Net.Data Programming Guide

Using NSAPI

Your Web server must use live connection to use NSAPI for all language environments. Using NSAPI improves performance because it does not go through CGI processing. See details at the Netscape Server API page:

http://home.netscape.com/newsref/std/server_api.html

Details on which systems can use NSAPI and additional information is in the README file. These are the steps to configure Net.Data to run with NSAPI on your server:

• Net.Data comes with a DLL to use with NSAPI. This DLL is in the server directory. For example:

  /netscape/server/bin/httpd/dtwnsapi.dll
  

• You must make changes to your server configuration before using NSAPI. The following files need changes:
  

  obj.conf	Add to the top of the file: Init fn="load-modules" shlib="dtwnsapi.dll" funcs=dtw_nsapi
  obj.conf	Add to the Services directive: Service fn="dtw_nsapi" method=(GET|HEAD|POST) type="magnus-internal/d2w"
  mime.types	Add this type: type=magnum-internal/dtw exts=mac

• Move the Net.Data macro files from netdata/macro to the server's main document directory:

  /netscape/server/docs/
  

• In the initialization file, change MACRO_PATH to the main document directory, pointing to the Net.Data macros you copied there. This simply tells Net.Data where to look for the files.

• NSAPI bypasses CGI processing, so you must change your Web pages and Web macros that have CGI calls to Net.Data. Remove the cgi-bin/db2www/ part of the URL in forms and anchor references. The server knows files with a MAC suffix are Net.Data macros because you defined it so when you changed the Netscape configuration files. For example, this URL is an example of invoking Net.Data as the CGI program:

  http://server1.stl.ibm.com/cgi-bin/db2www/test1.mac/report
  

  This URL uses Net.Data as the NSAPI application:

  http://server1.stl.ibm.com/test1.mac/report
  

If you keep your Net.Data macros in several directories, a few steps change slightly:

• Move the directories with the Net.Data macros they contain to the server's document directory.

• Update the MACRO_PATH variable in the initialization file.

• Modify the anchor references and forms that point to these Net.Data macros, keeping their directory names. For example, this URL calls a Net.Data macro that is stored in the /orders/ directory:

  http://server1.stl.ibm.com/cgi-bin/db2www/orders/test1.mac/report
  

  The updated URL is shorter, but keeps the directory name:

  http://server1.stl.ibm.com/orders/test1.mac/report