Web Development

The Web setup manager utility creates or updates the configuration files needed by your Web application. After you install your Panther Web application server, you can run this utility from any Web browser having access to the HTTP server's programs.

Running this utility creates or updates:

• The initialization file containing Web application settings.

• The requester program for your Web application.

The Panther Web application server supports three types of requester programs:

• CGI (Common Gateway Interface)—The default name is proweb or, for Windows, proweb.exe.

• ISAPI (Microsoft's Internet Information Server API)—The default name is proweb.isa.

• NSAPI (Netscape's Web Server API)—The default name is proweb.nsa.

For a description of the requester process, refer to "Requester Program."

For more information about settings in your web initialization file, refer to Chapter 12, "Web Initialization Options."

Using the Web Setup Manager

Each Panther web application must have an initialization file, which contains configuration settings for the application. The Panther Web Setup Manager helps you create a new initialization file or update an existing one. The steps in this chapter help you create a new Panther web application.

Creating a Web Application

In order to use this utility, you must have completed the installation of the Panther web application server and know the following information:

• The location of your Panther web installation.

• The location of your HTTP server's program directory (usually called cgi-bin or scripts).

  Note: For the O'Reilly HTTP server, use the directory specified for Standard CGI in the O'Reilly Administration dialog. Typically, this is cgi-bin or scripts, not cgi-win.

For information on setting up your web application server, refer to Chapter 2, "Web Application Setup."

To create a new Panther Web application:

1. Start your web browser (for example, MS Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox).
2. In the URL field, type the location of the Panther Web Setup Manager:

   http://hostMachineName/webProgramDirectory/websetup

(For example, http://myhost.com/cgi-bin/websetup).

By default, Create an Application is already selected

3. Choose Continue.

You assign each Web application a unique name which is used to name the application's requester program and the application's initialization (.ini) file.

4. For Application Name, enter the unique name you are using to identify your Web application.
5. For SMBASE, enter the full path pointing to the Panther Web installation.
6. For Program Directory, enter the path to your HTTP server's program directory.

   Note: This should be a directory path, not a URL.

7. Select the web application type: CGI, NSAPI, ISAPI.

   Note: All HTTP servers support CGI. Check with your HTTP server administrator to find out if NSAPI or ISAPI support is available.

8. Choose Continue.
   

   The program creates both a .ini file and an executable specific to your application—in the sample Windows screen, vidstore.ini and the executable vidstore.exe). The next screen will tell you that both files have been created.

9. Choose OK.
   

Each Panther web application can have its own settings which are stored in the initialization file. In the left-hand frame, icons represent the different categories of settings. In the right-hand frame, there are fields to enter your settings with an accompanying explanation of each setting.

10. Settings which you should set or double-check include:

    • Under Directories, in Application Directory, enter the path where the application libraries will be located.

    • Under Server Executables, you can change the path to the jserver and dispatcher executables if they are not in the util directory of the Panther web application installation.

    • Under Server Variables, set Number of Servers to the number of concurrent users. Since this setting greatly affects performance, you need to set it for each web application.

    • Under Licensing, check the path of your license.dat file.

    • Under Caching, a series of variables set the data caching options. If you do not know which options will be used, leave the defaults when first creating your web application and update them later.

    • Under Secure Socket Layer, enter the host IDs needed for the HTTPS protocol.

11. Choose Continue.

Your Panther web application also needs its own environment settings.

12. Settings which you should set or double-check include:

    • Under SMBASE, the location of the Panther web application server installation (entered in the first screen) is automatically displayed.

    • Under Initial JPL, enter the name of the JPL file that will be run when the web application server starts. This JPL file should be in an application library that is available to the web application server.

    • Under Initial Development Libraries, in SMFLIBS, set or check the settings for client libraries, for example client.lib|vidstore.lib.

    • (UNIX only) Under Shared Library Path, the web application server's lib directory should be added to the shared libraries.

(For JetNet and Oracle Tuxedo applications) Depending on whether you are running the Panther web application server on a separate machine from your Panther application server, your settings under 3 Tier Configuration will be different.

13. Choose 3 Tier Configuration from the left-hand menu.
    
    (If running Panther application server and Panther web application server on the same machine):

    In JetNet Configuration File (SMRBCONFIG), type the directory location of your broker.bin file. (It is generally located in the application directory.) Leave the lines for SMRBHOST and SMRBPORT blank.
    
    (If running the servers on different machines):

    Leave the line for JetNet Configuration File (SMRBCONFIG) blank. Enter the information for SMRBHOST and for SMRBPORT.
    Under Work Station Device, check the platform list and enter the location of the tcp directory if needed.

    

14. Choose Continue.

Under Additional Environment Variables, you can enter settings for databases or other optional web settings.

15. For database settings, use an Oracle database as an example. Enter the environment variable name under the Setting column (for example, ORACLE_HOME) and enter its value in the Value column (for example, /usr/oracle).
16. For JetNet and Oracle Tuxedo applications, specify access to the JIF file on this screen. Under Setting, enter the environment variable SMTPJIF; under Value, enter the name of the JIF file located in an application library (for example, jif.bin).
17. After completing any necessary information, choose Continue. A screen informs you that your Panther Web application server file has been created.
    

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