Folkert Klemme, Data Access Corporation

Agenda.  1. Business Aspects  2. Overview Internet Technology  3. MS Internet Information Server with ASP  4. The DataFlex WebApp Server  5. Development of WebApps

Business Aspects.  Internet Applications  A Technology Shift ?  Like DOS to Windows  Delay with Y2000 / Euro  Internet is the strategic Goal !

Imagine the Possibilities.  Commercial Applications  Business Information Applications  Dynamic Content Publishing

E-Commerce.  Any type of commercial applications  or just Online Shopping  Less Business-to-Consumer  More Business-to-Business

Business Information Systems.  Information Distribution  Communities  Portal Application  Internet Relationship Management  One-to-One Marketing Your Ideas in the Internet

Dynamic Content Publishing.  Authoring Server  More than 90% of the Web Sites contain pure HTML  Web Functionality  Forum  FAQ  Dealer List  Download Area

Base Technology.  TCP/IP  HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP3  HTTP-Server  Clients:  Netscape Navigator  Internet Explorer  Transfering HTML Pages  Header  Body

HTTP Communication.

Communication II.

Dynamic WebApps.  CGI, ISAPI  Java Applets  JavaScript, JScript, VBScript  Client- or Server-side Scripts  Active Server Pages (ASP)

WebApp Architecture I.  Approach CGI / ISAPI  Develope WebApp from the scratch  Languages: C, Pearl ?  DBMS Access via ?  Standards ?  Extremly high Resources  Two-Tier Architecture ?  Session starts a process  Dont reinvent the wheel

WebApp Architecture II.  Approach Java  Two or Three-Tier Architecture  DBMS, Java/Server, Java/Client  Standards ?  Extremly high Resources  Server: NetDynamics, Silverstream

WebApp Architecture III.  Approach Server-side Scripting  proprietary Script- or Markup Language  Limited to Two-Tier Architecture  very often ODBC Interface (Unix ?)  Server: Tango, Cold Fusion

WebApp Architecture IV.  DataFlex WebApp Server  Server-side Scripting via ASP  Web Business Process Objects  Three-Tier Architecture  Direct Database Driver  Unlimited Database  Supporting all Standards

WebApp Architecture I.

DataFlex WBPO.  Subclass of Business Process  Contains DD-Structure  Functions, Procedures  Methods  RequestSave, RequestDelete, RequestFind, RequestClear, DoProcess, DFFunc  Property  DDValue

WebApp in Details.

The DataFlex WebApp Server.  Advantages  Standard Internet Technology for Internet Functionality... ... extended by DataFlex for Database & Business Functionality  No “Not possible”  Transparent and portable access to the Database  Unlimited Database included  Offline Applications with the same Tool

DataFlex WebApp Server.  Windows NT 4  MS Internet Information Server 4  Visual DataFlex 5.1 or higher  DataFlex Web App Server  Development License

Internet Information Server.  FTP Server  HTTP Server  CGI Interface  ISAPI Interface  Active Server Pages

Active Server Pages.  The meaning of  Script Languages  Objects, Methods, Functions  Objekte Response & Request  HTML Forms Tuesday 10:50 am

Web Application.  1. Develope a WBPO as VDF WebView (WVW)  2. Compile VDF Web Project  3. Start VDF Web Project  4. Create a virtual Directory (AppHTML)  5. Define WBPO as COMWBPO in GLOBAL.ASA  6. ASP can access COMWBPO

D ata F lex WebApp S erver.  No special demand to the Client  Real Thin-Client Technology  Supports classic and Internet Applications  Supports all major Databases (native Driver)  Works as Add-On for every DB-Application

Samples