Just started testing a small GAE test app with Web2py. I worked with the App Engine a few years ago, but have not looked at it for a while. I know there has been some earlier discussion here re proposed DAL changes to enhance GAE support. Unfortunately the Web2Py GAE docs are a bit sparse and fragmented. It's no fun beating your head against a brick wall trying to do something the App Engine is not designed to do (e.g. lots of qns keep coming up about joins, many to many mappings which need to be rethought in GAE apps). AFAIK GAE support in Web2Py really is a moving target.
I think we could use some supplementary docs here related to the GAE, together with some working examples so that people can see how familiar problems (joins) are implemented in an Web2py/GAE app. Perhaps a subsection of this forim or an alternative Web2py/GAE specific forum would be useful. There are a few on this forum who have done some GAE development with Web2py, and they have already figured out some of the issues and solutions. So far I am aware of several problems/issues - however this info needs to be managed and made available for others to refer to and update. For starters: - Separate version of DAL for GAE - ??Big Issue -IMHO if I choose a nosql approach, I accept the pros and cons - db portability is highly overrated and is market speak for lowest common denominator <g>)?? - Bypassing DAL and making native API calls - does it ever make sense? - How to configure/run an interactive Web2Py/GAE app shell locally - How to handle Many to Many relationships (varioius alternatives) - Access to GAE key values (vs ID's) - Access to GAE ID values of new records after bulk insert - Where to find some GAE example code (here's one link http://code.google.com/p/publicradioroadtrip/, anyone got any others? - Debugging GAE apps (fwiw -WingWare IDE Pro works and they document the process - see here: http://wingware.com/doc/howtos/google-app-engine I don't have answers here - just suggesting that we provide a mechanism to inform users and share ideas/issues/ and examples. Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble, but I'd be curious to hear from other App Engine developers here.. BrendanC
