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WebObjects is an environment for building and deploying World Wide Web applications. For development, it provides a scripting language and objects that you use to create web applications. For deployment, it provides a system of interrelated components that connect your WebObjects applications to the Web. WebObjects development topics are discussed in more detail later in this chapter. This section discusses the parts of WebObjects related to deployment.
Connecting a WebObjects application to the Web involves the following:
- An HTTP server. You can use any HTTP server that uses the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) or the Netscape Server API (NSAPI).
- A WebObjects adaptor. A WebObjects adaptor connects WebObjects applications to the Web by acting as an intermediary between web applications and HTTP servers. Adaptors insulate applications from server interfaces by handling all server communication. Simply by switching adaptors, you use a different HTTP server and a different server interface without modifying application code.
- WebObjects provides an adaptor for servers that use the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and an adaptor for the Netscape Commerce Server that uses the Netscape Server API (NSAPI).
- A WebObjects application executable. The application executable receives incoming requests and responds to them, usually by returning a dynamically generated HTML page. This executable can be a compiled application linked with the WebObjects library, or it can be one of the two default WebObjects application executables: DefaultApp or EOFDefaultApp.
- If the application doesn't contain any compiled code, you use one of the default applications. Instead of building your own executable, you implement all the application logic in script files. The default applications use these scripts to respond to requests.
Users can use any web browser to connect to a WebObjects application. As shown in Figure 1, when an HTTP server receives a request for a WebObjects application, it forwards the request to the WebObjects adaptor. The adaptor in turn forwards the request to the WebObjects application. Similarly, after an application generates a response---usually an HTML page---the application sends the response to the WebObjects adaptor, and the adaptor sends the response to the HTTP server.
Figure 1. Chain of Communication between Browser and WebObjects
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