Product Features . . Product Architecture . . Quick Reference . . Related Topics . . Home
This section describes INFORMIX-Universal Web Connect product features and product architecture.
This section also contains a Quick Reference that summarizes how to perform some common tasks.
Universal Web Connect provides the following tools for building Web applications:
AppPage tags and variables enable you to execute SQL statements, handle errors, manipulate variables, and use other advanced query processing and formatting techniques within the AppPages that make up your Web applications. You can also create your own user dynamic tags, which simplify the construction and maintenance of your Web applications by allowing you to reuse existing AppPage segments.
For more information on AppPage tags and using variables within AppPages, see Using AppPage Tags and Using Variables and Variable Expressions in AppPages, respectively.
The Universal Web Connect API enables you to create high-performance OLTP applications that cannot be implemented using AppPage tags alone. This library of C functions provides a framework for programmers to easily develop client/server database applications on the Web. The API provides a core set of services to implement state and connection management and to encapsulate the process of building HTML.
For more information on the Universal Web Connect API, see Universal Web Connect API.
Use AppPage Builder to create and maintain the AppPages and multimedia objects that make up your Universal Web Connect applications. To run AppPage Builder, depending on which Web driver you are using, enter one of the following URLs:
Driver |
URL on Windows NT |
URL on UNIX |
|---|---|---|
| CGI | http://myhost:myport/ifmx-bin/wcdrvr.exe/wcdaemon.exe | http://myhost:myport/ifmx-bin/wcdrvr/wcdaemon |
| NSAPI | http://myhost:myport/ifmx-bin/wcnsapi.dll/wcdaemon.exe | http://myhost:myport/ifmx-bin/wcnsapi.so/wcdaemon |
| ISAPI | http://myhost:myport/ifmx-bin/wcisapi.dll/wcdaemon.exe | Not Available |
For more information on AppPage Builder, see AppPage Builder.
The Universal Web Connect Administration Tool (UWCAT) is an HTML client application you can use to manage Universal Web Connect. The Universal Web Connect Administration Tool allows you to stop and start the Universal Web Connect service; view and edit the configuration file; view information on sessions, application configuration, and shared memory; and view the log file with optional filtering criteria.
To run the Universal Web Connect Administration Tool on Windows NT, enter http://myhost:myport/ifmx-bin/uwcat.exe in your Web browser or select UWC Administration Tool from the Universal Web Connect program group. To run the Universal Web Connect Administration Tool on UNIX, enter http://myhost:myport/ifmx-bin/uwcat in your Web browser.
For more information, see the on-line help for the Universal Web Connect Administration Tool.
On Windows NT, you can also use the Universal Web Connect Service Manager to stop and start the Universal Web Connect service and view and edit the configuration file. To run the Universal Web Connect Service Manager, select UWC Service Manager from the Universal Web Connect program group.
The wcstat program is a command-line utility that displays the overall status of Universal Web Connect. You can use the wcstat program to display configuration and session information. For a list of options, enter wcstat at the command line.
The wcinit program is a command-line utility that enables you to stop, start, pause, or resume the Universal Web Connect service. For a list of options, enter wcinit at the command line.
Your application client can be any Web browser that supports HTML 2.0 or greater. While Universal Web Connect provides NSAPI and ISAPI Web drivers that are fully integrated with Netscape FastTrack and Enterprise servers and Microsoft Internet Information Web server, respectively, you can use the CGI Web driver with any CGI-based Web server. For more information about CGI, see About CGI.
When a Web browser initiates a session by requesting the main AppPage for the application, the Web driver attaches to shared memory and allocates a block of shared memory for the Web browser client. The Web driver generates a session ID and forks the application. Then the Web driver fetches the requested AppPage from the database with AppPage tags expanded and returns the expanded AppPage (along with the session ID) to the Web browser. The Web driver process is terminated after the AppPage is returned to the user.
When the same Web browser requests subsequent AppPages from the same application, the Web browser connects directly to the application if Direct Connect is used or it connects using the Web driver if Managed Connect is used. For more information about Managed Connect and Direct Connect, see Deploying and Managing Applications.
The following sections provide more detailed information about the components of the Universal Web Connect architecture:
Develop Universal Web Connect applications by creating AppPages (and, optionally, by creating C routines using the Universal Web Connect API). These applications typically access an Informix database and return dynamically retrieved data to the Web browser client. Once invoked, the application stays resident in shared memory until the session times out. This persistence allows the application to maintain state and reduces the overhead of repeatedly opening and closing the connection to the database.
The Web driver is a lightweight CGI, NSAPI, or ISAPI process that runs on the Web server machine. The Web driver initiates the connection between the Web browser client and the application process. The Web driver requests a global session ID, stored in shared memory, to facilitate subsequent communication between the Web browser and the application. If Managed Connect is used, all communication between the Web browser and the application is managed by the Web driver.
Universal Web Connect allocates shared memory to maintain global and application-specific configuration information and session-related data. The shared memory is allocated when the Universal Web Connect service starts. This service uses the settings in the configuration file to initialize the shared memory area. For each Web browser client, an entry is allocated in the session table of shared memory to track client-specific information. For more information about the format of the shared memory segment, see Shared Memory Layout. To display the contents of shared memory, use one of the administration tools.
Set global and application-specific parameters for Universal Web Connect in the wcconfig.std configuration file. This file is similar to the Informix database server configuration file. You can override most of the global configuration parameters with application-specific settings. For more information, see Configuring Applications.
The following table lists common tasks and how to perform them.
Task |
Procedure |
|---|---|
| View or modify the wcconfig.std configuration file | In the Universal Web Connect Administration Tool, click the appropriate option under UWC Configuration. On Windows NT, you can also edit the configuration file in the Service Manager by clicking the pencil icon. After you edit the file, restart the Universal Web Connect service so that the new configuration parameters take effect. For more information, see Configuring Applications and Universal Web Connect Administration Tools. |
| Specify configuration information for an application | In the configuration file, add a new application section (using the APP and ENDAPP delimiters). For more information, see Configuring Applications. |
| Increase or decrease the maximum number of active sessions in Universal Web Connect | In the configuration file, modify the MI_WEBMAXSESSIONS parameter. For more information, see Deploying and Managing Applications. |
| Increase or decrease the application time-out value | In the configuration file, modify the MI_WEBTIMEOUT parameter. For more information, see Deploying and Managing Applications. |
| Launch a user application from a Web browser | For the CGI driver on Windows NT, enter the URL http://myhost:myport/ifmx-bin/wcdrvr.exe/myapp.exe For more information, see Deploying and Managing Applications. |
| Specify the location of the log file | Set the MI_WEBLOGFILE parameter in the configuration file. |
| View or remove the contents of the log file | Click the appropriate option under UWC Log in the Universal Web Connect Administration Tool. |
| Write messages to the log file | Use the TRACEMSG variable processing function in an AppPage. Use the wcLogPrintf( ) function in a Universal Web Connect API application. |
| Stop, start, pause, or resume the Universal Web Connect Service | In the Universal Web Connect Administration Tool (or the Universal Web Connect Service Manager on Windows NT), double-click the red light to stop, the yellow light to pause, or the green light to start the service. You can also use the wcinit command line utility to start, stop, pause, or resume the Universal Web Connect service. For more information, see Universal Web Connect Administration Tools. |
Configuring Applications
Deploying and Managing Applications
Glossary
Top of Page . . Product Features . . Product Architecture . . Quick Reference . . Home