Sneak-O-Scope - Version 3 - Now on Google App Engine

Hey,

After a week of slogging and fighting with python, Django and webop, I was finally able to host Sneak-O-Scope on Google App Engine. I attended the Google Developer day and that helped me resolve a lot of issues. With the database and code now on the cloud, I would have to see how this helps me scale better. I did have a couple of road blocks, and I thought of writing them all here.
The second major milestone is that Sneak-O-Scope now running on top of the SNAPP Framework. The application should work for MySpace and Hi5 without modification. I have submitted the application for review on these social network and would hopefully get a positive result by the time I return from vacation.
Now for the 'gotchas'
  1. The template files should not be visible externally and hence should not be specificed in app.yaml. However, this is a restriction only on the hosted service, not the local developer server. It took me a whole lot of debugging to figure out. The error simply said that it was not able to find the template file
  2. If the python files are not directly under that folder where the server runs, we have to empty __init__.py has to be included inside folders where the python files are placed. This is a python convention, just to be careful.
  3. The JSON that is sent to the application by SNAPP is currently not parsed. This is a task that I would have to pick up and do at a later point of time.
There were also some javascript errors, but they were trivial to debug. Debugging (using firebug) can be harder as the URL of the iFrame that hosts the application changes on orkut. Hence, it would be better to include logic using javascript files that have static names; breakpoints can be placed on them and are retained even after the page is refreshed.

Now waiting to see how it performs on Okrut.