NameTrans Directive

After authorization, the server executes a NameTrans directive in the default object to map the logical URL of the requested resource to a physical path name on the server’s file system. The server looks at each NameTrans directive in the default object in turn, until the server finds one that can be applied.

If the default object contains more than one NameTrans directive, the server considers each directive until one succeeds.

The NameTrans section in the default object must contain exactly one directive that invokes the map function. For example:

NameTrans fn="map" from="<http://myserver> to http://yourserver

The pfx2dir (prefix to directory) function is used to set up additional mappings between URLs and directories. For example, the following directive translates the URL http://server-name/cgi/ into the directory path name install-root/instance-directory/docs/mycgi/:

NameTrans fn="pfx2dir" from="/cgi" dir="install-root/instance-directory/docs
	/mycgi"

If this directive appears after the one that calls document-root, it will never be executed and will result in the directory path name <install-root>/<instance-directory>/docs/cgi/ (not mycgi). This example illustrates why the directive that invokes document-root must be the last one in the NameTrans section.

How and When the Server Processes Other Objects

As a result of executing a NameTrans directive, the server might start processing directives in another object. This process happens if the NameTrans directive that was successfully executed specifies a name or generates a partial path that matches the name or ppath attribute of another object.

If the successful NameTrans directive assigns a name by specifying a name argument, the server starts processing directives in the named object, which is defined with the OBJECT tag before processing directives in the default object for the rest of the request-handling process.

For example, the following NameTrans directive in the default object assigns the name cgi to any request whose URL starts with http://server_name/cgi/.

<Object name="default">
...
NameTrans fn="pfx2dir" from="/cgi" dir="
               <install-root>/<
               instance-directory>/mycgi" name="cgi"
...
</Object>

            

When that NameTrans directive is executed, the server starts processing directives in the object named cgi

<Object name="cgi">

               more directives...</Object>

            

When a NameTrans directive has been successfully executed, a physical path name will be associated with the requested resource. If the resultant path name matches the ppath (partial path) attribute of another object, the server starts processing directives in the other object before processing directives in the default object for the rest of the request-handling process.

For example, suppose obj.conf contains an object as follows:

<Object ppath="*internal*">

               more directives...</Object>

            

Now suppose the successful NameTrans directive translates the requested URL to the path name <install-root>/<instance-directory>/mydir/internalplan1.html. In this case, the partial path *internal* matches the path <install-root>/<instance-directory>/mydir/internalplan1.html. The server would then start processing the directives in this object before processing the remaining directives in the default object.