OT: PHP/ MySQL and/ or ASP/ MSSQL

[Ulf Christenson]

Hello!

I have an application written in VB6 (but I plan to migrate to .NET soon).
The licensing system is done in the following way:

The software shows a machine-code. The user gets a ProductKey from us.
The user goes to our webpage and has to insert both the machine-code and
the ProductKey and is then shown an ActivationKey.

In the future I want to make it so that the user can license the
software from within the software without going to the webpage. The
software should build up a connection with an online database and store
the number of activations in there.

The webpage/ functions are done in PHP and MySQL.
Personally I don't like PHP and MySQL because I cannot call it from VB6
without any database drivers being installed (and I don't want to
install them with my application). But ASP pages are expensive. Plus in
Germany I don't find any reliable.

I am in a difficult decision: How should I go on?
Can anybody please tell his opinion?

Thank you very much.
Ulf

 

[MBUnit]

Hello!

I have an application written in VB6 (but I plan to migrate to .NET soon).
The licensing system is done in the following way:

The software shows a machine-code. The user gets a ProductKey from us.
The user goes to our webpage and has to insert both the machine-code and
the ProductKey and is then shown an ActivationKey.

In the future I want to make it so that the user can license the
software from within the software without going to the webpage. The
software should build up a connection with an online database and store
the number of activations in there.

The webpage/ functions are done in PHP and MySQL.
Personally I don't like PHP and MySQL because I cannot call it from VB6
without any database drivers being installed (and I don't want to
install them with my application). But ASP pages are expensive. Plus in
Germany I don't find any reliable.

I am in a difficult decision: How should I go on?
Can anybody please tell his opinion?

Thank you very much.
Ulf

You do know that you can use a .NET Windows Communications Foundation
IIS Web service, that a Windows winform desktop client application can
consume that WCF Web service and use it just like an ASP.NET Web form
application can do it.

The WCF Web service can use MS SQL server 2005 or 2008 Express Editions
that are free, as the back-end database solution.

You could create a .NET DLL that consumes the WCF Web service that can
be consumed by a VB6 COM object, if you have VB6 and VB.NET client
applications.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;817248
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Communication_Foundation


You also need to know ADO.NET to access the SQL Server table or tables
or use Linq-to-SQL or ADO.NET Entity Framework with the WCF Web service
on the back-end

ADO.NET Entity Framework kind of makes it simple to use SQL Server on
the back-end, because a Model Entity is an implicit serialized contract
to WCF, where as, you can place the Entity of the WCF interface and
transmit the entity to/from the client and server with ease to/from the
database on the back-end,

 

[Ulf Christenson]

Thank you. The connection to the MS database is no problem.