Smart Client or Asp.net?
Recently I have been being perplexed by the decision of using either Smart Client or ASP.net for a project that I need to set up in our company. Here are some facts about the project:
- The users of this system include intra-department personnel (which we have better control of the computers they use) and inter-department personnel (less or no control).
- The system has both simple data entry forms such as service request, and complex forms which require to use multiple attachments and multiple embedded images.
- The system also has the workflow features which can notify the corresponding parties of any updates or new assigned action items. By clicking on the link of the notification, it should bring the user directly to the form/report of the content.
- For future scalability, the system should also be able to open to personnel in different countries (more accessibility).
My initial analysis concludes that I should have two versions for the project with Smart Client as the master and the ASP.Net as a support. All forms should be available in Smart Client version, while the simple forms or reports should be available in webform version as well to benefit the users who only have web access. The update/deployment of the application should be simplified by the click-one technology.
This seems to be all good until today. I just realized the cost of using Smart Client:
- All client machines need to install .Net framework.
- All the users need to have administrator privilege of their machine.
In reality? It is very hard to achieve. Not to say the IT department would not allow us to install the framework in all the machines, and would definitely not allow all users to have the administrator’s privilege, just think we have more than 100 machines in our department, what’s the cost of installing the framework as well as the application in each machine?
So back to square one – Smart Client or ASP.Net?
Here are some reference to smart client: