Adapter and handler framework for web server extensions

[0002] This patent document includes a microfiche appendix consisting of one microfiche having 32 frames.

[0003] 1. Field of the Invention

[0004] The present invention relates generally to a gateway application programming interface (API) between a World Wide Web (WWW) server and one or more computer programs external thereto, and more specifically, to an object-oriented programming (OOP) based adapter and handler framework for Web server extensions.

[0005] 2. Description of Related Art

[0006] A variety of different WWW server systems are known which are used to serve or deliver data between client software or browsers connected to a WWW server on a common network. For example, IBM, Microsoft, and Netscape each market WWW servers. In addition, each of these servers use a variety of mechanisms to add in functionality not in the basic server software and link with other servers containing other information content.

[0007] Currently, several standard gateway interfaces exist for interfacing with a WWW server and one or more of these other servers. These interfaces include the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), the Netscape Server API (NSAPI), and the Internet Connection Server API (ICAPI).

[0008] However, each of the interfaces shares the same drawback: non-portability. An extension written for one API requires significant re-work to port to another API. Worse yet, an extension written to a given API requires modification if moved to a different operating system (and NSAPI and ICAPI currently exist only on a few platforms).

[0009] Thus, a need exists for a way to eliminate or minimize the need to rewrite extensions for each API or operating system. In addition, it would be advantageous to insulate extensions from changes that may occur in the API itself (e.g., new versions of the API). The present invention provides a solution to these and other problems, and offers other advantages over the prior art.

[0010] To overcome the limitations in the prior art described above the present invention discloses an object-oriented programming (OOP) based adapter and handler framework for Web server extensions. The adapter and handler framework provides a generic interface between a Web server program and computer programs external to the Web server program (also known as extensions). The framework isolates the extensions from Web server and operating system dependencies. Moreover, the framework can be easily customized to conform to specific interface protocols.

[0011] In the preferred embodiment, the adapter receives a request from a Web server program, and in response to the request the adapter instantiates an IWebRequest subclass as a request object in which it passes a request to the handler, an IWebReply subclass as a reply object in which the handler returns the response, and an IWebRequestHandler subclass as a handler object to perform the actual processing of the request. The adapter then transfers control to the handler, along with the request and reply objects. The handler object accesses the request via the request object, processes the request, and generates a response that is accessed via the reply object. Thereafter, the handler object transfers control back to the adapter, which in turn transfers control back to the Web server program.

[0012] These and various other features as well as advantages which characterize the present invention will be apparent upon reading of the following detailed description and review of the associated drawings.

[0013] Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numbers represent corresponding parts throughout:

[0014] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the environment of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0015] FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates the relationship between the adapter and the handler according to the present invention;

[0016] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary sequence of steps performed by both the adapter and the handler according to the present invention; and

[0017] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary sequence of steps performed by the handler according to the present invention.

[0018] In the following description of the preferred embodiment, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration a specific embodiment in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0019] The present invention is an object-oriented framework that provides a generic interface between a Web server program and computer programs external to the Web server program (also known as extensions). The framework isolates the extensions from Web server and operating system dependencies. Moreover, the framework can be easily customized to conform to specific interface protocols.

[0020] In the present invention, the framework comprises two components that fit between a Web server program and an external computer program that is located either locally or remotely from the Web server program. The component that connects to the Web server program is referred to as an adapter and the component that connects to the external computer program is referred to as a handler.

[0021] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the environment of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and more particularly, illustrates a typical distributed computer system 10 using the Internet or other network 12 to connect client system 14 to server system 16. A typical combination of resources may include clients system 14 that are personal computers or workstations, and server system 16 that are personal computers, workstations, minicomputers, or mainframes. The network 12 may comprise networks such as LANs, WANs, SNA networks, and the Internet.

[0022] FIG. 1 also illustrates further details of the interaction between a client system 14 and a server system 16. The client system 14 executes a Web browser 18, such as IBM's Web Explorer, or Netscape's Navigator, or Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The server system 16 executes a Web daemon 20, such as IBM's HTTP Daemon or other WWW daemon.

[0023] The user interacts with the Web browser 18 and, at some point, executes an HTTP command via the Web browser 18 that results in the communication with the Web daemon 20. The Web daemon 20 selects an appropriate document in response, for example, an HTML input form, and transmits the document to the Web browser 18 where it is displayed to the user.

