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Specifications
- 1. Sapphire/Web builds Web applications that reuse Enterprise "objects" and allow the ability to develop and encapsulate business logic.
- 2. Sapphire/Web provides the following deployment options:
- a. CGI
- b. Application server from an NSAPI server extension.
- c. Oracle Web cartridge for Oracle Web server 2.x and 3.x.
- d. FastCGI application for OMI Web Server.
- e. FastCGI application from an Apache 1.52a server extension.
- f. FastCGI from any Web server using a small CGI. Sapphire/Web applications can be changed from one to the other with just a change of a project option. This prevents you from being locked in to a particular Web server or operating system just to get a performance increase.
- Item c is a very powerful feature. With Oracle Web cartridges, you can use inter-cartridge communication based on IIOP to use the PL/SQL and Java Oracle Web cartridges. Oracle provides load balancing and process management, as well as highly optimized networking. Oracle cartridges can be used with a Netscape server.
- Items b through e, allow for the highest performance options in most cases. What may be surprising is that item a above, in some cases, is a more scalable solution.
- For example, on the night of the U.S. Presidential Election in 1996, Sapphire/Web generated live election results of all the elections across the country for the CBS Web site. The site received about 10 million hits in a few hours - the ultimate in scaleability. No other Web site was handle that volume.
- Sapphire/Web was called in to the rescue when one of our competitors, who had previously said that CGI was "bad" and how well their applications scaled and how easy their applications were to use, delivered absolutely nothing after 1 month of work, just 1 week before the election date.
- The CBS site had already determined the data model, designed the HTML page layout and links, chosen a Database server, Web server, and deployment Operating system. In addition they had already designed a strategy for scaleability.
- Within a few days of installation, the Sapphire/Web application ran flawlessly. Sapphire, used in CGI mode, generated 250+ Web pages from HTML templates, in just 10 seconds and the pages were pushed out to the Web servers.
- Here CGI beat all other solutions and Sapphire/Web fit the enterprise' requirements. The robust and ultimately scalable application was developed in very little time.
- Therefore we would recommend you to watch out for Web 'tools" which only offer limited solution options. They will limit you and you will need other tools for other applications with a new set or Enterprise "objects" and skills.
- 3. Sapphire/Web database deployment options include:
- a. Direct and native Oracle 7.x
- b. Direct and native Sybase 4.9.1, system 10, and system 11
- c. Direct and native Informx 6.x and 7.x
- d. Direct and native Microsoft SQL Server 6.x
- e. Direct and native DB2
- f. ODBC (also direct).
- Note that use of the words "Direct and native" in the above. The term, "native", means that Sapphire/Web does not just work with an ODBC driver for items a through e. Sapphire/Web allows you to take advantage of the database vendors' native database libraries to gain special capabilities and increased performance.
- Some of our competitors only offer ODBC which can quite limiting in many cases. The term, "Direct", means that Sapphire allows you to reach these native capabilities without the addition of an extra networking layer that some of our competitors use to implement native capabilities.
- You can also use our native database gateways, but for large result sets this can be inefficient with the extra layer of networking. So choose either our database gateways or "Direct and native" for a performance increase for large row sets.
- 4. Sapphire Web client technologies include:
- a. HTML
- b. Java framework
- c. Java Data Control for use with JavaScript or VBScript frameworks.
- d. ActiveX Data Control for use with JavaScript or VBScript frameworks.
- e. JavaScript Data Control for use with JavaScript or VBScript frameworks.
- f. VRML
- g. ActiveX Data Control for use with any OLE based technology.
- h. Stand alone Java framework for use outside of a Java browser.
- Item d allows Sapphire/Web applications to be scripted by high-powered visual tools like ActiveX Control Pad and Internet Studio.
- 5. Sapphire/Web supports designing on one OS and deploying on another. For example, use Windows 95/NT to develop in a user-friendly environment but deploy on UNIX for performance. Sapphire/Web applications run on more operating systems than any tool on the market:
- a. SUN/OS 4.1.3
- b. Sun Solaris 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.5.1
- c. HP 9.x, 10.x
- d. SGI 5.3, 6,2, 6.3, 6.4
- e. IBM AIX 3.2.5 and 4.1.3
- f. DEC UNIX 3.2 and 4.0
- g. Pyramid SINIX-N
- h. Windows 95 both Enterprise and Personal editions
- i. Windows NT 3.5.1 Workstation and Server on Intel for both Enterprise and Personal editions of Sapphire/Web
- j. Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and Server on Intel for both Enterprise and Personal editions of Sapphire/Web
- k. Windows NT 3.5.1 Workstation and Server on Alpha
- l. Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and Server on Alpha
- m. Other ports can be done on request
- 6. Sapphire/Web provides intelligent database connections management including connection reuse even in CGI mode. Connections can be multiplexed. Dead connections are detected and auto recovery provided.
- 7. Sapphire/Web provides automatic load balancing across multiple server boxes. A Sapphire/Web server application can be deployed across as many boxes as needed even across different operating systems, breaking the UNIX/NT boundary.
- 8. Sapphire/Web includes state management functionality and a state server.
- 9. Sapphire/Web generated applications integrate with:
- a. ActiveServerPages(.asp) (formerly Denali) from Microsoft.
- b. Oracle's PL/SQL and Java Cartridges.
- c. Informix -Web Connect
- d. Netscape LiveWire applications
- Item a allows Sapphire to take advantage of the intrinsic objects (like state management and tips of the day) that come with ActiveServer. Item a also implies that Sapphire/Web integrates with Server Scripting languages like VBScript and JavaScript.
- Others in the works are PerlScript, REXX Script, and possibly Tcl or COBOL Script. Item b allows Sapphire to include server-side Java classes.
- 10. Sapphire/Web's client objects can be used with future scripting languages which may include:
- a. REXX Script
- b. COBOL Script
- c. Tcl
- d. PerlScript
- 11. Sapphire/Web provides client frameworks which allow the developer to build complete Java, JavaScript, VBScript, or ActiveX applications with select, insert, update, delete, login, and refresh capabilities with little or no coding. Developers can build their own frameworks based on Sapphire objects in little time.
- 12. Sapphire/Web offers customization features which help OEMs.
- 13. Sapphire/Web Objects are designed for third party component integration from other commercial vendors.
- Sapphire/Web integrates more than just database objects from the Enterprise. The FUNC object interface allows hooks to CORBA, DCE, DCOM, JAVA, RPC, and just about any other Enterprise object. Once an object or object system is exposed through Sapphire/Web's FUNC interface, the objects become "first class objects". This means that they gain all the visual power of Sapphire as well as all its client technologies. Sapphire/Web achieves this capability through its powerful object architecture. This promotes the greatest level of object encapsulation, polymorphism, and inheritance of any development tool.
- 14. Sapphire/Web works with other Web protocols like VRML, both as activators and templates, and can be customized to work with new protocols which don't even exist yet.
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