DGI - Dos Gateway Interface
---------------------------
xChaos Software announces a new chance for developers of DOS applications - DGI.
DGI can be described as a component-oriented environment for a DOS compatible
operating system. Most of Arachne's extensions are implemented as DGI
components.
Why DGI ?
---------
Nowadays there are many programers who know how to write simple
command-line, text-mode applications in different programming
languages, including DOS shell (*.BAT), Basic, C, Turbo Pascal, etc.
But the use of window-oriented operating systems made it hard
for these programmers to make their programs easy to use for the average
user who expects a graphical interface.
Fortunately, a new, even-easier communication standard than windows and
pull-down menus appeared - i.e., WWW pages.
They are both easier to use and easier to create than windows
applications, and it is also possible to create much more beautiful designs.
(Note: I'm speaking about windows based interfaces generally, not about
Microsoft (TM) Windows (TM), also known as "Windoze", or "Win95").
The application environment and explanations (help, manual) are
perfectly integrated in WWW applications based on the CGI standard (Common
Gateway Interface). CGI is a thousand times more popular than Java, partly
because all browsers support CGI forms and partly because CGI scripts are
in fact simple text-mode applications, which can be written
in many different programming languages. 90% of simple PC applications
do not require any real-time data input from the user - the user is simply
asked to fill in some form, for example, values of A and B and desired
operator, whereafter the form is "submitted", and program then prints
the output - it makes no difference if you use only plain text, or
hypertext markup language (HTML). You can use commands as simple as
e.g., PRINT "This is the title
" to create a nice looking output.
My idea is this: you don't have to run CGIs on a server - you can run them in
DOS! If you want to distribute a CD-ROM with default the WWW browser, and if you
want to use CGI scripts instead of Java or Javascript, you should try Arachne.
The new standard is called DGI (Dos Gateway Interface) instead of CGI (Common
Gateway Interface). Just copy your scripts from the server to your PC and
run them ! (Of course, the opposite process - developing CGIs in a DOS
environment is also possible. DOS debugging tools are often more user friendly
than those running on a Un*x command line...).
All you need is a browser supporting DGI calls - for example Arachne.
What is a DGI component ?
-----------------------
The DGI must be a DOS executable (even *.BAT !) able to read a standard CGI
query string from the command line or from a file specified as the program
argument and must be able to output an HTML page to stdout or to a file
specified as the program argument.
DGI should work only with files and standard input/output; not with
video memory, either in text or graphics mode. That's all. But even
this offers interesting possibilities: DGI can access the Arachne cache
index file. DGI can, for example, write an outgoing mail message to the
Arachne MAIL directory (file with extension *.TBS) and then return to the HTML
page with a message "Outgoing mail prepared" and button "Send now".
This can be used for example to encrypt the content of online forms using
PGP.
DGI is also more secure then Active X because the user must modify the Arachne
configuration file to install a new DGI - after scanning it for viruses,
etc.
How to add DGI to Arachne ?
---------------------------
Arachne uses the configuration file MIME.CFG for configuring plugins and DGI
components. Installation of new components to Arachne is very easy if
you learn to use the Arachne Package manager - see files APM.HTM and APM.TXT
for details. APM takes care of updating MIME.CFG, WWWMAN.CFG and even
ARACHNE.CFG, so you application programers don't have to write your
own setup utility.
A line added in MIME.CFG can look, for example, as follows:
file/myapp.cgi >HTM|[200]c:\myapp\myapp.exe -q%s>%2
The syntax of MIME.CFG up to [200] symbols is not important; it is included
in the comments in MIME.CFG. The command line itself says: "Execute
c:\myapp\myapp.exe with at least 200 kb of DOS memory free; post the
CGI query string as an argument called -q; and redirect output to a file
with extension HTM which will be displayed after finishing the program.
So the command assembled by Arachne can look, for example, like:
c:\myapp\myapp.exe -qSEARCHFOR=SOME+WORDS&MODE=1>TMP.HTM
How to add DGI to HTML pages
----------------------------
It is clear that the same HTML pages will be used on the WWW server
as well as for DGI components. So, for calling the DGI described in the
previous example use the following