SalesLogix 7.2 Web on Vista

In a recent conversation in the business partner newsgroups, it was brought to my attention by Mark Dykun that either due to changes from SalesLogix v7.2 SP2 or from Vista SP1 that the SalesLogix Web client will work on Vista (in a limited capacity). It still won’t work on IIS7, but it will work when running through the ASP.NET Web Development Server. The Development Server is included with the .NET Framework 2.0 and works by running a small web server to host a local ASP.NET site for development or testing purposes, similar to Cassini. The last I tried this was with SalesLogix v 7.2.0 and it definitely didn’t work then. But it does now (huge hooray!).

Mark followed this conversation up with a post on his blog where he outlines how to create a batch file to launch the Development Web Server on the command-line and point to the deployed SalesLogix Web site. This is a great approach, however, I wanted to point out an alernative as well that is built right into the Application Architect. When you right click on a Portal in the Application Architect, you have a menu option available called “Test Portal”.

That this option does is deploy the portal to a temporary location and then launches the site in the ASP.NET Development Web Server automatically. Both steps in one action. The complete steps that this Test Portal option does are as follows:

1. Deploys the site to the following location:

   C:ProgramDataSagePlatformWebPortalDesignSlxClient_TEST

   where “SlxClient” is the name of the Portal. BTW, this is the same location that the site will get copied to when you use the “Pre-Compile” option in the deployment. The AA will copy the site here, precompile it using the aspnet_compiler.exe in the .NET Framework and then deploy the compiled result to the actual deployment location (unless you have the “In-Place Compile” option checked)

2. The AA will then launch the .NET Development Web Server pointed to that location on port 8080.
3. A browser window will then automatically open pointing to the server running on port 8080.

So, you save the step of deploying, running your batch file, then launching the browser to that location. It does it all in one step, and best of all, right from within the Application Architect. You can also still open Visual Studio and point to the deployment directory (the “actual” deployment directory or to the “TEST” location where the files were copied to from the “Test Portal” option) and run the site from VS as well.

Anyway, I was completely excited to find that this works now. I don’t know if it was a change in SP or Vista, but I don’t really care. I’m just excited to be able to test/develop a local site on Vista, even if it is in a limited capacity. It would be nice to be able to run the site right on IIS7, and that support will eventually come, but for now, this new find was much needed! Goes to show you have to keep trying the stuff that didn’t work before with each new version, because you’ll never know what sneaks it way in! A HUGE thanks for Mark for getting me to try it again.