E-Commerce: Fundamentals and Applications

1. E-Commerce: Fundamentals and Applications Chapter 4 : Server-Side Programming I Servlet Fundamentals

2. Outline • Common server-side programming techniques

3. Revisiting the Three-tier Model Web-based e-commerce applications are usually built according to the “Three-tier Model” (Fig. 4.1), which includes: • The First-tier: Web Client • Discussed in Chapter 3 • The Second-tier: Server-side Application (SSA) • Discussed in this chapter • The Third-tier: Database Management Systems (DBMS) • Discussed in Chapter 5

4. First-tier : Web Clients Client Browser Client Browser Client Browser Third-tier (DBMS) : Database Cluster(s) DB2 databases Other databases Second-tier : Server-side Web Applications Oracle databases Database Connectivity Application Server Web Server Database Cluster Internet SQL Server Three-Tier Model (Fig. 4.1)

5. Server-side programming technologies There are numerous ways to implement server-side applications. Common examples include: • CGI (Common Gateway Interface) • ASP (Active Server Page) • Java Servlets • PHP, Perl, & other server programming languages

6. Common Gateway Interface (CGI) • Early Web page designs were “static” in the sense that a client can only request for a static HTML document from the Web server (Fig. 4.2). • Later, CGI programming techniques were introduced to remove this constraint by providing dynamic Web pages via server-side interaction, as shown in Fig. 4.3.

7. Request for Web Document HTTP Request Web Documents Retrieve Document HTTP Document Web Browser Web Server Static Web Page Retrieval(Fig. 4.2)

8. HTTP Request HTTP Document Web Browser Web Server Output (HTML) HTML forms to invoke CGI scripts Get Data CGI Scripts/ Applications Database Return data CGI-based Web Application(Fig. 4.3)

9. Common Gateway Interface (CGI) • Fig. 4.3 explains the retrieval of a static Web page. The Web browser goes to the designated URL on a specific Web server to retrieve the required static HTML document when it receives a client request. • Note the content is independent of the request, in the sense, everyone who makes a request to that particular URL gets the same document.

10. Active Server Page (ASP) • ASP is a "scripting" technique that runs on Web servers rather than Web clients.This contrasts with VBScript and JavaScript which run on web clients. • It basically generates HTML documents for the Web client. • Execution of the ASP code by the server returns the corresponding HTML document to the client. • Fig. 4.4 shows the schematic diagram of ASP model.

11. HTTP Request HTTP Document Web Browser Web Server Database ASP Engine ASP Model (Fig. 4.4)

12. Disadvantages of CGI programs • Each new request activates a new process to run the CGI program • Creating a process requires time and resource so CGI programs is not as scaleable a solution • Also, CGI programs may raise security problems.

13. Java Servlet • A servlet is a small piece of server-side application, which can be viewed as the server-side analog of an applet. • In a typical servlet application, a servlet-enabled Web server receives an HTTP request from the client. • It then forwards the request to the servlet engine for performing the necessary operations as specified by the program. • Finally it returns a response (e.g., HTML document) to the client via the Web server (Fig. 4.5)

14. HTTP Request HTTP Response Web Browser Servlet Engine Web Server Database Typical Web-based Servlet Interaction (Fig. 4.5)