The InterAction Application Server is designed to deliver Relationship Intelligence to Web browsers, portals, wireless devices, and other platforms. This server works with a Web server (Microsoft Internet Information Server) and retrieves information from the InterAction database.
The main purpose of the Application Server is to provide content from the InterAction database to the InterAction Web Client™. The Web Client is the tool that professionals and their assistants use to uncover the Relationship Intelligence about the contacts in which they have an interest. The Web Client is a collection of Web pages that users connect to via their Web browser. Professionals can also manage their user contacts from the Web Client.
The Application Server is composed of three “conceptual servers” that are used to pass information between the InterAction database and the delivery platform (browser, wireless device, etc.):
- Data server
- Nugget server
- Page server
These servers work as follows:
-
The Data server retrieves and processes information from the InterAction database.
The Data server uses XML to communicate with the Nugget and Page servers and Web browser.
-
The Nugget server generates the nuggets. A nugget is a small “chunk” of information that can be displayed, such as a list of contacts, or the additional fields for a particular contact.
The Nugget server sends XML requests to the Data server, builds the nuggets in HTML, then passes the HTML to the Page server to be assembled into a page.
The Nugget server can also communicate with portals, custom Intranets, or any other applications that can send requests to a Web server.
- The Page server takes the HTML nuggets passed by the Nugget server and assembles them into the complete Web pages that users can view in a browser or other delivery platform.
The figure below illustrates this information flow.
The figure below illustrates a Web Client page displayed by the Page server. In this example, the page has several nuggets (shown by boxes in the figure). Each nugget displays a defined “chunk” of information.
A Typical Web Client Page with Several Nuggets
How Are Web Client Pages Defined?
Every page in the Web Client is defined by a page method in an XML configuration file. A page method is a set of instructions for the InterAction Application Server. When you go to a page with your browser, your browser sends a request to the Application Server. The server sends back a response in the form of the page you see in your browser.
These page methods are written in XML and are stored in configuration files on the computer on which Application Server is installed. The page method defines information such as the following:
- The name of the page.
- The title displayed in the page header area.
- The layout of all the nuggets displayed on the page.
- The parameters required for each nugget.
Most pages that require customization can be extensively configured by using tools provided in the InterAction Windows Client and Administrator products. For example, you can add new profiles in the Windows Client. These appear automatically in the Profiles, Lists, and Notes nugget shown on the Person/Company Overview page.
Most of the customization you need to do falls into this category. In addition, you can further customize the Web Client pages by editing the XML files that define them. For a reference describing the XML files, see Overview of the XML Reference.
Use this reference content if you need to know what information a page displays or the business rules that control the page’s behavior.