[0024] The user manipulates the HTML input form via the Web browser 18, by selecting functions and/or entering data into input boxes. When the user invokes a “submit” or “post” command in conjunction with the HTML input form, the data from the HTML input form, along with the command, is transmitted to the Web daemon 20. In the present invention, the submit or post command typically is a hyperlinked item from the HTML input form which comprises a universal resource locator (URL) that invokes an adapter 22 and handler 24. The adapter 22 and handler 24 can be invoked from an HTML form in one of two ways: either by an HTML anchor reference or by an HTML form action.

[0025] An HTML anchor reference is typically formatted as follows: “<A HREF=http:// {web-server} / {adapter-name} / [?variable_name=variable_value & . . . ] >”. An HTML form action is typically formatted as follows: “<FORM METHOD={method} ACTION=http:// {web-server} / {adapter-name} >”.

[0026] In both of the above examples, the following parameters are used:

[0027] “{web-server}” identifies the Web server 16;

[0028] “{adapter-name}” identifies the adapter 22;

[0029] “{method}” is either “GET” or “POST”, as specified under the HTTP standard;

[0030] “[ ?variable_name=variable_value & . . . ]” are parameters that are passed to the adapter 22.

[0031] The adapter 22 receives the user input data from the HTML input form. Where {method}=“GET”, the input data is passed along with the URL and received in the QUERY_STRING variable, a request-specific environment variable. The QUERY_STRING variable holds the input data in the form “[variable_name=variable_value & . . . ]”. The adapter 22 extracts the variable_name and variable_value from the QUERY_STRING, associates each variable_value with the corresponding variable_name, and invokes the procedure or function for which it was created using the proper variables.

[0032] Where {method}=“POST”, the input data is received through the standard input (or stdin) file stream. The adapter 22 performs the same extracting, associating, and invoking steps as discussed above with respect to the “GET” method. However, prior to performing these steps, the adapter 22 must first read the stdin file stream into a string variable.

[0033] In the present invention, the adapter 22 passes the incoming request to a handler 24 for processing or for communication to external computer programs executing locally or remotely. Thereafter, the handler 24 returns a response to the adapter 22 for communication back to the Web daemon 20. The results from the external computer program are then forwarded from the Web daemon 20 to the Web browser 18 according to standard conventions. In this manner, the adapter 22 and handler 24 support access to computer programs external to the Web daemon 28, such as dynamic document creation programs, database management systems, etc.

[0034] In the present invention, the adapter 22 can be designed for most gateway and interface protocols, such as Common Gateway Interface (CGI), Netscape Server Application Programming Interface (NSAPI), and Internet Connection Server Application Programming Interface (ICAPI). However, the handler 24 is the focal point of the framework. Further, multiple handlers 24a-24ccan be used with one adapter 22 to handle multiple, different requests. In addition, a single type of handler 24 can be executed on different server systems 16, provided each server system 16 uses a conforming protocol.

[0035] FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates the relationship between the adapter 22 and the handler 24 according to the present invention. In the present invention, the adapter 22 creates a handler 24 from a request handling class to perform the actual processing of the request.

[0036] An example of this class is implemented in the preferred embodiment as the IMWebRequestHandler class. The IMWebRequestHandler class, which is described in more detail in Appendices A and B attached hereto, provides a protocol for handling HTTP requests. In addition, the IMWebRequestHandler class contains a handleRequest function:

[0037] void handleRequest(IWebRequest& request, IWebReply& reply)=0;

[0038] This function is also described more detail in Appendix A attached hereto. The handleRequest function is overridden by specific instances of handlers 22.

[0039] Prior to invoking the handleRequest function, however, the adapter 30 creates a request object 26 from a request class, in which it passes the request to the handler 24, and creates a reply object 28 from a reply class, in which the handler 24 returns its response.

[0040] An example of the request class is implemented in the preferred embodiment as the IWebRequest class, and an example of the reply class is implemented in the preferred embodiment as the IWebReply class. Both of these classes are described in more detail in Appendices A and B attached hereto.

[0041] The IWebRequest and IWebReply classes provide the templates for defining the behavior for processing HTTP requests and replies. These classes provide the functions and data elements needed to analyze and generate HTTP data streams. In the preferred embodiment, the IMWebRequestHandler subclasses must access the request from an instance of the IWebRequest class, i.e., the request object 26, and must access the reply from an instance of the IWebReply class, i.e., the reply object 28.

