in reply to Perl Browser Plugins

It's possible that we are all focusing too much on your solution rather than on your requirements. As I understand it, you are looking for a browser plugin instead of doing this server-side, because:

  1. need to interact with client components
  2. would prefer to use the browser as an interface

Additionally, you are allowed to install things on the client side, so you are not limited to what the browser supports, natively.

If I understand your requirements correctly, there's another option: do all of the work server-side, on the client's machine. Run a little web-server locally on the machine and interact with it with the browser.

Although this may not be what you had in mind, it does meet the requirements as I've restated them above. I have found this technique to be useful in the past (because I'm lousy with UIs, and marginally better with HTML.

G. Wade

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Re^2: Perl Browser Plugins
by bkiahg (Pilgrim) on Oct 29, 2008 at 19:19 UTC
    Very interesting outside of the box thinking. This would take care of all the requirements listed above. The question, delving a little more into my specific dilemma, then morphs into how do I package everything I need into a perl install that would install perl and all the modules needed and handle automatic updates... I'm going to do some googleing on how to do this.

    Thank you gwadej for a different perspective on how to come up with a solution.
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      The module of interest for that problem is PAR.

      I've used PAR for a few small examples, never anything big. But it may actually do what you want/need.

      G. Wade
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      Either of PAR, PerlApp (from ActiveState's PDK), or Perl2exe can be used for packaging up the script and it's dependent CPAN modules. I've used the two first successfully.

      Add an installer, like InnoSetup, the NullSoft Installer (the one from WinAmp), or MSI and you've got something that the end user can't distinguish from other Windows programs (which is a Good Thing(tm)).

      It doesn't do automatic updates though. I'm sure there's a CPAN module waiting to be written there :)

      /J

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        I'm on it!! ;-)
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