On Wednesday, March 03, 1999 11:37 PM, Costin Manolache
[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote:
> Timothy Gallagher wrote:
>
> > Well, some very good suggestions, but let me throw something else out
> > that was discussed internally here. The intent, as mentioned by some of
> > the replies, is to keep the Java people doing java and the HTML people
> > doing HTML.
> >
> > Another technique mentioned by a colleque of mine is to use JavaScript
> > in all the pages with the src attribute:
> >
> > <script language="JavaScript1.1" src="datafile.js">
> >
> > Then, generate a separate 'datafile.js' for deployment to another
> > server.
> > Body of the HTML files would use Javascript to present specifics based
> > on
> > the data in the datafile.js.
> >
> > My first problem beyond the 'is this practical?' one, is whether or not
> > I want to limit the users to 4.0 browsers.
>
> You can also use server side includes. Or even better - a simple Perl
script.
>
> Not everything must be in Java.
I agree with this, but I want to make sure that the full import is
understood. I am a strong believer that the appropraiet tools hould
be used for the problem. In your case it doesn't look as if you really
need *any* dynamic features at all, just a static web site
which is configured once for each new machine.
I suggest using a "source code and compiler" metaphor: Build your
web site as a completely static site, configured for one machine, then
go through and replace each bit which you are likely to change with some
unique recognisable pattern. Set up a mapping (database, properties file,
directory full of files etc) between th eunique pattern and its contents,
then
produce a simple script which goes through the web site and substitutes
the value for the appropriate pattern. When you move the site to a new
machine, just move the "source code" with the patterns, and the substitution
tool, then edit the data associated with the patterns and regenerate the
site.
The key thing to remember is that (as far as I can tell) you only want to
configure this web site for a new machine *once*, when you install it, not
*every tiime a request comes in*.
To restate the above quote "Not every configurable web site shoule be
dynamic". I did this a while ago, and I wrote the site-processor tool in
Java, but you can use whatever you like - perl, awk, VB, Java, C, C++,
sed ...
Frank.
--
Frank Carver
[ Personal: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.io.com/~efficacy ]
[ At Work: [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel +44 (0)1473 227371 ]
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