[0042] The IWebRequest and IWebReply classes are subclassed according to the gateway or interface being used in the adapter 22. For example, CGI, NSAPI, and ICAPI adapters are constructed from different pre-defined subclasses of IWebRequest and IWebReply.

[0043] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed by the adapter 22 and the handler 24 according to the present invention. The flowchart is divided into two columns labeled “Adapter” and “Handler” to distinguish the functions performed by the adapter 22 from the functions performed by the handler 24. Block 30 represents the adapter 22 receiving a request from the Web daemon 20. Block 32 represents the adapter 22 instantiating the IWebRequest subclass as a request object 26 for accessing request variables, wherein the request object 26 communicates with the Web daemon 20 regarding the request as required. Block 34 represents the adapter 22 instantiating the IWebReply subclass as a reply object 28 for accessing reply variables, wherein the reply object 28 communicates with the Web daemon 20 regarding the response as required. Block 36 represents the adapter 22 instantiating the IWebRequestHandler subclass as a handler 24 object. Block 38 represents the adapter 22 transferring control to the handler 24, along with the request and reply objects 26 and 28. Block 40 represents the handler 24 accessing the request via the request object 26, processing the request, and generating a reply that is accessed via the reply object 28 in response thereto. Block 42 represents the handler 24 transferring control back to the adapter 22 and Block 44 represents the adapter 22 transferring control back to the Web daemon 20. As indicated above, the reply object 28 communicates the reply back to the Web daemon 20 as required.

[0044] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary sequence of steps performed by the handler 24 at Block 40 of FIG. 3 according to the present invention. In this example, the handler 24 provides international text support for documents.

[0045] The international text support consists of: (1) functions in the request object 26 to determine what languages and character sets the browser 18 can accept; (2) functions in the reply object 28 to specify the language and character set of the output generated in response to the request; and (3) functions in the reply object 28 to translate characters in the output to the specified character set. Information concerning language and character set support in browsers 18 are defined by the HTTP 1.1 Specification, which is incorporated by reference herein.

[0046] In this example, there are two document types: (1) generated documents, such as an order form automatically generated in response to a request; and (2) pre-encoded documents, such as a newspaper article previously selected as the output to a particular response. Each type of document requires slightly different functionality.

[0047] Block 46 represents the handler 24 initiating execution by overriding the handleRequest function from the IWebRequestHandle subclass. Further, Block 46 represents the handler 24 receiving pointers to the request object 26 and reply object 28 passed to it by the adapter 22.

[0048] Block 48 represents the handler 24 testing the request object 26 to determine whether or not a particular language or character set is “acceptable” to the browser 18. Web browsers 18 can specify a ranked list of languages and character sets that they can support, and this information is accessed via the request object 26. The functions return a “true” indication if the browser 18 accepts the language/character set and return the ranking (zero—first choice). In the event that no language/character set has been specified on the request, these functions return “true” for any language/character set and assign a zero ranking. For character set values, ranking is defined by the appearance order; for language values, ranking is derived from the “quality” values (an estimate of the user's comprehension of that language) as defined in the HTTP/1.1 specification.

[0049] Block 50 represents the handler 24 selecting the output for the response and determining if it is acceptable to the browser 16.

[0050] For example, if only static text is used to produce the output, then the language is pre-defined by the developer. In another example, if text comes from an archive of localized text, then the handler 24 iterates over accepted languages until it finds localized text in the archive from which to generate output. Finally, if no acceptable language can be found, then an exception condition occurs, and default output is generated.

[0051] For pre-encoded documents, the steps performed are almost exactly the same as for generated documents, with some exceptions. For example, there is no need to select the character set, but instead the handler 24 simply determines whether the character set is acceptable.

[0052] Block 52 represents the handler 24 setting the language in the reply object 28.

[0053] Block 54 represents the handler 24 setting the character set in the reply object 28.

[0054] Block 56 represents the handler 25 attaching a header to the reply in the reply object 28. Preferably, when a new header is attached to the reply object 28, a transcoder function is created (using the character set specified by the header) and used for all subsequent generated output (after any filtering is applied).

[0055] Block 58 represents the handler 25 generating the output for the request, which is transcoded using the character set previously specified. This output is accessed via the reply object 28.

[0056] Finally, Block 60 represents the handler 24 transferring control back to the adapter 22.

