Apple WebObjects 3.5 - Manual (Page 25)

Running a WebObjects Application
25
Now you’ve learned what a WebObjects application looks like and seen the
pieces that you’ll have to write. The next section tells you how to run a
WebObjects application.
Running a WebObjects Application
WebObjects applications run on a web server. Your users connect to a
WebObjects application using web browsers that they run on their own
(client) machines. How does a user start a WebObjects application, and how
does the application communicate with the browser?
Users run a WebObjects application using a Uniform Resource Locator
(URL) similar to the one shown in Figure 4. (Of course, you’d probably
provide a button or a link on a static web page that would take users to this
URL rather than forcing your users to type such a long string.)
Figure 4. A URL to Start a WebObjects Application
To start your own applications, you open a command shell window, go to the
directory that contains your application, and enter the application
command. WebObjects starts up your application, opens the web browser,
and enters the URL in the web browser for you. For example, to start the
Java version of HelloWorld, go to the directory
/WebObjects/Examples/Java/HelloWorldJava/HelloWorldJava.woa , which contains
the executable file, and enter HelloWorld on the command line. On Windows
NT, you can simply navigate to this directory in the Explorer and double-
click the
HelloWorld.exe file.
When you run a WebObjects application, it communicates with the web
browser through the chain of processes shown in Figure 5.
http://sonora/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Examples/HelloWorld
Web server
host name
Name of the
Web server’s
cgi-bin directory
WebObjects
adaptor name
The WebObjects application
directory in