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About High Interactivity

High interactivity is designed to provide users of Siebel Business Applications with a user experience similar to that for users of traditional GUI-based client applications, such as for Microsoft Windows. This deployment mode is available for the Siebel Web Client, Siebel Mobile Web Client, and Siebel Developer Web Client.

High interactivity reduces the number of page refreshes, compared to standard interactivity, when the user interacts with the application, browses through records, and so on. These benefits are made possible because data-only updates are made from the Siebel Server, which optimizes the use of network bandwidth.

For example, a high interactivity client does not require a page refresh for creating a new record. A user creates a new record by clicking the New button. A new row is created in a list dynamically, without a page refresh. The user enters the relevant data, then clicks outside of the record (also called stepping off of the record) to implicitly commit the change, without a page refresh.

Some of the features of the high interactivity framework are:

• Fewer page refreshes. Data is updated separately from the user interface and full page refreshes are not needed in all cases.
• Support for client-side scripting. Client-side scripting allows the client to compute certain tasks locally, which can be beneficial for server performance.
• Support for implicit commit. This feature enables automatic saving when a user steps off of a new or modified record.
• Other usability features. Such features include MVG shuttle applets; drag-and-drop column reordering; drag-and-drop file attachments; keyboard shortcuts; smart controls for calendar, calculator and currency; and applet scrollbars.

The high interactivity framework provides performance and usability enhancements by taking advantage of capabilities supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers. These capabilities include Document Object Model (DOM), Java, and ActiveX controls.

High interactivity clients use a Siebel-specific remote procedure call (RPC) though HTTP or HTTPS, which is the fundamental communications channel for the client. The Siebel RPC sends and retrieves data over HTTP or HTTPS to and from the Siebel Server. For the Siebel Web Client using high interactivity, no other communication channels are used.

Deploying Siebel Business Applications in high interactivity requires that customers and their users adhere to strict guidelines regarding the deployed operating system, Web browser version and settings, and Java software environment.

NOTE:  Siebel Open UI, a new user interface alternative, presents several advantages. For more information, see About Siebel Open UI.