Plug-ins and CGI Gateways

You can extend the functionality of TeleFinder's Web Server through an external program (CGI) or internal ( Plug-in) Gateway. These programs take HTTP requests and transform them into database searches, graphical counters and a wide variety of other services. 

In both cases the Web Server hands off processing of the request to the program where it is processed, the results are returned as HTML data by TeleFinder. 

CGI Compatibility

TeleFinder and CGI's communicate using a specific AppleEvent ( WWW Search Doc ) and reply. Interested programmers can get more details on this AppleEvent from the TeleFinder developer's kit. 

TeleFinder is compatible with all the MacHTTP/WebStar standard CGI programs using the WWW AppleEvent. 

CGI file types need to be registered in TeleFinder's Handler's list with the Handler method of "ACGI." Most CGI's are identified by the ".cgi" or ".acgi" file extension, these are defined in TeleFinder by default. 

Plug-Ins

Plug-ins register themselves when TeleFinder loads them. So there is no setup other than copying the program into the Plug-Ins folder and resetting the server. 

TeleFinder conforms to the WSAPI 1.1 or later specification, as well as the MOSAPI 1.0 plug-in spec. A C++ framework is included in the TeleFinder developer's kit so that interested programmers can create their own plug-ins.

Using Gateways

Plugin and CGI samples are included in the "Web Space/samples/" folder. 

Each Plug-in or CGI comes with it's own set of directions for coding the HTML to use it. In the case of the Spider Island Gateways, BLOCKQUOTEcoded sample pages are included so you can try them without coding HTML.

 

Web Docs Index