Going from webscripting to server-client software.

[Wayne]

Shriek at gmx.co.uk (Stephen) wrote in message news:<6572890e.0107251014.47e07810 at posting.google.com>...

 ...

> intranet and it was really easy. But it was possible for one of the
> staff to be looking at a resource (eg. a squash court) and not
> be aware of a booking made by another member of staff in real time,
> which could lead to double-bookings if telephone bookings are made. 
> They do not like to hit refresh in order to see the most up to date
> status of a particular resource. They want software more like 
> Windows-applications. 

Have you considered a small applet that displays the status of the
currently viewed resource?  This might be created in Jython and
automatically update from the server at a specific interval.

> How should I keep all of the client applications in synchronization
> with each other?  When each client app is opened, it gets all the 
> bookings for the day from the server.

Are they able to edit the bookings once the data has been downloaded? 
i.e., do they get the data in "read only" mode then click on a button
or link to edit the data?  If so you might create a lock file, or
similar item, on the server when someone clicks on the edit button or
link.

If anyone after that clicks on the edit button it could check for the
existance of the lock file.  If the file is present they might see the
current information and who has it locked but not be able to edit the
information.

Wayne