Apple WebObjects 3.5 - Manual (Page 26)

Chapter 1 What Is a WebObjects Application?
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Figure 5. Chain of Communication Between the Browser and Your WebObjects Application
Here is a brief description of these processes:
• An HTTP server . Any HTTP server that uses the Common Gateway Interface
(CGI), the Netscape Server API (NSAPI), or the Internet Server API
(ISAPI).
• A WebObjects adaptor . A WebObjects adaptor connects WebObjects applications
to the web by acting as an intermediary between web applications and
HTTP servers.
• A WebObjects application executable . The application executable receives incoming
requests and responds to them, usually by returning a dynamically
generated HTML page.
Two of these, WebObjects adaptors and WebObjects application executables,
are described next.
WebObjects Adaptors
A WebObjects adaptor receives requests from the server, repackages the
requests in a standard format, and forwards them to an appropriate WebObjects
application (see Figure 6).
Figure 6. The Role of a WebObjects Adaptor
All WebObjects adaptors communicate with WebObjects applications in the
same way, but they communicate with HTTP servers using whatever interface
is provided by a particular server. For example, the WebObjects CGI adaptor
uses the Common Gateway Interface, the Netscape Interface adaptor uses the
Netscape Server API (NSAPI), and the Internet Server adaptor uses the
HTTP
Server
Web
Browser
WebObjects
Adaptor
WebObjects
Application
Server
Interface
WebObjects
Interface
HTTP
Server
WebObjects
Adaptor
WebObjects
Application