make an application web based

[blarg]

I have a neat idea that I would like to try out. Caution this is going to get nerdy not just geeky. I play D&D and my group uses a program that has our characters on it. It's a very old program made for Win 95 but I have made it work in everything from Linux to Vista.

I want to find a way to put the program online so my group can all edit their characters instead of doing it last minute before we play. I have a web server and hosting so thats no issue. My first thought is to use a VPN or terminal services but is there a way to just host the application by it's self? What I would like is something as non technical as having a desktop icon they can just click and it opens the program as if it's local.

 

[InvisiBill]

Sure, just rewrite it in some language your web server can run and have it save all its data in an appropriate database accessible to the web server.


If you're talking about just putting the .exe on your website, it doesn't really work that way. By default, Windows won't run programs from the internet, and the web server won't allow you to write data to it. Depending on how the app works, you may be able to give each person a copy and configure it to save its data remotely in a central location. It might be possible to do something like Sysinternals Live, but I doubt you'd be able to do with just regular hosted webspace. That also doesn't take into account the saving/sharing of data, just the remote access to the .exe.

 

[blarg]

Sure, just rewrite it in some language your web server can run and have it save all its data in an appropriate database accessible to the web server.


If you're talking about just putting the .exe on your website, it doesn't really work that way. By default, Windows won't run programs from the internet, and the web server won't allow you to write data to it. Depending on how the app works, you may be able to give each person a copy and configure it to save its data remotely in a central location. It might be possible to do something like Sysinternals Live, but I doubt you'd be able to do with just regular hosted webspace. That also doesn't take into account the saving/sharing of data, just the remote access to the .exe.

Now that I've looked into it a little more I'm thinking the way to go would be to create a virtual application with Terminal Services and let people connect to it through RDP. I've done lots of terminal services stuff but always on an Intranet so I'm concerned about security.