Frontier-based HTTP Client
The code described on this page is part of Frontier 5.0.1.system.verbs.builtIns.tcp.httpClient
The goal is to have a simple complete gateway to HTTP from Frontier.
The initial code was assembled from various sample scripts by Dave Winer. Code cleanup and proxy support added by Alan German.
It's got a long parameter list, but requires no configuration, it doesn't run off a user.xxx table.
The target user of this code is someone who needs to understand how it works. It should be good sample code for other applications.
tcp.httpClient is self-contained, it only calls other verbs in the tcp table.
For examples see tcp.examples.httpGetTest which calls a cgi running on betty.userland.com and tcp.examples.httpPutTest which sends an XML query to the same machine.
Why?
HTTP is the foundation on which all the new XML-based protocols are based.
We needed a complete and standardized way for Frontier-hosted applications to talk on the client side of HTTP. We already have pieces in place on the server side. It's a bootstrap process. We'll move over to the server side next, and fill out our XML functionality.
Next steps
Betty is also running Apache for Windows. Next week we should have a COM-based DLL that connects the two apps. We'll release C sample source code for the client and the server, so other people will know how to connect to Frontier as a COM-based CGI server. (The same interfaces will allow Frontier to be a generalized COM server. In fact the sample code will illustrate the basic principles of COM, much in the way our sample code on the Mac documented the Apple Event Manager.)
To non-technical people
XML is like the SuperBowl for techies.
Everyone's excited about it, and we're all moving as fast as we can to get our software in place to benefit from the boom we think is going to come.
There's no time to explain! Rush rush rush.
This must be quite daunting if you don't know the difference between a RPC and a CORBA and a XML or a DTD or a Who-Knows-What. But a lot of people are expending a lot of energy on this, and that's good enough for me!
What do I think? XML is going to be *the* file format for the rest of my career in the software business. That's why I'm
Still diggin!
Dave Winer
Friday, February 13, 1998 at 3:59:42 PM
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This page was last built on 3/2/98; 5:16:57 AM by Dave Winer. dave@scripting.com. |