Conference pamsrc::objectbroker_dtc

15.0. "Active Server Pages + DTC=killer combination" by HOUBA::MEHERS (Damian, http://bigbird.geo.dec.com/) Wed Feb 05 1997 06:03

    
    Hi,
    
    I'm looking at DTC from a WWW AD&I point of view.
    
    Microsoft's Active Server Pages lets you write scripts (typically in
    VBScript, or JavaScript), which sit behind a WWW Server, and respond to
    requests from Web Browsers. (Netscape's equivalent is LiveWire).
    
    The Scripts are embedded inside standard HTML pages, and parsed and
    interpretted by the *Web Server*.  They can generate additional HTML
    which is sent down to the Browser - the Web Browser does not see any of
    the Server-Side ASP scripts.
    
    To get to the point - the really neat thing about ASP is the ease with
    which it is possible to talk to OLE Automation Servers, aka Active
    Server Components. DTC means that it is now possible to talk transparently
    to OBB.
    
    I recommend pushing very strongly the new and legacy application access
    possabilities using ASP/DTC/OBB.  "WWW Enabling Applications" is
    currently a very hot topic - the combination of Active Server Pages,
    Desk Top Connection, and ObjectBroker is exactly the kind of
    combination required to build sound WWW AD&I solutions.
    
    I'd also be careful about the "embed ActiveX controls that map to OBB
    in a WWW page" argument - it is fine for an intranet solution where the
    customer is sure that all WWW Browsers are Microsoft's Internet
    Explorer, otherwise it is a dangerous path to follow (IMHO, of course).
    
    	Cheers,
    		/Damian

    
    Damien,
    
    Thanks for the advice. The viewpoints of you folks in the field is
    _tremendously_ valuable as we do the final positioning and, um,
    expectation-setting for DTC.
    
    I also think we're in agreement about the use of embedded ActiveX
    controls being useful only in an intranet.
    
    Cheers,
    
    JP

    Loren and I once talked a while back about setting up a pipe a web
    server and the agent server and serving up html for requested
    bridge objects.  The agent would use it's presentation metadata to
    create html.  It was going to involve a whole new engine to do the
    translations and probably wouldn't allow the customizations
    required by most.
    
    Needless to say we never went any further with it.
    
    bob