Preface


This manual is intended for application developers who will be programming server-side or client-side code, or both. It provides conceptual sections that will prove useful to anyone working with iPlanet Application Server. It contains an overview of useful iPlanet Application Server concepts, application design principles, and detailed information about developing iPlanet Application Server applications in C++.

This preface describes the iAS documentation set and illustrates what you can expect to find in this Programmer's Guide.

This preface contains the following sections:

• Using the Documentation

• About This Guide

• What You Should Already Know

• How This Guide Is Organized

• Naming Conventions

• Documentation Conventions

• Related Information

Using the Documentation

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The following table lists the tasks and concepts that are described in the iPlanet Application Server manuals and Release Notes. If you are trying to accomplish a specific task or learn more about a specific concept, refer to the appropriate manual.

Note that the printed manuals are also available online in PDF and HTML format, at: http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/ias.html

For information about	See the following	Shipped with
Late-breaking information about the software and the documentation	Release Notes	Available on the Web, at http://docs.iplanet.com
Installing iPlanet Application Server and its various components (Web Connector plug-in, iPlanet Application Server Administrator), and configuring the sample applications	Installation Guide	iPlanet Application Server 6.5
Creating iPlanet Application Server 6.5 applications that follow the open Java standards model (Servlets, EJBs, JSPs, and JDBC), by performing the following tasks: Creating the presentation and execution layers of an application Placing discrete pieces of business logic and entities into Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) components Using JDBC to communicate with databases Using iterative testing, debugging, and application fine-tuning procedures to generate applications that execute correctly and quickly	Developer's Guide	iPlanet Application Server 6.5
Administering one or more application servers using iPlanet Application Server Administrator Tool to perform the following tasks: Monitoring and logging server activity Implementing security for iPlanet Application Server Enabling high availability of server resources Configuring web-connector plugin Administering database connectivity Administering transactions Configuring multiple servers Administering multiple-server applications Load balancing servers Managing distributed data synchronization Setting up iPlanet Application Server for development	Administrator's Guide	iPlanet Application Server 6.5
Migrating your applications to the new iPlanet Application Server 6.5 programming model from the Netscape Application Server version 2.1, including a sample migration of an Online Bank application provided with iPlanet Application Server	Migration Guide	iPlanet Application Server 6.5
Using the public classes and interfaces, and their methods in the iPlanet Application Server class library to write Java applications	Server Foundation Class Reference (Java)	iPlanet Application Server 6.5
Using the public classes and interfaces, and their methods in the iPlanet Application Server class library to write C++ applications	Server Foundation Class Reference (C++)	Order separately

About This Guide

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This guide describes how to create applications intended to run on iPlanet Application Server.

This guide is intended for information technology developers in the corporate enterprise who want to extend client-server applications to a broader audience through the World Wide Web. In addition to describing programming concepts and tasks, this guide offers sample code, implementation tips, and reference material that includes a glossary.

What You Should Already Know

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This guide assumes you are familiar with the following topics:

• the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specification

• the Internet and World Wide Web

• Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

• C++ programming

• C++ APIs as defined in specifications for Enterprise JavaBeans, JavaServer Pages, and JDBC

• structured database query languages such as SQL

• relational database concepts

• software development processes, including debugging and source code control

How This Guide Is Organized

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This guide is organized into twelve chapters and an appendix.

• Chapter 1, "Introduction to Applications"

• Chapter 2, "Designing Applications"

• Chapter 3, "Application Development Techniques"

• Chapter 4, "Writing Server-Side Appication Code"

• Chapter 5, "Working with Databases"

• Chapter 6, "Querying a Database"

• Chapter 7, "Working with Templates"

• Chapter 8, "Managing Session and State Information"

• Chapter 9, "Writing Secure Applications"

• Chapter 10, "Integrating Applications with Email"

• Chapter 11, "Running and Debugging Applications"

• Chapter 12, "Sample Code Walkthrough"

• Chapter 13, "Writing Secure Applications"

• Appendix A, "Implementation Tips"

Finally, a Glossary and Index are provided.

Naming Conventions

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Item	Convention
Class name	"GX" prefix, followed by mixed case with initial uppercase. For example, GXTemplateMapBasic class.
Interface name	"IGX" prefix, followed by mixed case with initial uppercase. For example, IGXPreparedQuery.
Method name	Mixed case with initial uppercase. For example, GetLogin( ).
Parameters	Mixed case with initial lowercase. For example, myQuery.
Variables	Mixed case with initial lowercase. For example, myVar.

Documentation Conventions

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File and directory paths are given in Windows format (with backslashes separating directory names). For Unix versions, the directory paths are the same, except that slashes are used instead of backslashes to separate directories.

This guide uses URLs of the form:

http://server.domain/path/file.html

In these URLs, server is the name of server on which you run your application; domain is your Internet domain name; path is the directory structure on the server; and file is an individual filename. Italic items in URLs are placeholders.

This guide 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), file names, pathnames, directory names, and HTML tags.

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

Related Information

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Specifications related to the iAS programming model are provided in the directory installdir/ias/docs/, where installdir refers to the directory in which you installed iAS. You can find a directory of all iAS-related documentation at installdir/ias/docs/index.htm.