Using LL 2.0 / adapter...

Has anyone got real-world experience of connecting a smartclient style application to a remote data services middle tier using remoting or webservices over the internet? In particluar, I am looking for confirmation that using remoting over a slower, higher-latency connection (e.g. DSL) is a viable proposition for a typical data-entry style application.

Thanks,

Jascha

It's better to be your own judge. I suggest you develop a simple prototype, and see how it behaves.

I am doing remoting over internet where clients are using modems. It kind a works with default remoting, however, compressing stream is a good idea. Anyway, everything boils down to line speed, number of calls and amount of data transmited - I don't think you'll have problems on DSL if you smartly architecture your app.

mihies wrote:

I am doing remoting over internet where clients are using modems. It kind a works with default remoting, however, compressing stream is a good idea. Anyway, everything boils down to line speed, number of calls and amount of data transmited - I don't think you'll have problems on DSL if you smartly architecture your app.

That's encouraging. Are you:

Passing entities (MBV) over the wire? Using IIS to host middle tier? Caching data at the client? Seeing happy users???

That's encouraging. Are you:

Passing entities (MBV) over the wire?

Yes.

Using IIS to host middle tier?

Yes and no. I guess my midle tier exists on both client and server - i do stuff where it is appropriate.

Caching data at the client?

Some data that rarely changes (list of countries for example), yes. However, I have plan to cache a lot more. On client, of course.

Seeing happy users???

Until now: no. The original design was to run over (A)DSL so the communication speed issue wasn't top priority. It turned out that it has to run over modems, too. So the issue soon become top priority. That made me switch from .net remoting to RemObjects SDK (compression + real time data flow feeedback). I am not finished with modifications yet, however, aggressive client caching and compressed channel should do the trick. It is as fast as it gets. Even now it works reasonably fast for the most part (without those improvements). So, I really believe that once all these features are in place the application will run good enough even over modems. I guess I'll discover in a week or so.

mihies wrote:

Using IIS to host middle tier?

Yes and no. I guess my midle tier exists on both client and server - i do stuff where it is appropriate.

Sounds sensible

Caching data at the client?

Some data that rarely changes (list of countries for example), yes. However, I have plan to cache a lot more. On client, of course.

Do you have a framework for doing this?

Seeing happy users???

Until now: no. The original design was to run over (A)DSL so the communication speed issue wasn't top priority. It turned out that it has to run over modems, too. So the issue soon become top priority. That made me switch from .net remoting to RemObjects SDK (compression + real time data flow feeedback). I am not finished with modifications yet, however, aggressive client caching and compressed channel should do the trick. It is as fast as it gets. Even now it works reasonably fast for the most part (without those improvements). So, I really believe that once all these features are in place the application will run good enough even over modems. I guess I'll discover in a week or so.

Very interesting. Is this what you might call a typical data entry application (e.g. ERP) in terms of data transfer? What do you mean by "real time data flow feedback"?

Dare i ask, in retrospect, do you feel that asp.net / ajax may be a better solution?

Do you have a framework for doing this?

I done some coding but it is not a real framework.

Very interesting. Is this what you might call a typical data entry application (e.g. ERP) in terms of data transfer?

Yes, I guess.

What do you mean by "real time data flow feedback"?

That I show the communication progress (total amount of data to be sent/received, how fast it is transferring over the wire, time remaining to complete remoting call, etc.). While it helps you troubleshooting speed issues, it also keeps user busy (distracting).

Dare i ask, in retrospect, do you feel that asp.net / ajax may be a better solution?

Sure, that's a natural question. I think I've made a right choice for several reasons:

• In the near future users (there are not many of them) will all have broadbands
• asp.net isn't in the same class with WinForms when it comes to richness and friendliness
• winforms development is faster and cheaper
• user can enter data even when not connected to internet (no dead time when internet is down)

Further info. I've finally implemented compression of binary over http and the usual roundtrip time is now around 3s for a load or save operation over a lousy modem line. And user is happy and I am happy :-). I guess it will get even better once the aggressive caching is implemented.

mihies wrote:

Further info. I've finally implemented compression of binary over http and the usual roundtrip time is now around 3s for a load or save operation over a lousy modem line. And user is happy and I am happy :-). I guess it will get even better once the aggressive caching is implemented.

That sounds very encouraging. What was the roundtrip time pre compression?