Compass Server 3.0 Developer's Guide

Compass Server 3.0 Developer's Guide

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About This Book

This document is a developer's guide for Compass Server 3.0, a cataloging and indexing server. This document is intended for developers who are customizing the Compass Server 3.0 programmatically.

This document does not attempt to explain how to administer the Compass Server interactively. For details on Compass Server administration, see the Compass Server Administrator's Guide, or press the Manuals button in the Compass Server Administrator environment.

Users use the Compass Server end user page to send queries to the Compass Server database. By editing template files, you can modify the appearance of the end user page, and also access it using query string URLS, as discussed in Part 1.

The standard procedure for interacting with the Compass Server robot is to use the Robot page in the Compass Server Administration Interface. However, if you want to modify the robot behavior in a way that is not accommodated by the interface, you can do it programmatically by modifying robot configuration files. If you want to extend the robot behavior even further, you can define your own robot application functions to be used in the configuration files. Part 2 discusses how to programmatically modify and extend robot behavior.

The standard procedure for accessing information in the Compass Server database is to use the Compass Server End User page, as discussed in the Compass Server Administration Guide. However, hooks are provided for you to access the Compass Server database directly, without using the Compass Server end user page. You can access the database using either C or Java. Netscape provides the Compass Server RDM API for accessing the database using C (discussed in Part 3), and the Compass Server Java SDK for accessing it from Java applets (discussed in Part 4).

This document has the following parts:

Part 1 - Customizing the End User Search Page

How to customize the Compass Server End User page, which is the page that users see when they use the Compass Server to search or browse. To customize the End User page, use HTML and JavaScript to modify the files that define the various sections of the page.

Part 2 - Customizing Robot Behavior

How to programmatically customize the way the Compass Server robot decides which resources to index, and how it indexes them. You do this by editing configuration files in a text editor, and by defining Robot Application Functions in C or C++.

Part 3 - Using C to Send Requests to the Compass Server

How to use the RDM C API to work with SOIF objects and to create resource description messages (RDMs). The resource descriptions in the database are stored in SOIF format. To send queries to the database, you need to construct RDMs, which also use SOIF format.

Part 4 - Using Java to Access the Compass Server Database

How to use Java applets to submit queries and to add new entries to the Compass Server database.

What You Should Already Know

This book assumes you have this basic background:

A general understanding of the purpose and use of the Compass Server. For more information about the Compass Server, see the "Compass Server 3.0 Administrator's Guide" which is available through the Manuals button in the Compass Server Administrator interface.

For modifying the end user page, you need good working knowledge of HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Experience with forms and the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is useful. Experience with JavaScript is also useful.

For modifying robot behavior using configuration files, you do not need to know any languages. However, for creating new robot application functions to extend the range of robot functionality, you need to know how to use and compile C.

For using the RDM SDK to work with SOIF objects and create resource description messages, you need to know how to use the C language.

For using Java to interact with the Compass Server database, you need to know how to use and compile Java.

Where to Find Information About HTML, JavaScript, and Java

To customize the Compass Server End User page, you need to use HTML and/or JavaScript. Here's where you can find information about these two languages:

The online HTML references include:

HTML Tag Reference provides a reference to all the HTML tags supported in Netscape Communicator 4.0 and earlier.

Dynamic HTML in Netscape Communicator provides information about dynamic HTML, which includes style sheets, positioned content, and downloadable fonts.

For information about JavaScript, see the JavaScript Guide or the JavaScript Reference.

A good place to start learning Java is Sun'Java Tutorial at:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html

Document Conventions

This book uses the following font conventions:

The monospace font is used for sample code and code listings, API and language elements (such as function names and class names), filenames, pathnames, directory names, HTML tags, and any text that must be typed on the screen.

Monospace italic font is used for placeholders embedded in code.

Italic type is used for book titles, emphasis, variables and placeholders, and words used in the literal sense.

Bold font is used for parameters in robot configuration files and for robot application function names.

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Last Updated: 02/07/98 20:48:59

Any sample code included above is provided for your use on an "AS IS" basis, under the Netscape License Agreement - Terms of Use