In a production environment, it is inconvenient to start an application with a URL such as the following:
http://myappserver:4711/cisnatural/servlet/StartCISPage?PAGEURL=%2Fcisnatural%2FNatLogon.html&xciParameters.natserver=mywebio&xciParameters.natprog=nwo.sh&xciParameters.natport=4712&xciParameters.natparam=stack%3D%28logon+SYSEXNJX%3BMENU-NJX%3BFIN%29
The URL can be shortened by defining a corresponding session profile in the configuration tool. For example:
http://myappserver:4711/cisnatural/servlet/StartCISPage?PAGEURL=%2Fcisnatural%2FNatLogon.html&xciParameters.natsession=DemoApplication
However, this shortened URL is still not practical for security reasons
because end users should not be allowed to access the generic servlet
StartCISPage.
When you define a dedicated servlet for each application, you can easily
define the security constraints for each application in the file
web.xml (for further information on this file, see
Configuring
Security). With the servlet
com.softwareag.cis.server.StartCISPageWithParams, you
define a wrapper servlet for a given Natural for Ajax application so that the
application can later be invoked with a URL such as the following:
http://myappserver:4711/cisnatural/servlet/DemoApplication
The following example shows how you define an application as a servlet in the file web.xml.
<servlet id="DemoApplication">
<servlet-name>DemoApplication</servlet-name>
<display-name>DemoApplication</display-name>
<servlet-class>com.softwareag.cis.server.StartCISPageWithParams</servlet-class>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
<init-param id="OVERWRITE">
<param-name>OVERWRITE</param-name>
<param-value>false</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param id="PAGEURL">
<param-name>PAGEURL</param-name>
<param-value>/cisnatural/NatLogon.html</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param id="xciParameters.natsession">
<param-name>xciParameters.natsession</param-name>
<param-value>Local</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param id="xciParameters.natserver">
<param-name>xciParameters.natserver</param-name>
<param-value>localhost</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param id="xciParameters.natport">
<param-name>xciParameters.natport</param-name>
<param-value>2900</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param id="xciParameters.natparamext">
<param-name>xciParameters.natparamext</param-name>
<param-value>STACK=(LOGON SYSEXNJX;MENU-NJX;FIN)</param-value>
</init-param>
</servlet>
You can omit the parameters
xciParameters.natserver,
xciParameters.natport and
xciParameters.natparamext if the corresponding values
are defined in the session definition that is referenced in
xciParameters.natsession. This the recommended way,
because the settings can thus be changed in the configuration tool at any time
without the need to adapt the file web.xml.
To complete the definition, you define a corresponding servlet mapping in the file web.xml:
<servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>DemoApplication</servlet-name> <url-pattern>/servlet/DemoApplication</url-pattern> </servlet-mapping>
As the last step, you exchange the servlet class
com.softwareag.cis.server.StartCISPage with a different
servlet class, namely
com.softwareag.cis.server.StartCISPageInSession. This
servlet class cannot be called directly; it can only be called in an
Application Designer session which is already active. Therefore, each attempt
to start an arbitrary - not wrapped - application by just building a URL based
on StartCISPage will result in an error message.
To exchange the servlet class, you change the following in the file web.xml
<servlet id="StartCISPage"> <servlet-name>StartCISPage</servlet-name> <display-name>StartCISPage</display-name> <servlet-class>com.softwareag.cis.server.StartCISPage</servlet-class> <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup> </servlet>
to
<servlet id="StartCISPage"> <servlet-name>StartCISPage</servlet-name> <display-name>StartCISPage</display-name> <servlet-class>com.softwareag.cis.server.StartCISPageInSession</servlet-class> <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup> </servlet>
For a workplace application (see
Working with Workplaces in the
Natural for Ajax documentation), the definition looks
slightly different. You do not define the start-up page of the workplace
directly in the PAGEURL parameter. Instead, you define
an intermediate navigation page
/HTMLBasedGUI/com.softwareag.cis.util.navigatetopage.html. The
start-up page of the workplace is specified in the
navPage parameter. The navigation page makes sure that
an Applicaton Designer session is created before it navigates to the start-up
page of the workplace.
<servlet id="WorkplaceDemo">
<servlet-name>WorkplaceDemo</servlet-name>
<display-name>WorkplaceDemo</display-name>
<servlet-class>com.softwareag.cis.server.StartCISPageWithParams</servlet-class>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
<init-param id="OVERWRITE">
<param-name>OVERWRITE</param-name>
<param-value>false</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param id="PAGEURL">
<param-name>PAGEURL</param-name>
<param-value>/HTMLBasedGUI/com.softwareag.cis.util.navigatetopage.html</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param id="navPage">
<param-name>navPage</param-name>
<param-value>/njxdemos/wpdynworkplace.html</param-value>
</init-param>
</servlet>
In this case, the corresponding servlet mapping is defined as follows:
<servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>WorkplaceDemo</servlet-name> <url-pattern>/servlet/WorkplaceDemo</url-pattern> </servlet-mapping>
Note:
For further information on the above mentioned servlets, see the Java
API documentation which is provided with Application Designer.
