Developing a Website Builder with VB6

[dreammanor]

I know there are many Website Builders on the Internet, such as WordProcess and Joomla. Now I want to use VB6 to develop a my own Website Builder. Is this possible? Has anyone else made similar attempts?

[techgnome]

Of course it's possible. But it also depends on just what you're talking about. WP and Joomla are frameworks/engines ... VB6 can also be the same, and be used server side to serve up the HTML to the client browser, as long as the server allows it. But if you mean using VB6 to build an app that helps you build HTML files that you upload, it can do that too, they're just text files. I built a semi-WYSIWYG HTML editor back in 95/96 using VB4... that's how I learned HTML and how to build web sites.

-tg

[dreammanor]

Of course it's possible. But it also depends on just what you're talking about. WP and Joomla are frameworks/engines ... VB6 can also be the same, and be used server side to serve up the HTML to the client browser, as long as the server allows it. But if you mean using VB6 to build an app that helps you build HTML files that you upload, it can do that too, they're just text files. I built a semi-WYSIWYG HTML editor back in 95/96 using VB4... that's how I learned HTML and how to build web sites.

-tg

Hi techgnome, thank you for your reply. I want to develop a framework/platform similar to Wordprocess or Joomla, which is both a user self-building website platform and a content management system.

[dreammanor]

I know most Website-Builders are developed using PHP + MySQL, and some are developed using PHP + GoLang + MySQL. If I use VB6 to develop a Website Builder, what tools and technologies do I need? I think jpbro's VBFcgi should be a nice framework/tool.

[Schmidt]

A "WebSite-Builder" runs clientside.

So, determine the Implementation-Tools for the clientside first (which in the end show the GUI).
- do you want that tool to be a "pure Browser-Client"? (this would have the advantage of platform-independence already)...
- or do you want the tool to be a real Win-Desktop-App (with a Browser-Control only for "preview-purposes")?

The next thing you should decide is, what serverside Hosts and serverside-language(s) this new tool shall support.

Starting at the "root-level", there is the serverside OS-platform(s) you have to consider (Windows and/or Unix).

Since there's already a "bunch of good tools" available for Unix-Host-platforms and "languages typically found there",
my guess is, that your tool is targeted at a "VB6-developer-audience"?
If yes, then your server-os-platform of choice should probably be "Windows".

Now you will have to make a choice regarding the WebServer you plan to support on that os-platform.
The one which comes with the WinOS already (and which is provided in most WebHosters "Windows-contracts"),
is the Internet-Information-Server (IIS) - so I would start with that probably to have a "widely used deployment-target"
(developing against it with VBScript and/or VB6-compiled AX-Dlls).

NGinx is fast and nice, when you plan to "roll-out" your own WebSite or WebApp against a (public reachable) Host,
you have "full control over" (usually involving a contract for machine with "root-access").

Most of the cheaper Hoster-Contracts for the Windows-based-hosting offer the IIS though.

The third thing you will have to decide is, what "kind of WebSite-Building" you want your tool to focus on.
If it's more thought for "HTML-heavy static arrangements" (with a focus on "presentation"),
you will end up developing an entirelely different thing, compared to your implementation in case
you decide to support more "dynamics, focused on User-Inputs" (which usually are more JavaScript-heavy,
involving a clientside JS-Framework - which these days usually target the "Single-Page-paradigm" -
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-page_application).

Olaf

[dreammanor]

Hi Olaf, Your comment is very useful to me. Much appreciate.

I want to develop my own Website-Builder for 3 purposes:

(1) Learn web programming through this project, especially how to dynamically generate various complex web pages (because my ultimate goal is to convert all VB Forms to dynamically generated web pages)

(2) Create a website that is accessible to the public for my own apps. The cloud host environment (WebServer) I'll rent is Linux + Nginx + RC5 + vbFcgi + MyVB6AppServer.DLL

(3) If I can complete the above two goals, I'd like to develop my Website-Builder as a commercial software which will be used by SMEs, and it will support both Windows host and Linux host, which means it will be platform independent.


Since I'm not very familiar with Web development, the development of the Website-Builder will be divided into two phases:

ClientSide:
First version: Win-Desktop-App, which will emphasis on "HTML-heavy static arrangements" (with a focus on "presentation")
Second version: pure Browser-Client, which will support more "dynamics, focused on User-Inputs" (which usually are more JavaScript-heavy, involving a clientside JS-Framework.

ServerSide:
First version: Linux + Nginx + RC5 + vbFcgi + VB6AppServer.DLL
Second version: Linux/WindowsServer + Nginx/IIS + RC5 + vbFcgi + VB6AppServer.DLL