[Prev] [Next] [Top] [Bottom] [Contents] (2 out of 18)

Terminology

A basic understanding of the following terminology will facilitate reading the Sapphire/Web documentation and working through the tutorials.

Activator

The Activator is the GUI action taken by the user that causes the Data Object to be executed. This action is either an Anchor tag being clicked, or a Form Submit Button being pressed.

Alias

An Alias is a copy of an Activator that performs in the same way an Activator would. Once an Alias is created, the Alias can never do anything other than what its Activator does. For example, code and Object Bindings cannot be added to an Alias, and aliases cannot be made aliases for more than one Activator. Aliases must alias Activators of like kind. Form Activators have Forms as Aliases and Anchor Activators have Anchors as Aliases. Aliases cannot become Activators unless they are first removed from the Alias list. If functionality from one Activator is to be used in another Activator, the Activator should be duplicated, not Aliased if the new Activator requires editing.

Arguments

The Argument is the data passed into the Data Object to manipulate data or qualify what data is to be returned. This argument data is provided as any valid C/C++ expression that returns a char *. It can come from HTML Form Input Elements, such as; Hotlists, Program Variables, Defined Constants or Hard-coded Values.

Bind Name

Uniquely identifies an Object Binding. This name is generated automatically when a new data object is loaded into the Object Bind Editor. It can be changed, but you will be warned if it is not unique. The only time it is useful to change the Bind Name is when there are several Object Bindings invoked by the same Activator. It makes the Object Bindings easier to identify for modification.

Data Object

A data object is an object that can manipulate data, or can return results¯it can perform both or neither. Simply described, "data object" can be a noun, or a verb; e.g., a "run" is a noun or "to run" is a verb. It can return an object (the noun), or it can cause an action to take place (a verb).

Data Sites

Data Sites are markers embedded anywhere in your HTML document. These special markers allocate an area for "binding" (placing) data from a Data Object to your HTML document. If the same Data Site appears multiple times in an HTML document, the data bound to that site will be displayed in each occurrence of the Data Site. Data Sites are expressed in this simple format:

##Sa_xxxx##
where xxxx is a variable name by which you wish to refer to that site.

Database Stored Procedures

These objects are vendor specific for Sybase, Oracle and Informix. They are pre-compiled Structured Query Language (SQL) objects stored in the database server. These objects accept arguments and some can return results. See Stored Procedures in the Reference Manual for more information.

Database DSQL Objects

These objects are specific to Sapphire/Web. They provide a powerful mechanism for creating Stored Procedure-like database objects that reside in the generated client application instead of the server. (See the Tutorial in this guide for a 'How to' create a DSQL object).

Developer

The Developer is the one who uses Sapphire/Web to develop World Wide Web applications for others to use.

Distribution

The root of where the Sapphire/Web software was installed. The SAPPHIRE environment variable points to the Distribution.

GIF

Acronym for Graphic Interface Format (GIF), which is the most widely used cross-platform graphics format.

GUI Object

The Graphical User Interface is commonly referred to as a GUI. A GUI object is an object that displays information, or prompts the user for information. Sapphire/Web uses HyperText Markup Language (HTML) for its GUI tags <>. Those generic identifiers are used to display, as well as retrieve, objects of information.

Hotlist

A Hotlist is a dynamically created list of Anchors, that when selected, provide detailed information about what they represent. For instance, let us say we have a Hotlist of Authors Names, which is to be displayed to the user as part of our HTML document. Upon selecting an Author¯ their fullname, address and phone number appears.

Object Binding

An Object Binding is the connection of a data object to GUI Object(s). It is identified by a name unique to the project called the Bind Name. The Object Binding is made up of three parts:

1. Activators
2. Arguments
3. Results

Population Callbacks

When data results are returned by a Data Object, a Population Callback is prompted to insert the data into the bound Data Sites. Population Callbacks allow the developer to do anything necessary with the data. Most of the Population Callbacks that come with Sapphire/Web insert data into specific HTML tags, but the use of the data is up to the developer. If no Population Callback is specified, the data is inserted into the specified Data Site as tabular data with columns padded with spaces of equal width.

Project CGI

A Project CGI is the result of compiling and linking the generated code for the project. A single CGI is created to handle all of the Activators, Templates, Data Objects and Object Bindings in a Sapphire/Web Project.

Results

Results represent the data returned by a Data Object. This returned data is placed in various HTML tags which reside in a Template. The data is inserted into special markers in the Template called Data Sites. These Data Sites can reside anywhere in an HTML file and will be replaced by the data bound to them at run-time. Data is populated by calling a Population Callback.

Templates

Templates are HTML documents or HTML fragments that contain Data Sites. Templates are what Object Bindings bind their results to at run-time. Templates have live data from a Data Object inserted then returned as display in the Web Browser, per the initiated request.

Tool

The Tool is Sapphire/Web.

URL

Acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. URLs are used to specify the location of HTML files and CGIs to be loaded into the Web Browser.

User

The User is the person who will eventually use the deployed application generated by Sapphire/Web.


[Prev] [Next] [Top] [Bottom] [Contents] (2 out of 18)