User Guide

Extending Your Server with Programs 97
Getting Results with Novell Web Services
103-000133-001
August 29, 2001
Novell Confidential
Manual 99a38 July 17, 2001
9 Extending Your Server with Programs
In addition to serving HTML documents, your server can run programs that
interact with clients. These applications that run on the server are called
server-side applications. Client-side applications are downloaded to the client
and run on the client machine.
Your server can run these types of server-side applications:
 Local Common Gateway Interface (LCGI) programs
 JavaScript applications
 Plug-in programs that use the server plug-in APIs, such as the Netscape
Server Plug-In (NSAPI)
This chapter describes how to install Java applets, CGI programs, and
JavaScript applications onto your server. Plug-ins extend or replace your
server’s features. For example, you can use plug-ins to provide a different way
to control access or to log in.
For information on writing and installing plug-ins, see the Novell Developer
Kit Web site (http://www.developer.novell.com/ndk/doc.htm).
Additionally, your server can send server-side JavaScript programs to
clients.This chapter deals mainly with the installation and configuration of
server-side programs.
This chapter also describes the steps for specifying a default query handler
CGI program. A query handler processes text sent to it via the ISINDEX tag
in an HTML file.
Installing Server-Side Programs
JavaScript applications and CGI programs have different strengths and uses.
CGI programs can be written in C, PERL, or other programming languages.
All CGI programs have a standard way to pass information between clients
and servers. JavaScript applications are written in JavaScript, an object-based
scripting language that is easier to learn than an object-oriented programming
language and lends itself to rapid application development.