At 6:48 PM +0200 7/3/07, K. Ditlev wrote:
1.) what advantages/disadvantages are there running Lasso vs only Filemaker?
2.) Can Lasso "convert" the old-cdml code?
3.) How does Lasso perform (speed serving data, searches etc.)?
4.) Any "dark sides" to Lasso?
Our site is serving data for users, but they can also make new
records in a database sending us information.
Kasper
We made the switch to Lasso a couple of years ago (with FM7), and
were for a while running two servers and site types--CDML/FM6 and
Lasso/FM7. Now, we have moved almost entirely to Lasso since we got
pretty good at it and it offers quite a bit more capability than CDML
did. On the one hand, I kind of miss those simple old days, but we
could not be doing what we are doing now with CDML--partly because of
Lasso and partly because of the improvements in fm8/8.5.
Not sure what you mean by "only FM"--we did not want to give directly
network client access, so we build all our interfaces with Lasso,
Javascript, and HTML (and a bit of Flash--with has a pretty good XML
parser, but lots more overhead compared with Lasso).
One trick we learned is not to "over-Filemaker" our files. We keep
tables many and simple, relationships/portals and calculations few
and let Lasso do the work. It's very fast that way.
Once upon a time there was a CDML conversion tool for BBEdit and I
think there's still one in Lasso Studio, but we ended up rewriting
everything from 6 to 8, so we rewrote the Lasso too. Lasso server has
a CDML conversion module that supposedly runs CDML when it's turned
on. If you run your own server, you'd have control over all that.
More advanced Lasso has pretty steep learning curve if you're coming
from only CDML experience. Other programming would help--at least for
the logic. Lasso has skimpy documentation, so took us lots of
experimenting and searching forums to solve some problems. Some of
the things that are very easy to do in FM--like subsummary reports
are more complex if you try to do them exactly the same in Lasso and
can bog down speed. We learned--mostly the hard way--to take
different approaches to FM construction and Lasso report creation.
That's also where JS comes in along with <http request>, which could
be a boon, but not same on all browsers. Bottom line is that Lasso
works great all by itself for some pretty complex interactions but
some reports function better (or at all if big queries, etc.) if
optimized with javascript (for example, calling a scripted Lasso
query from a javascript).
We register teachers for training across the state, track their
attendance, archive training history, and certify college extension
credit after they submit followup essays online (also graded online).
We now have a single log-in system for all levels of user and an
event-building system for training providers who use our data
services.
Send private email if you want to see sample links.
Ed
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Ed Hensley
Sacramento, CA
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