Deployment of ASP pages
using Unisys Component Enabler (ActiveLINC) to interface with
Host EAE (LINC) systems (part 2)

How are these ASP Pages generated?

There are several means to produce Active Server pages (ASPs). Manually write them or generate them using IEG’s Interface Builder (IB) product or other ASP generator products in the market.

Where do the ASP pages go?

The only real requirement of where ASP pages are located is that they be visible to Internet Information Server (IIS) and that the folder name be given permission to allow script execution. What is placed in this folder is another question. The answer will cover various ASP environment routines and how they interact with each ISPEC’s <ispec>.ASP form. The following information applies to environmental and ASP routines generated by IEG’s Interface Builder product. (Other implementations might have different information contained in the respective ASA/ASP/JS/INC/HTML libraries.)

Note: Underlined text indicates the path where the respective environmental files would be deployed.

· GLOBAL.ASA: This routine is the initial routine that IIS will call the first time a browser requests to be connected to an application. This request is normally the result of the user clicking on a hyperlink on a web page that directs the user to the application. This file is deployed “directly” in the IIS application folder.

· DATAtoRATL.ASP: Once the initial connection between the browser user and the application is made then transactions flow in and out of DATAtoRATL.ASP. This routine communicates with Component Enabler (ActiveLINC) to identify, which ISPEC is being processed, and what data is being submitted. Upon a REFRESH or RECALL, the respective ISPEC is made known to DATAtoRATL.ASP to execute the appropriate ASP form. The deploy path is relative to the folder containing the ASP forms.

· <ispec>.ASP: An ISPEC’s ASP is actually executed by IIS by executing server scripts which pull in data from Component Enabler (ActiveLINC) and also data in the form of List Boxes. This data is merged into the ASP form based on data field names as written in the ASP form. The ASP form can be written in a way that it uses other routines as functions or subroutines. These routines are found in the <>.INC, <>.JS, and CSS.htm files. These files are deployed in the folder designated to contain the ASP forms.

· <>.JS: Acts as a library of Java scripted functions that manipulate list box data and open additional browser windows. This library is downloaded once to the browser user’s PC and then runs from the ‘client side’. The path is relative to the folder containing the ASP forms.

· <>.INC: Acts as a library of functions that retrieve data from Component Enabler (ActiveLINC)/RATL in order to be merged together with the ASP form and rendered to the browser user’s PC. This routine will execute on the ‘server side’. This deploy path is relative to wwwroot.

· IEGCSS.htm Style Sheets: IEGs implementation uses Cascading Style Sheets that apply to groups of ASP forms. Instead of defining the colors, fonts and styles in the actual form, IEG uses this IEGCSS.HTM file to assign Class names to various combinations of these attributes. Changes made to CLASS records in the IEGCSS.HTM file are immediately applied to all forms that reference the specific CLASS that was modified. This file is downloaded once to the browser user’s PC and then is applied to forms referencing the file and the CLASS records with in it. The deploy path is relative to the folder containing the ASP forms.

· Abandon.ASP: This routine is called when the application requests a Recall BYE to terminate the browser session. The file is deployed next to DATATORATL.ASP

Illustration:

Discussion on Folder Naming Conventions

The naming convention for folders under IIS is user-determined. IEG would recommend that you apply a similar naming convention to these folders as was applied to the location of the Java Beans.
(PackagePrefix=Company ID {IEGAPPS} )

(ApplicationName= Host EAE / LINC Application {sample} )

(BundleName=logical grouping of forms, activity related, language grouping. {English} )

Unless you would be hosting multiple companies, the PackagePrefix node would be optional. Applications clearly need to be separated. How ASP forms are grouped gets back to the activities with which they are associated. An advantage of grouping forms by activity is that unless the ASP form is accessible in the folder it cannot be rendered. This provides one additional level of security. If an attempt made to request a form not associated with this grouping, the user will get “page not found”. This approach makes it pretty easy to deny access to forms the user should not be using even if they know (or might guess) the name of the form.

(Other implementations might deploy ASP pages and environmental routines in different Folders.)

What is an IIS Application?

To ease (or complicate?) administration for the “webmaster”, IIS has a concept of “application.” Try not to confuse an IIS application with an EAE application, although they are closely related. An IIS application is a folder (directory) containing files and having special properties appropriate to a web server. IIS applications are declared and maintained in IIS dialogs. The pictures below are from Windows 2000 Pro, so expect some differences depending on your operating system and level of IIS. Nonetheless, you can get the general idea.

How do you initiate the application from an html link (URL)?

Accessing the application should be from a web page that contains an HTML link. The LINK would point to the hosting application server by a www address or an IP number plus the name of a folder that relates to the business segment (EAE application) being deployed plus the name of a folder that relates to one of the language folders. As an illustration, the following links could all be used to navigate from a web page to the IB_SAMPLE application. These links are not case sensitive.

<ip>/IB_SAMPLE/English/SMENU.ASP where SMENU is the fire-up Ispec.

<ip>/ib_sample/English/RMENU.ASP where RMENU is an alternate fire-up Ispec.

<ip>/IB_SAMPLE/POWER/SMENU.ASP where SMENU is the fire-up Ispec for POWER users.

<ip>/IB_SAMPLE/Spanish/smenu.asp where SMENU is the fire-up Ispec for Spanish users.

IB_SAMPLE is the folder name under wwwroot that is associated with the business segment name. For clarification the actual business segment name is recommended but is not required.

ENGLISH, POWER, SPANISH are all examples of EAE languages. ENGLISH is primary language and POWER and SPANISH represent other language versions of the same Ispecs.

SMENU and RMENU are two Ispecs defined in the EAE application.

Interface Builder ( IB - GUI ASP HTML generator ) IM, XREF are products of IEG, Inc.