Integrating Pages with Custom Server Logic

This guide will detail the process of integrating your client-side web pages with your custom server logic. This guide provides details of WebMaker's Server Adapter technology, which provides powerful and intuitive data binding capabilities to enable you to map the data between your web pages and Java server controllers. You can use WebMaker's graphical Application Map Feature that enables you to draw the relationships between your web pages and Java server controllers. This guide assumes you have already familiarised yourself with the earlier guide on Designing Web Pages. If you want to use WebMaker's Rules Server to build your server rules, you will find the guide here. When information from pages is submitted, it is received by a server Controller. Which controller receives the information depends on the action that was fired and the application navigation that is defined within the Studio. Within these controllers, you can use the submitted information, perform additional business logic, access databases, call remote services, etc. You can also define how to return any information back to the browser and which page should be used to display the returned information. The Application Map diagram can be shown on any Page Design tab by expanding up the panel below the page thumbnails (click the red arrow). Alternatively, you can use the Preferences dialogue to set the diagram to be visible by default. With the Application Map diagram open you can access the controller details tab either by double clicking on a controller, or by using the right-click context menu options. Alternatively there are links in appropriate places within the Bindings and Events tabs that also provide access to the Controller Details tabs. WebMaker enables you to create different server controller types. Each controller type uses a different icon on the Application Map to enable easier identification. If your licence allows, you can adjust the type of a specific Controller by using the Implementation Type options on the right-click context menu. Each Action Link that is painted on the Application Map diagram is available for invocation over HTTP. The action request will be processed, together with any supplied parameters and forwarded to the linked Controller for further processing. The invocations can be via URL, basic HTTP or SOAP.