You want to start developing Web Applications with 4th Dimension. Congratulations! You are about to begin a journey that will offer many rewards. By now, it is likely that you have looked over the 4D Product List, and you have seen that there are many things to choose from. The question is: what will you need? Really, the answer depends very much on the kind of project you are undertaking. This document will discuss only what development tools you can choose from. For information on deployment options, click here.
The 4D Developer in the organization should provide you with a set of 4D tags and a list of the data structures you can use. If your organization does not have a 4D Developer to provide you with this information, one should be hired. Your organization will also need to have 4D/4D Server version 6.7 with a Web Extension License. See "What about a deployment license" later in this document.
To begin developing and testing a pure 4D Web Application, the absolute minimum requirement is a copy of 4D Standard Edition. This is the "Classic" 4D. It allows a single developer to design, develop, and test an application.
Serious
developers, though, will want to get 4D
Developer Edition. This package includes (among other things) 4D
Insider and 4D Compiler. 4D Insider allows you better manage your 4D
code. It provides tools for cross-referencing, documenting, and moving
objects between 4D applications. 4D Compiler will compile your 4D code
into true machine language. This serves a couple of purposes. First,
the process of compilation will check your application for errors, reducing
bugs in your code. After the application has been compiled, it will run
much more quickly.
If you are working with one or more 4D developers, you will want to buy a copy of 4D Server Standard Edition. This is the "Classic" 4D Server. It allows multiple developers to design, develop, and test an application, or for multiple users to access the application and data.
Since you are working in a group, it’s likely that the web application you are building will be a sophisticated one. For this reason, you’re sure to want to compile your application to gain the best possible performance. Therefore, you really should purchase the 4D Server Developer Edition.
WebSTAR Version 4.4 ships with two Plug-Ins that allow WebSTAR to use 4D as a dynamic page engine: 4DLink and 4DConnect. There is no additional fee for use of these Plug-Ins. Both of these Plug-Ins use HTTP to communicate with 4D. This means that you will require the 4D Web Extension License. See "What about a deployment license" later on in this document.
I want to use 4D as my middleware, but I need an Oracle back-end.
4D has a suite of connectivity tools, including 4D for Oracle. 4D for Oracle uses Oracle's native networking software (SQL*Net, Net*8) to achieve the highest performance possible. Using 4D for Oracle, it is possible to keep all or some of the data in an Oracle back-end, and retrieve it for use as needed in dynamically generated web pages. A single developer license for 4D for Oracle is included with 4D Developer Edition. A two-developer license is included with 4D Server Developer Edition. With 4D for Oracle, you can connect to as many Oracle databases as you have Oracle licenses for.
4D has a suite of connectivity tools, including 4D ODBC. 4D ODBC allows 4th Dimension to become a client to any ODBC database – Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase Adaptive Server, IBM’s DB2, etc. Using 4D ODBC, it is possible to keep all or some of the data in any number of ODBC-compliant databases – provided you have an ODBC Driver, supplied by the vendor of the database you wish to connect to. You can then retrieve this data and use it as needed in dynamically generated web pages. A single developer license for 4D ODBC is included in 4D Developer Edition, and a two-developer license is included with 4D Server Developer Edition.
You can use whatever tool you prefer. On the Macintosh, many serious HTML developers prefer BBEdit. On Windows, a very popular HTML editor is HomeSite, by Macromedia/Allaire. However, these are not WYSIWYG editors, and so they are mostly used by HTML experts.
When it comes to WYSIWYG editors, the two most popular ones are Macromedia’s DreamWeaver and Adobe’s GoLive. Both of these are excellent products and have enormous market share. 4D provides a plug-in for GoLive, which allows 4D’s tags and data structures to be available inside GoLive. This makes it much easier to embed 4D references in a GoLive document.
If you are using a third-party product as your middleware solution, you don’t really need to buy the 4D development tools. Instead, you need to buy 4D Server Standard Edition. These middleware products will connect only to a 4D Server. In the case of Lasso, you will need to buy the Lasso 4D Web Database Engine, available from BlueWorld Communications. For ColdFusion and Active Server Pages, you will want to use the ODBC Driver for 4D Server.
In terms of deployment licensing, there are really only two cost structures. For most applications, you will require one or more Web Extension Licenses. For other applications, only a 4D Server license is required.
You will need to purchase a 4D Web Extension License any time you are using 4D’s built-in web serving features. You need to buy a WEL for each 4D application and per server computer. For instance, suppose you are running two 4D internet server applications on one computer. You will need two Web Extension Licenses for this. Likewise, if you are running two applications on two separate computers, you will also need two Web Extension Licenses.
You will also need to purchase the WEL any time you are using 4D "Stand-alone" (including 4D Runtime and 4D Engine) as an internet server (Web, FTP, E-Mail, LDAP, etc.), regardless of whether or not you are using the built-in web server. That is because the "Stand alone" versions of 4D are sold as single-user applications. When you turn them into multi-user applications by using them as internet servers, you must buy the Web Extension License.
There are situations when you do not need to get the Web Extension License. If you are using 4D Server but are not using the built-in web features with it, a Web Extension License is not required. Situations such as this include when you are using Lasso, ColdFusion, Active Server Pages, or 4D JSP as the your middleware. For these applications, you need only have enough 4D Client licenses to accommodate your needs.
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