The Magic xpa Browser-Client Concept (Magic xpa 4.x)
The following is an explanation about how the browser-client approach to applications differs from traditional computing models.
In a "traditional" Magic xpa Client/Server environment, each client (end user) has a Magic xpa Runtime engine and a database client running on their computer. All of the application logic runs on the client computer using a LAN (Local Area Network) connection, allowing the end user to interact with the application.
This approach is very useful, but requires an individual installation of the application and the database clients on each client computer or a high speed network to enable loading the entire application to the client computer.
In the Web environment, the client has a Web browser and an Internet connection. The Web server replies to the client's request with a relevant HTML page. The Web server's function is just to return HTML pages, with no logic available. The client side (browser) is used mostly for displaying the results sent from the server.
The Magic xpa browser-client environment combines the benefits from the Client/Server and the Web environments because the browser is the most familiar way to access Web sites, Web-related material, and Web applications.
By making your application browser-client, it becomes a Web-based application that can be accessed around the world, using the common Internet network.
The browser has become a standard way to access various types of information, and it can be found on any desktop computer. It is therefore familiar to most users.
Magic xpa implements the Thin Client concept on the Web environment.
There is no need to install proprietary software on the client side.
Magic xpa’s enterprise server provides the browser with all the data, logic, and flow-management modules, on demand.
All the application’s software elements reside solely on the server side, which allows ease of management and maintenance, low ownership costs, and scalability.
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The end user has a computer with a Web browser and a LAN/Internet connection.
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The first time the end user asks for a Magic xpa program to be executed, the Magic xpa program results in an HTML page. This HTML page contains JavaScript code that handles the end user's interaction and simulates an interactive page.
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To simulate an interactive page, the Magic xpa engine that creates the HTML result page, keeps the context of the program and waits for a request from the end user.
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According to the end user's interaction, the JavaScript initiates a request to the Magic xpa engine (through the Web server) and the result is a set of data for the existing page, instead of a new HTML page.
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This process continues until the end user asks to close the program.
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After the Magic xpa engine has finished the program execution, the program is closed and the Magic xpa engine is free to accept new requests.
Browser-based development
Magic xpa lets you rapidly develop interactive Web applications. Using the easy table-driven Studio, you can define your application infrastructure, components and logic with ease. No knowledge of common browser-related programming, such as Java or JavaScript, is required.
Browser-based deployment
The Magic xpa multi-threaded enterprise server handles high volume transactions and high rates of requests with ease. The Magic xpa enterprise server handles each individual client and transparently manages the context of each current user. The HTML-based application interface is passed to the client together with the XML-formatted application logic.
Whenever a browser accesses a browser-client application for the first time, the browser client modules are automatically installed on the client side. During the installation, some installation-related windows appear. You can choose to hide these windows by adding a parameter to the URL entry of the browser client application. The parameter should be Silent=Y and you can add this anywhere within the URL. For example: HTTP://MYWebServer/...?APPNAME=app1&PRGNAME=prg1&Silent=Y.
