Converting a website from 6 to X

Panorama X Beta 10.2
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FWIW, I’m in the process of converting an immense amount of programming from a Panorama 6 driven website to Panorama X.

All of the programming is contained in a central file. The first time I opened the file in PanX and looked at the view menu, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the majority of the procedures were not listed with a red exclamation mark. On those that did, the vast majority were resolved by eliminating setFilePermissions and SetChanges along with an occasional PDFSetup.

Of course there are going to be other changes required, but the fact that this got the site brought up to date on the coding was a huge relief. The single biggest task to getting it fully enabled for running on PanX appears to be the large number of places I’ve picked apart the cgiParameters variable for incoming form data.

Rather than rewrite everything that uses cgiParameters, I’m taking advantage of the workaround suggested two years ago:

Over time I’ll reduce the number of places I use it, but it’s certainly helping to cut the conversion time to an astonishing low level.

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If Jim Rea really wants to grow Panorama X, the path will be to enhance the web page creation capability of Panorama. I do believe that most all of the ProVUE web site is created by Panorama and the rest of us want in on this.

The world today is greatly moving away from desktop devices. Everyone wants to do everything on the web. iPhones and iPads are locked out from Panorama data. I’d guess that at least 50% of Panorama users would love to be able to access their data and edit their data via a browser and we are 80% of the way there.

I’ve been a subscriber to RealMac’s RapidWeaver software for perhaps 20 years, with many clients wanting web sites but I just don’t have the interest in attempting to create a site that won’t do stuff. Everything I’ve wanted to do involved some sort of data handling. I’ve done some web work, either with non Mac tools, or with the help from the Pano/Web magician Jim Cook. There is no good answer for a Mac person. RealSoftware recently came out with their Elements program. I was hoping and dreaming but still, it doesn’t really do any database stuff. Database engines are hard. But Jim R. already has that hard part done.

Mr Jim Rea… Please take a break from Panorama X long enough to put the necessary spin and polish to creating web pages easily from Panorama. Even if it is only documentation. Then take another year or two, and create a web builder program with Panorama in the background doing all of the work. The world needs a Mac based web site builder and you can do it. Better than anyone has yet to do in the last 40 years. I’d bet that it would double the number of Panorama sales within a year or two.

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I am truly touched by your faith that if I just put in a few extra late nights and weekends over the next year or two, I could crack the “EZ dynamic web site” nut that the rest of this trillion dollar industry has failed to produce over the last 30 years. Seeing as I can’t even manage to properly document all of the ins and outs of matrix objects, I think your faith is misplaced.

A few points FYI.

The ProVUE web site is entirely static - there are no dynamic components, so Panorama X server isn’t involved (it is used for all of the back end for Panorama’s registration and account system, but that is an API, not HTML). The web site is entirely hand coded in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Panorama does assist a bit in this, the FAQ pages and the video gallery are created from Panorama databases, but this is done by generating static HTML pages, which are then published. It’s all hand coded and specific to this application. There’s nothing there for you to “want in” on. (The Panorama X documentation is also generated this way, static HTML generated from a database.)

You state that we are “80% of the way there” - I don’t know where that idea came from, probably more like 1-2%, if that. Especially since the modern web platform isn’t about HTML any more - it’s all JavaScript, and more specifically frameworks like React, VUE, Ember, etc. None of which I know anything about, so a significant learning process would be the first step.

You mention RealMac’s Elements, that project was never intended to be for dynamic web sites. By the way, if you’re thinking of using Elements for static web sites, I’d recommend that you go for the original it is patterned after, Stacks from YourHead software (Isaiah Carew).

I would also disagree with the world needing a Mac based web builder. Actually I’m not even sure what that means, but any web server product that requires a Mac on the back end (like Panorama does) is DOA, web servers run on Linux, full stop. And in case you’re wondering, getting Panorama to run on Linux would be another ground up rewrite, basically a Panorama X like project all over again. If I started now, maybe it could be ready in 2032? And that would be just for the database engine - not counting the mythical web builder user interface you are hypothesizing (which I suppose could still run on the Mac, but still would have to be written).

So again, thanks for the vote of confidence, but as Clint Eastwood said over 50 years ago - a man’s got to know his limitations.

1 Like
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Every man must have a dream.

I appreciate your reply. My forever ongoing digging into areas of Panorama that I’d not yet mastered, and seeing how well every one of them has been so well designed and thought out, I just thought that yes, you could do what others have failed at. And do it so well, that more people would be happy to be able to enjoy your efforts, imagination, and attention to detail. Thank you for your time my friend.