but you can also host a database in the cloud and access it remotely from a standard Delphi app using database components. There are many reasons why building a REST server is a much better way to go but just thought I'd mention the option as I have done both.

Edited November 27, 2023 by corneliusdavid
typo

[Anders Melander 1782]

5 hours ago, Carlos Gimenez said:

They suggested I use Datasnap, but with the release of Rad Server I was told that datasnap may be discontinued.

That's nonsense; RAD Server is not a replacement for DataSnap and DataSnap is not being discontinued. Actually, IMO it is more likely that RAD Server will be discontinued before DataSnap is.

[corneliusdavid 214]

4 minutes ago, Anders Melander said:

Actually, IMO it is more likely that RAD Server will be discontinued before DataSnap is.

I highly doubt that. There have been a lot of updates to RAD server recently. Also on https://blogs.embarcadero.com/, there has not been one single article about DataSnap since 2020 while there have been 15 on RAD Server in that same time-frame.

[Anders Melander 1782]

1 minute ago, corneliusdavid said:

Also on https://blogs.embarcadero.com/, there has not been one single article about DataSnap since 2020 while there have been 15 on RAD Server in that same time-frame.

And how many articles have there been on TForm, TStringList, or TBitmap?

 

Blog posts are just them doing marketing. It's hardly an indication of anything other than how much they want you to buy the product.

[corneliusdavid 214]

It's just my read on it based on what I've seen.

2 minutes ago, Anders Melander said:

they want you to buy the product

because they can make more money selling deployment licenses.

 

I guess time will tell.

[Lars Fosdal 1792]

Who would select to use a closed source backend that doesn't scale, when there are multiple options - of which several have a free tier?

[Anders Melander 1782]

1 hour ago, Lars Fosdal said:

Who would select to use a closed source backend that doesn't scale, when there are multiple options - of which several have a free tier?

What? Are you saying that this wasn't a good idea?

[corneliusdavid 214]

9 hours ago, Lars Fosdal said:

Who would select to use a closed source backend that doesn't scale

If you have a large Delphi application with years of history and you want to add a REST server with as little learning curve as possible, RAD Server is fairly simple to get up and running--using existing skills.

 

Scale? Did you know that RAD Server is deployed only as a module under the most popular web servers, IIS on Windows and Apache on Windows or Linux?  I'm not sure what would scale more than that.

 

There are many closed-source products on the market that are chosen because they are simpler to use or offer more features than open-source equivalents. I'm not saying RAD Server is the best but it's certainly an option that is worth looking at and will be a good solution for some people. 

[Lars Fosdal 1792]

@corneliusdavid Perhaps for solo developers, but for a corporate team I would struggle if I was to defend it as a choice.

[David Champion 48]

If you are a beginner, as you say, you'd best select the simplest of choices available and extend from there.

 

I would suggest registering for a AWS account 12 months free tier and using Aurora PostgreSQL.

 

Just a 2 tier solution, Delphi and a cloud based database. 

 

No need to spin up a server instance.

 

If the version of Delphi doesn't support remote databases then look into a trial version of DevArts's UniDac components.

 

 

 

[Gary 18]

FWIW I'm a hobbyist with 1 commercial app out there that is only on a LAN. I use Delphi Pro with Devart Unidac the standard edition is $299.00 Pro $499.00 they have a 15% sale good for 4 more days.

 

I have a few personal and non-profit databases in the cloud, Dreamhost $13.99 mo. using 2 tier solutions (direct connection) with MySQL, and it's no more difficult than using a local database, just get the server address from the provider. It works fine. I do have to do most of the database management with their tools though.

 

Like Carlos I keep hearing that it's all old school, and unsafe. REST is the way to go. While REST itself seems pretty straightforward with many tutorials on how to do it on a local computer, they all stop there. If you have no experience with web development it's the deployment that is the roadblock. I once asked about deploying REST to Dreamhost on a webinar and the response was "It can be done but was difficult with that provider". So what kind of provider service do you need? How do you connect the REST server to the database hosted in the cloud? Responses are usually like David's "I would suggest registering for a AWS account 12 months free tier and using Aurora PostgreSQL." (absolutely no offence intended). Looking at AWS's offerings will give you a headache, and what is "Aurora"? Another layer? It would be great if there were a tutorial out there with a real-world example of setting this up on a real host. I purchased TMS All Access. It comes with components to create a REST server and more. Also their class and Holger's books and am looking forward to some time to dig into it, but in skimming the info It wasn't obvious it will cover that. Still I'm hopeful.