[0057] Various pseudocode examples of handlers 24 are described below. These examples rely on functions and classes described in more detail in Appendix A attached hereto.

[0058] Following is an example of a handler 24 (IHelloWorld) that returns an HTML document in response to a user request:

[0059] Following is an example of a handler 24 that uses a form to get the user's name. The first page returned simply asks for the user's name, and the second page says hello:

[0060] Following is an example of a handler 24 which randomly redirects the user to one of four predefined Web sites:

[0061] Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize that the examples provided above are for illustrative purposes only and do not limit the scope of the present invention.

[0062] Various pseudocode examples of adapters 22 are described below. These examples also rely on functions and classes described in more detail in Appendices A and B attached hereto.

[0063] Following is an example of source code for an adapter 22 conforming to the CGI standard:

[0064] In the above example, the adapter instantiates an ICGIRequest, a subclass of IWebRequest that uses CGI environment variables and standard input. The adapter also instantiates an IStandardOutReply, a subclass of IWebReply that writes output to the standard output (“stdout”). Finally, the adapter instantiates an IHelloWorld, a subclass of IWebRequestHandler that process the request and generates the reply.

[0065] Similarly, following is an example of source code for an adapter 22 conforming to the NSAPI standard:

[0066] Following is an example of source code for an adapter 22 conforming to the ICAPI standard:

[0067] Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize that the examples provided above are for illustrative purposes only and do not limit the scope of the present invention.

[0068] The above examples illustrate the simplest form of adapter 22 and the handler 24, in which the handler 24 is statically linked to the adapter 22. Using this method, a new adapter 22 must be created for each type of handler 24.

[0069] In the present invention, however, the handler 24 may be dynamically linked to the adapter 22. Consider a handler 24, IDynamicHandler, which retrieves an object reference out of a URL in a user request, uses runtime functionality to instantiate the handler 24 using the object reference, and then passes control to the handler 24.

[0070] An example for IDynamicHandler is provided below:

[0071] In the above example, a single extension program has been created which dynamically invokes handlers 24 based on the contents of the URL in the user request, or based on a default if none is provided in the user request.

[0072] The above example, IDynamicHandler, is easily extended to invoke handlers 24 with persistent state, e.g., by saving the handler state to disk. Such persistent handlers 24 are quite useful for a number of applications, such as caching a client's state, holding connection information for remote databases, etc.

[0073] Another variation on handlers 24 would be remote handlers 24 running as a separate process. For example, under CGI, each request is handled by a new process, and the process state must be re-created for each request, thereby resulting in poor performance. However, the adapter 22 could be modified to instantiate a first handler 24, IRemoteHandler, which then forwards the requests to a second handler 24 running as a separate, persistent process.

[0074] Further, such remote handlers 24 could be used for load balancing purposes. By pooling a collection of remote handlers 24, with some additional load querying functionality, an adapter 22 can distribute requests across multiple (perhaps replicated) remote handlers 24.

[0075] This concludes the description of the preferred embodiment of the invention. The following describes some alternative embodiments for accomplishing the present invention.

[0076] In alternative embodiments, other types of computers, such as a mainframe, minicomputer, or personal computer, could be used to implement the present invention.

[0077] In addition, the present invention is not limited by a specific programming language. The server adapter and request handler may be implemented in other programming languages, for example, C, C++, PERL, JAVA, Cobol, etc.

[0078] Moreover, input and output data streams in formats other than HTTP and HTML are within the scope of the invention.

[0079] In summary, the present invention discloses an object-oriented programming (OOP) based adapter and handler framework for Web server extensions. The adapter and handler framework provides a generic interface between a Web server program and computer programs external to the Web server program (also known as extensions). The framework isolates the extensions from Web server and operating system dependencies. Moreover, the framework can be easily customized to conform to specific interface protocols.

[0080] In the preferred embodiment, the adapter receives a request from a Web server program, and in response to the request the adapter instantiates an IWebRequest subclass as a request object in which it passes a request to the handler, an IWebReply subclass as a reply object in which the handler returns the response, and an IWebRequestHandler subclass as a handler object to perform the actual processing of the request. The adapter then transfers control to the handler, along with the request and reply objects. The handler object accesses the request via the request object, processes the request, and generates a response that is accessed via the reply object. Thereafter, the handler object transfers control back to the adapter, which in turn transfers control back to the Web server program.

[0081] The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.

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