With HTML alone, you can create only static Web pages, which means they do not change unless you edit them. To put live data and applications on the Web, people usually write CGI programs to dynamically build Web pages, such as current sales statistics. Writing these types of programs is not easy.
Net.Data simplifies writing interactive Web applications by using macros to add logic, variables, program calls, and reports to HTML. A macro is a text file containing Net.Data macro language, HTML, and statements needed to work with data, such as SQL or PERL. These macros combine the simplicity of HTML with the dynamic functionality of Web server programs, making it easy to add live data from local or remote databases, flat files, applications, and system services to static Web pages.
The Web server starts Net.Data as a common gateway interface (CGI) process or as a Web server application programming interface (API) thread by calling Net.Data as a DLL or shared library when it receives a URL that refers to the Net.Data macro. The URL includes information for Net.Data, including which macro file to process. When Net.Data finishes processing the macro file, it sends the resulting HTML to the Web server, which passes it on to the Web client, where it is displayed on the browser.
Net.Data is a good choice for creating dynamic Web pages because the macro language is simpler than Web server programming and lets you include languages you already know, such as HTML, SQL, PERL, and JavaScript.
Another important advantage is that Net.Data supports many database formats, letting you work with data from a variety of data sources including DB2, Oracle, and Sybase databases on most platforms. See Net.Data Language Environment Guide for details.