INomads Intro
From InomadsWiki
iNomads
This wiki describes the basic aspects of iNomads; what it does, setup and configuration, limitations, and its usage. The subsequent sections of this document provide details on some of the more advanced features.
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What is iNomads?
iNomads provides a web based environment that allows Nomads screens and panels to be run over the web from any industry standard web browser. Unlike standard Nomads panels, the target device does not have to be running WindX, JavX or be a Windows workstation. No download or install is required by the end-user, standard browser functionality (HTML and JavaScript) is used to render and process the panels.
While some functionality is limited due to the fact that the application is running within a browser, iNomads provides a number of advantages over running your application using WindX or JavX. The most important advantage is that iNomads requires no special software to be loaded on the workstation. Virtually any browser that supports JavaScript and Style Sheets can be used. This allows end users to access and run their application from an Internet Café, at a client, at a hotel or conference business center, even on a cell phone. With no software download or installation requirements, Nomads based applications can run from virtually anywhere and via any web compatible device.
iNomads also extends standard Nomads functionality to provide for a better, faster online experience utilizing the latest in Ajax technologies. Controls that contain large data sets such as grid and list views, are downloaded on demand automatically. In addition, since there is tight integration between the server and the browser client, application logic that interacts with the controls actually interacts with what are effectively shadow controls on the server. This further reduces transmissions between the server and the browser making iNomads, in many cases, faster than standard Nomads for many applications.
As an added bonus, since iNomads is a true browser based solution, your application can be easily customized through the use of templates and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). These allow you to not only wrap your application within web pages but also to independently control the look and feel of many of the controls.
How iNomads Works
iNomads takes your Nomads panels and converts them to Dynamic HTML (DHTML) and along with the associated JavaScript provides an AJAX based interface to your application.
iNomads itself is not a web server but rather uses a web server as the go-between your application and the end-user browser. iNomads works currently with either the PxPlus Web server or the industry standard Apache HTTP server.
When the web server receives a request for an iNomads transaction it will launch a background process on the host server. The process is assigned a session ID that is used to uniquely identify the process on the server.
The process then runs iNomads which will present your Nomads panels as HTML web pages. These web pages are sent back to the web server for subsequent delivery to the workstation. The background process then stays active waiting for subsequent input from the workstation.
Once the Nomads base transaction is complete (the program/panel exits), the background process will send a final web page to the workstation and then terminate.
From the users perspective, they will see the same basic panel and control layout as they would normally see when running a Nomads panel except that the panels are running within a browser as opposed to running within an application, such as, WindX or JavX.
Terminology
In order to understand how to setup and use iNomads, you should be familiar with the following terminology, which you will find throughout this document:
| Term
| Description
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| HTML
| HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is the method/language used to design and control web pages. It is a text-based language that consists of a series of "Tags" that both describes and controls the presentation of the web page.
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| JavaScript
| JavaScript is a client-side programming language that is supported by almost all web browsers in the market. It is used in conjunction with HTML to control and enhance the functionality of the web page. It is NOT Java but rather a Java-like language. JavaScript support comes preinstalled with all major browsers thus no download or installation is required to use this language.
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| AJAX
| AJAX is the term used that loosely describes the dynamic interaction of web pages by JavaScript, Flash, or other client-side browser languages with a host application.
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| Style Sheets
| Style Sheets, or more exactly Cascading Style Sheets often referred to as CSS, is a methodology employed to control the presentation aspects of a web page. Items, such as, Font, Colour, backgrounds, etc., are controlled by Style Sheets allowing the underlying HTML to be rendered differently by simply changing the style sheet.
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| Panel
| A Panel is a Nomads screen designer layout that defines the look and processing rules of a graphical screen.
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| Library
| A Library is a system file in which panel descriptors are kept.
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| Transaction
| iNomads uses Transactions, and in particular, a Transaction ID (TXID), as a means to identify what process is to be performed. Each transaction in the system contains a Panel name, Library, working directory, template, and an option exit URL. When iNomads is run, it uses the TXID to determine what panel is to be displayed/processed.
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| Templates
| A Template is the iNomads term used to describe the mechanism used to control the presentation layout of the Nomads panels. By using different templates, the same Nomads panel can appear differently allowing the application to tailored to meet your specific client’s needs.
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| Session ID
| A Session ID is the random code used by iNomads that uniquely identifies the background process. This code is dynamically assigned by iNomads when a new process is started.
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Demonstration System
A demonstration system has been setup using the Application 2007 Nomads demonstration programs. The application programs on this site were not modified in order to run under iNomads although a few small changes were made to application in order for it to run on Linux and to prevent uncontrolled access to system files.
For more information see the Sample Application section.
