Re: CAPTCHA image validation in web form

Excellent explanation. I have to get back to work and can only gloss over something here, but we (including your boss) really need to see Java as part of ILE. We can call Java procedures from RPG with prototyped calls just like any API or C or sobprocedure call, albeit with a couple of different keywords.

We need to get you a prototype of RPG calling one of the standard Java classes that returns the CAPTCHA image to be displayed to the RPG program as a parm.

When he sees that it's basically the same as calling an API or C procedure, and realizes Java is supported as part of ILE, then he will realize it is part of the i.

The code is not complicated. If no else gets it posted quicker, I'll take a look and get something posted. Can someone recommend a good Java class for this?

thanks,
rd


Guillermo Andrades, CPI Software wrote:

Hi Walden,
a lot of cofee here,also.

first,
nor I nor we would try to resolve the security holes in web apps, in this
case we're only looking for an "easy" implementation of "some" "trivial"
security added to the none security existing in web forms.

second,
sometimes the OP (myself in this case) can't explain all the info around the
main problem.
then if you read "please not php nor java" you woul think in some person
enemy of "new" languages or an modern-technology hating and so on,
please don't read any thoughts more than the writen text.
in this case MY task is recommend an security control in web forms using
only these already installed in the IBM i.
the boss want it.
no question asqued.
really the situation is WORST, the boss is asking to TWO different
implementers: a team based in RPG and OTHER team based in "all other
technologies",
then if *I* don't resolve this security problem (along with others items, of
course, an pilot project), the app will be made for OTHER peoples in OTHER
SERVERS and I will go and seat all the morning(S) in starbuck with these
very big coffee cup.
of course, if the app will be not RPG then the app will NOT run in IBM i,
this is also other condition.
then,
if *I* success, the IBM i will run the app,
if *they* success, the app will run in Win2003Server if ms.net or maybe
Linux if php or java.

sure the things are not so simple, the devil are living in the details.

also a final question, why are you thinking that an app made with RPG is not
"modern"?, please believe me that we're developing really pretty "modern
gui" web app usinng RPGIV and a little help of html+js+css, but behind these
app are a black dog running and running under a desk table.

Regards,
Guillermo.



On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 3:54 PM, Walden H. Leverich
<WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

some experiences using captcha image validation in web forms?
please not php not python not java....

I've stayed out of this, but after a long weekend of relaxation I can't
resist. Why in blazes would you not look at PHP or Python or Java for
this solution. What a disservice you're doing to your company. If this
isn't your decision, but rather your boss's decision, what a ridiculous
decision he/she is making! This is precisely why the community is having
so many problems "proving" to the higher ups that we should keep the
iSeries around and that it's a modern capable application environment.

If you were programming in PHP or Java or .Net you probably wouldn't
even have asked the question, you'd have gone to your favourite place
and grabbed code that someone else had designed, written and debugged.
And if for some reason you wanted to roll your own it would have been
rather straight forward to new up a Bitmap object and draw on it in a
twisted font and make a new image each time.

Instead you're looking at some twisted error prone way of using a fixed
set of images, or outputting some text and using HPT to "print" that
text and then convert to a TIFF or some other messed up approach. Will
this work? Sure. Will is work well? Probably not. Is it a wise
application of your time and company's resources? Certainly not.

I guess as the saying goes, if all you have is a hammer... The iSeries
is a Home-Depot of tools, but for the most part people are only willing
to use the 3 tools they have in their toolbox to solve a problem, namely
RPG, DDS and CL.

Sorry... off to have more coffee... Perhaps the caffeine will calm me
down. :-)

-Walden

PS. Guillermo, I may have responded to your post in particular, but
please don't take this as a personal attack, you're just the proverbial
straw.

--
Walden H Leverich III
Tech Software
(516) 627-3800 x3051
WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.TechSoftInc.com