Understanding Web Apps Hosted on Volt and Sold my Web Site

[Tom_Clarke]

I’m now ready to understand the pros and cons of the various app distribution options. As a first step, I want to understand Web Apps hosted on Volt and sold on my web site, and have questions Q1. to Q10. below.
Please identify by Q# which question you are answering. I assume that others will be interested in the answers and I will compile a consolidated list of the answers (and maybe NSB would add it to the Wiki?)

When a client buys an app that is Volt hosted, it is updated when the client opens the app AND is connected to the internet.

Q1. How does the system match the client’s app to the Volt located app… is it by the “title” in Properties?.. by the “Appid” under “Volt” in Properties?.. or some other identification (which is what?)

Q2. How does the system know that the Volt located app has been changed and will therefore reload the app to the user?.. is it by comparing “version” under “Common” in Properties?.. by doing a full comparison scan of both versions?.. or some other way (which is what?)

Volt will erase an app if it has not been accessed for a period of time.

Q3. What does access mean… is it an ‘update’ check as noted in Q1?.. or by a ‘new version’ deployed by the author… or some other way (which is what?)

Q4. How long does an app have to be NOT accessed (as defined in Q3) in order to be erased from Volt?

Q5. If an app is erased from Volt, what steps must the author take to get it back active for ALL users of the App?

If you have used Volt for your apps

Q6. What problems/issues did you have with Volt in doing this? For example, what worked?.. What didn’t work?.. What changes in your process did you implement to resolve any issues you had with Volt?.. If you were to do it again, would you use Volt as your storage server? Why? or Why not?

If you have used your own web site for selling your apps

Q7. How, in general terms, did you handle registration so that one copy of the app was registered to one customer?

Q8. How did you handle their payment to you for the app? (i.e., PayPal? Check?..?) What would you do next time?

Q9. How did you get their email address or Twitter name or whatever unique client identifier you used (which was what?) so that you could continue to contact them on an individual basis if necessary? Or did you set up a system that enabled you to contact all of your clients, but not the public… what is that system?..Or did you only use Twitter or Facebook or whatever that contacted the public (including your clients)?

Q10. What problems/issues did you have selling off your own website? For example, what worked?.. What didn’t work?.. what changes in your process did you implement to resolve any issues you had?..If you were to do it again, would you use your own website to sell the apps? Why? or Why not?

[ghenne]

First, note that Volt does not have any provision for selling access to the apps. You’ll need to build that functionality yourself.

@Tom_Clarke

Q1. How does the system match the client’s app to the Volt located app… is it by the “title” in Properties?.. by the “Appid” under “Volt” in Properties?.. or some other identification (which is what?)

Volt apps are identified internally by the AppId. It’s a 5 letter name.

@Tom_Clarke

Q2. How does the system know that the Volt located app has been changed and will therefore reload the app to the user?.. is it by comparing “version” under “Common” in Properties?.. by doing a full comparison scan of both versions?.. or some other way (which is what?)

This is handled by the HTML5 Cache:

Cache manifest in HTML5

AppStudio takes care of setting everything up when you deploy. When the app starts, it compares its local copy of the manifest with the one on the server: If different, the updated files are copied from the server.

@Tom_Clarke

Q3. What does access mean… is it an ‘update’ check as noted in Q1?.. or by a ‘new version’ deployed by the author… or some other way (which is what?)

If no server side manifest is found, the app is deleted from the device. If the device is unable to reach the Volt server, nothing happens. The app continues to run on the device.

@Tom_Clarke

Q4. How long does an app have to be NOT accessed (as defined in Q3) in order to be erased from Volt?

The app will remain on the server so long as the user’s subscription is up to date.

@Tom_Clarke

Q5. If an app is erased from Volt, what steps must the author take to get it back active for ALL users of the App?

The app will have to be redeployed to the Volt server, and users will have to install it again.

@Tom_Clarke

If you have used Volt for your apps

Q6. What problems/issues did you have with Volt in doing this? For example, what worked?.. What didn’t work?.. What changes in your process did you implement to resolve any issues you had with Volt?.. If you were to do it again, would you use Volt as your storage server? Why? or Why not?

If you have used your own web site for selling your apps…

I’ll leave this for actual users to reply to. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s said myself!

[Tom_Clarke]

Perfect… thank you for taking the time!

[rozek]

Hello,

although I’m using Volt for a few days only, I can report that I’m really pleased with it - it works reliably and gives me the possibility to distribute my (still in-house) applications among all my devices within seconds! However, the situation may change in the future as soon as more and more people will start using Volt as

• the server will probably experience more load and
• there may be name clashes as it may no longer be possible to name applications (and, their public links) as desired

But, right now, it’s the feature I like most!

With greetings from Germany,

Andreas Rozek

[ghenne]

@rozek

the server will probably experience more load and
there may be name clashes as it may no longer be possible to name applications (and, their public links) as desired

We have tried to anticipate both of these issues. We have plans in place to deal with them if they arise.