Unable to host the proxy page on our servers...any options?

BrettGreenfield__DNR_ · ‎09-28-2012

After weeks of working on a map and testing it locally under the impression that uploading the proxy page to our organization's servers would be no problem, I found out yesterday that we only have version 1.0 of ASP.net, and we won't be upgrading anytime soon. I also found out that we can't host the Java/PHP versions of the proxy page, so I'm resigning myself to the fact that I won't be able to create any maps with functionality dependent on the proxy page. Before I finally give up, does anybody have any suggestions/workarounds? I really hate to launch a web app missing some of the functionality we desired for it!

__Rich_ · ‎09-28-2012

The proxy page is pretty simple, it's not too much work to re-write using ASP.NET 1.0 (seriously? 1.0? Wow!) compatible code.

If you really wanted you could do it with 'classic' ASP! (or pretty much any other technology of your choice)

Are you also planning on deploying ArcGIS Server to these servers?

BrettGreenfield__DNR_ · ‎09-28-2012

Yeah...I have no idea why they won't upgrade (the IT guy said it would "break stuff"...downside of working for a very large organization, they're very slow to get anything going!).

Unfortunately, they don't let me touch any of the ArcGIS Server stuff, so I don't even know where/on what it's hosted. They have a separate group work on all that stuff, so I'm pretty clueless about it.

How would one go about re-writing the proxy page to make it work for 1.0? I'm really not a programmer at all - I've only been here a few months and my messing around with JavaScript is my first foray into any kind of programming - would it be reasonable for a newbie like me to do?

__Rich_ · ‎09-28-2012

Yeah...I have no idea why they won't upgrade (the IT guy said it would "break stuff"...downside of working for a very large organization, they're very slow to get anything going!).

He might be right...but why can't they give you a separate place to host your stuff instead of piggybacking on what sounds like a delicate legacy system? (rhetorical question really, I can guess the answer!)

Unfortunately, they don't let me touch any of the ArcGIS Server stuff, so I don't even know where/on what it's hosted. They have a separate group work on all that stuff, so I'm pretty clueless about it.

AGS needs .NET 2.0 at least v10 does, don't know about 10.1 so it's not like they don't have >1.0 resources in the business.

How would one go about re-writing the proxy page to make it work for 1.0? I'm really not a programmer at all - I've only been here a few months and my messing around with JavaScript is my first foray into any kind of programming - would it be reasonable for a newbie like me to do?

That's a bit of a "how long's a piece of string question".

It's not a lot of code (only 279 lines including whitespace) but I don't know how much understanding of what it's doing you have, do you understand about HTTP request/response mechanisms and are you using the token functionality etc?

You could have a go, either try to do it line by line or perhaps break it down into functional components e.g. the simplest thing it does is to take the querystring portion of the URI it's received in the request, execute a request using the value then return that response in the response to the originating client. < If none of this makes sense then perhaps that's your answer?

I would have thought any half decent consultant could sort this out for you inside 1 day, perhaps you should just pay someone to come in and do it? (unless some kind soul here wants to do it for nothing?!)

__Rich_ · ‎09-28-2012

Just to add another task to your list - assuming you're hosting the API locally, you're possibly going to have to port the handler (default.ashx) too. (don't worry though because again it's pretty simple)

BrettGreenfield__DNR_ · ‎09-28-2012

It's not a lot of code (only 279 lines including whitespace) but I don't know how much understanding of what it's doing you have, do you understand about HTTP request/response mechanisms and are you using the token functionality etc?

You could have a go, either try to do it line by line or perhaps break it down into functional components e.g. the simplest thing it does is to take the querystring portion of the URI it's received in the request, execute a request using the value then return that response in the response to the originating client. < If none of this makes sense then perhaps that's your answer?

Indeed it does! I really wish I knew in school how much non-GIS stuff a GIS guy has to do and took some more appropriate courses - at least then I'd understand what I don't understand!

The comment you made about ArcGIS Server needing .NET 2.0 helped a lot though - we definitely have a box for v10, so it sounds like I should be able to get the proxy page hosted on that and avoid the issue altogether.

I really appreciate your help on this!

__Rich_ · ‎09-28-2012

Indeed it does! I really wish I knew in school how much non-GIS stuff a GIS guy has to do and took some more appropriate courses - at least then I'd understand what I don't understand!

Heh, it happens to software engineers when people start getting deep into the various facets of some weird spatial reference!

The comment you made about ArcGIS Server needing .NET 2.0 helped a lot though - we definitely have a box for v10, so it sounds like I should be able to get the proxy page hosted on that and avoid the issue altogether.

...then you'd have to think about Same Origin Policy, assuming your app is served from a separate place i.e. different origin...which would then lead you to CORS...and possibly back into interesting discussions with your IT people 😉

Will ArcGIS Server be forward-facing i.e. directly accessible to the browser?

Some reading:

Same Origin Policy
CORS
Cross Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) with the ArcGIS API for JavaScript
Cross Origin Resource Sharing(CORS) - buffer

They definitely won't spend a few quid on a new server for you? (could save time/money in the long run!)