asked on

Bitcoin - web application

I'm researching building a web application that will record donations made by member in Bitcoin into a fund. There will be transactions out of the fund per predetermined rules.

I can do the accounting part of it in classic ASP and SQL Server (hosted). And I shall translate that to PHP know-how soon (PHP newbie). (only the transaction information needs to be handled)

Where I need help is in tracking the data relating to the Bitcoin network that's made available by the Bitcoin 'system' (Blockchain?) in real -time.

My knowledge about Bitcoin is in an early stage.

Is there a Hello World place to start? Preferably some code to track some Bitcoins we hold?
(I'm also an Ajax newbie so any ready-to-use code will help a great deal)

Thanks in advance.

hindersaliva

ASKER

For a start:
Say X amount of Bitcoin is paid by Person A to Person B (Addess A to Address B).
I want my web application to know that.
So that, I can then record that in the backend database SQL Server (I can do this).

Next stage:
To make that transaction information appear on the page without a page refresh (ajax).

A good example is here:
http://blockchain.info/
So my web will listen and note transactions (from some known addresses) as this info comes through.

SOLUTION

Ray Paseur

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hindersaliva

ASKER

Thanks Ray. Good advice. I'm well experienced in classic ASP/SQL Server so I'm building a prototype in that. That will help me and my non-techie colleagues develop ideas, and understand the protocols.

If we can just 'track the data' at this stage ... in the above scenario will be great.

(We can move on to PHP and Ajax at a later stage, and/or draft in expertise then)
Thanks for the links.

Ray Paseur

Great. If you already know ASP, the SitePoint book will be a breeze, and the Welling/Thompson will be a great reference. Eli's book is a little bit dated but has many "cookbook" examples that are mostly best of breed.

I assume you're up-to-date on this?
http://blockchain.info/api

hindersaliva

ASKER

Ray, thanks.

Yes, it's the API info on this page I'll need to be able to understand http://blockchain.info/api/blockchain_api , though not just yet. I shall start on those books.

I also found this. It'll help me get into Ajax (he's got a jQuery version there too)
http://www.mikesdotnetting.com/Article/39/AJAX-and-Classic-ASP

Thanks Ray.

Ray Paseur

I would skip the original AJAX article and go straight to the jQuery version. I have a jQuery "Hello World" article here. But that said, if you just get the HTTP client/server application working correctly first, the whole debugging process will be easier. Once that's ironclad, add the client-side automations.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Scripting/JavaScript/Jquery/A_10712-The-Hello-World-Exercise-with-jQuery-and-PHP.html

hindersaliva

ASKER

Hey Ray, even better!
Thanks.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Terry Woods

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hindersaliva

ASKER

Hi Terry, glad you came in too. Between you and Ray I think there's all the help I need.
At the moment going through the basics of JSON on the basic web application before getting into the Bitcoin integration part (eg. understanding http://blockchain.info/api/blockchain_api - assuming that's where I would get the info.

I'll be back.

hindersaliva

ASKER

Terry, can you provide a link to (hopefully) a Hello World on how to use the Address Lookup in the Simple Query API?

I'm found this so far
http://blockchain.info/q

Thanks.

Terry Woods

I think I've covered that in your other question:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28125990/Bitcoin-how-to-use-the-blockchain-info-need-help.html

hindersaliva

ASKER

Thanks Terry and others. I'm taking a break from this project for a few months. So shall close the question.