Getting started with the Web Interface
The Web Interface allows you to use the same functionality in a simple web
browser like the Generic Tool Adaptor or the Eclipse plugin has. Any kind of
web browser can be used which supports the HTML 4.01.
With this extension your users do not have to install OTIF to use OTIF
functions. If you install OTIF and setup the MS IIS web server on your server
machine, your users may publish or fetch any kind of documents through a web
browser.
How to use the package
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First of all you have to setup your IIS web server:
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You have to setup IIS. Go to "Start Menu/Control Panel/Add or Remove
Programs" then choose "Add/Remove Windows Components" and select IIS
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You have to setup the home directory of your web site. Go to "Start
Menu/Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Internet Information Services" and
click on it.
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Go to the "Web Sites/Default Web Site" and click on the Properties. Click on
the "Home Directory" label and set the "Local Path" of the web site.
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The "Local Path" should be set to the [OTIF_installation_directory]/www. The
OTIF installation directory is "C:\Program Files\ISIS\OTIF" by default. So the
"Local Path" should be something similar to "C:\Program Files\ISIS\OTIF\www".
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The installation process set the correct rights for the www folder, but you may
check it by looking at Porperties/Security of www folder using Windows
Exlporer. The Guests Group has to have Read&Execute, List
Folder Contents and Read rights on the www folder and Modify,
Read&Execute, List Folder Contents, Read and Write
rights on the upload folder under www folder.
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You have to start the Default Web Site, (Don't forget to start the Backplane
server process!) and check if everything works correctly. Open a web browser
window and go to 127.0.0.1, you should see the OTIF Generic Tool Adaptor
screen.
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Let's see how you can publish or fetch documents:
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First you have to choose which tool adaptor type you may use to connect to the
Backplane server. Your web browser box will act like the specified ToolAdaptor
type.
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Use the Publish document button to publish a document. The Paradigm
field show you the corresponding paradigm.
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Use the Subscribe button to subscribe to a paradigm. After subscription
the available documents will appear in the web page when the page is refreshed
and there are available documents.
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Use the Unsubscribe button to unsubscribe from a paradigm.
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When you publish a document you may specify an XSLT document or attachments.
The document will be processed by this XSLT file before publishing it. You have
to specify the number of the attachment files on the web page if you want to
send attachments with the document.
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When a document is available you may use the Request document to fetch
the document. After the request process you may download the document from the
web server using the Download button.
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When you request a document you may specify an XSLT document. The fetched
document will be translated by this XSLT file.
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If you want to end your web page session, please use the Click here to logout
link to log out from the Backplane server.
How to create your own OTIF site
You need to be familiar with Active Server Page technology, a
good start point can be the ASP pages in [OTIF_installation_directory]/www.
This simple OTIF site implements all the functionality that you can find in
Generic Tool Adaptor.
The pages are using interface provided by
[OTIF_installation_directory]/bin/Generic_ToolAdaptor_ActiveX.ocx to generate
HTML pages.
The interface methods are the follows:
STDMETHOD(initialize)(/*[in]*/ BSTR parameters, /*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *err);
STDMETHOD(remoteTypes)(/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *ret);
STDMETHOD(remoteParadigms)(/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *ret);
STDMETHOD(getActions)(/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *ret);
STDMETHOD(getSubscribable)(/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *ret);
STDMETHOD(getPublishable)(/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *ret);
STDMETHOD(loginToolAdaptor)(/*[in]*/ BSTR type, /*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *err);
STDMETHOD(publishDocument)(/*[in]*/ BSTR name, /*[in]*/ BSTR version, /*[in]*/
long keepAlive, /*[in]*/ BSTR remarks,
/*[in]*/ BSTR filename, /*[in]*/ BSTR xslt_filename, /*[in]*/ BSTR attachments,
/*[in]*/ long update_id, /*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *err);
STDMETHOD(subscribeParadigm)(/*[in]*/ BSTR par_name, /*[in]*/ BSTR par_version,
/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *err);
STDMETHOD(availableDocuments)(/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *ret);
STDMETHOD(requestDocument)(/*[in]*/ BSTR extension, /*[in]*/ BSTR mga_par,
/*[in]*/ BSTR directory, /*[in]*/ long doc_id,
/*[in]*/ BSTR xslt_filename, /*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *err);
STDMETHOD(availableGMEParadigms)(/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *ret);
STDMETHOD(logout)(/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *ret);
STDMETHOD(unsubscribeParadigm)(/*[in]*/ BSTR par_name, /*[in]*/ BSTR
par_version, /*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *err);
STDMETHOD(getExistingDocuments)(/*[out,retval]*/ BSTR *ret);
You need to design your own ASP site and implement (with VBS or
JScript) the control using the methods above to reach OTIF's core
functionality.
Dependencies
This package depends on (and fully compatible with):
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OTIF v1.3.6
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Microsoft IIS 5.0 and higher
Contact and support
If you have any question, please contact:
Zsolt Kalmar
Upgrades, accessories are posted to the
project website
Credits