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Help / WEBDEV Tutorial / Tutorial - Deploying a website
  • Lesson 2 - Deploying a website via HTTP
  • The different deployment modes
  • Detailed example: deployment via HTTP
  • Project used
  • Preparing the setup
  • Setup
  • Directories on the development computer and the deployment server

Tutorial - Deploying a website

Lesson 2 - Deploying a website via HTTP
We will cover the following topics:
  • How to deploy?
  • Required configuration.
Durée de la leçon 30 min
The different deployment modes
Now that the web server is configured, we can deploy our website. Several methods are available. The choice of a method mainly depends on the technical constraints (ability to use an FTP server, access to the server, etc.). A dynamic WEBDEV website can be deployed according to one of these methods:
  • Remote deployment from the development computer (via HTTP or FTP). We will deploy our website using this method via HTTP.
    Remark: deployment via FTP requires an FTP server.
  • Deployment in PCSCloud.
  • Remote deployment from a management computer (via HTTP or FTP) using a "deployment package". This deployment mode is similar to the direct remote deployment. Main difference: the deployment is not performed from the WEBDEV development environment. In this mode:
    • the developer generates a deployment package.
    • the website administrator (can be a person other than the developer) deploys the package on the remote server using WDDeploy. WDDeploy is a redistributable tool provided with WEBDEV.
  • Deployment via physical media (DVD-ROM, etc.). Deployment via physical media creates a setup support (like an application) that must be run directly on the server. This deployment mode is available in Windows only.
  • Deployment via PC SOFT test hosting service.
  • Deployment via a Docker image of the site.
Let's see the deployment via HTTP.
Detailed example: deployment via HTTP

Project used

We will deploy the "Full_WEBDEV_Site" project. To open this project:
  1. Go to the WEBDEV home page (Ctrl + <).
  2. On the home page, click "Tutorial", then in "Tutorial - Create a WEBDEV website (Back Office and Front Office)", double-click "Full WEBDEV Site - Answers".

Preparing the setup

WEBDEV includes a setup wizard that allows you to easily deploy your site to a WEBDEV hosting provider (Internet or Extranet site, for example) or to one of your servers dedicated to WEBDEV hosting (Intranet site, for example).
We are going to use this wizard:
  1. In the ribbon, on the "Project" tab, in the "Generation" group, expand "Deploy site" and select "Generate and deploy site".
  2. The wizard starts. Before starting the installation, you need to include all the elements of your website in a library. A library is a file that contains all the elements created during the development steps (database description, pages, reports, queries, etc.). HTML pages and images are not included in the library.
    Go to the next step.
  3. You can include multiple languages in the library. In our example, we will keep the default options. Go to the next step.
  4. In "Library version details", you can define the information that will appear in the file properties in the Windows explorer. Go to the next step.
  5. Don't make a backup copy of the project and confirm.

Setup

The setup wizard will now ask you some questions to define how your website will be deployed. In our case, we are going to perform a remote installation via HTTP:
  1. Select "Deploy to a remote WEBDEV Application Server".
    Go to the next step.
  2. To define the server parameters, you will need to get the information below from your hosting provider. We will enter the information corresponding to the previous setup:
    • Server address (in our example, name of the computer where "WEBDEV Application Server - 10 connections" was installed). The name can be:
      • a computer name accessible over the network (for example: "TestServer"),
      • an IP address (for example: 192.168.15.99),
      • an Internet address (for example: www.myserver.com).
    • User account that runs the setup. We created it in the previous step: the name of the account is "Mark".
    • Password associated with the account (in our example, also "mark").
      Caution: the username can be preceded by the domain name to avoid confusions. For example: "mycomputer\test" or "mydomain\test"
  3. Once you have entered your account details, go to the next step.
  4. Enter the website deployment parameters. Keep the default options.
    Go to the next step.
  5. The wizard prompts you to select the deployment mode:
    • Deploy without disconnecting users. This option allows you to update the website without disconnecting the users.
    • Deploy by disconnecting users. If this option is selected, the users will be automatically disconnected to update the website.
    Select "Deploy by disconnecting users" and go to the next step.
  6. WEBDEV establishes the connection and lists the operations to be executed (number of files to update, number of files to delete, etc.). To get the details of the operations and modify them if necessary, click "Edit list of files".
  7. Go to the next step.
  8. The wizard presents an option to include the automatic data file modification in the setup. You can also configure the elements required to use an HFSQL Client/Server database.
    Keep the default options and go to the next step.
  9. Specify the parameters of the website:
    You can change:
    • The maximum number of connections to the website: if this value is set to "5" for example, only 5 users will be able to connect to the website at the same time.
    • The maximum number of connections per user: if you set this value to "5" for example, the same user will be able to access the website up to 5 times.
    • The amount of idle time before user disconnection: this option frees all the resources used by the user's session if the user has been inactive for a given amount of time.
  10. By default, the website is activated immediately after the installation. If you check "Schedule deployment for a later date", the installation will be deferred. You website will be installed at the specified date and time.
  11. Go to the next step.
  12. The wizard allows you to define the website security settings: Change of IP, etc. Go to the next step.
  13. The wizard presents an option to automatically generate statistics files for the installed website. These statistics include actions performed on the website, user location, etc.
    Keep the default options and go to the next step.
  14. Confirm the setup ("Finish"). The setup wizard transfers the files.
During the file transfer, the wizard compresses and encrypts the transferred data. Your data is transferred with a high-security level.
At the end of the installation, a link allows you to immediately open the website.
Directories on the development computer and the deployment server
The website files are stored on different directories in the development computer and the deployment server. The following table presents the default directories defined by WEBDEV.
Directory on the development computerDirectory on the deployment server
<Project name>\<Project name>_WEB<website>\<website name>\<website name in uppercase>_WEB
<Project name>\Exe For a website:
  • data files (.fic, .ndx, .mmo, .ftx): <data>\<website name>
  • other files: <website>\<website name>
For a web service:
  • data files (.fic, .ndx, .mmo, .ftx): <data>\<website name>
  • other files: <web service>\<website name>

where:
  • <website>, <data> and <web service> are the directories defined when creating the hosting account (see above).
  • <website name> is the name of the website.
The directories of the files can be defined in the deployment wizard.
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Last update: 12/08/2023

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