Why not just look into an ODBC connection to the database on the legacy
system?  It may not be the best thing in the world, but if you setup
permissions properly for the connecting user you shouldn't be exposed to
anything bad.  Maybe the inventory check can go over ODBC and the actual
order can be an FTP'd XML file?

Chris 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jochem van Dieten [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 9:16 AM
To: CF-Talk
Subject: Re: CF and Legacy Systems... Need Some Advice/Help

Che Vilnonis wrote:
> Good morning all. I have a client that has a CF based website (built
by
> myself around 5 years ago) and a SCO Unix Open Server backend. It's a
legacy
> system with software that's been heavily modified over the last 20-25
years.
> Neither system communicates with the other.
> 
> The client is looking to streamline the order fulfillment process and
to
> "get with 21st century". They wish to add a live inventory and live
credit
> card processing feature to their website.
> 
> Though I have done this type of work in the past, I have never worked
with a
> legacy system to complete this. And, to complicate matters, the
software
> technicians that administer the SCO Unix Open Server DO NOT wish to
use a
> HTTP protocol to communicate between the two servers. They tell me
that they
> wish to communicate to my CF server via the FTP protocol.

That would not be my preferred option.


> A basic interaction would go something like this. A customer would
attempt
> to place an item in their shopping cart. Before the item is added to
the
> cart an "inventory check" is made. A CF process would write an XML
file and
> FTP it to the remote SCO Unix Open Server. The remote server would
then
> respond and push a response file back to the CF server. The CF server
would
> process the file and determine a Yes/No answer and either add the item
to
> the cart or display a message that the item is out of stock to the
customer.
> 
> I was wondering, can this even be done with CF and the FTP protocol
instead
> of using HTTP?

Yes. But the question is, what response time can the software 
technicians guarantee from the moment you start your FTP transaction to 
the moment they complete theirs? Will they guarantee a sub-second 
response time (which an interactive website needs).


> In my mind, even if I used the CF Event Gateway to monitor a
predefined
> directory for FTP traffic... I cannot figure out how to parse the FTP
file
> and send the response back to "the right" shopping cart.

It is probably easier not to use an event gateway at all and just FTP to

them, sleep for a second and parse the result (because they are 
guaranteeing sub-second response times, right?).

Jochem



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