Q158839: INFO: Updated Readme.txt file for VFP FoxIsapi Sample

Article: Q158839
Product(s): Microsoft FoxPro
Version(s): 
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbinterop kbnetwork kbsetup kbAutomation kbvfp500
Last Modified: 04-AUG-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 5.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

The FoxIsapi sample demonstrates how you can take Visual FoxPro forms and deploy
them over the Internet or an intranet.

NOTE: This sample code is provided to show the capabilities and flexibility of
Visual FoxPro as an OLE Automation Server. Any modification made to this code
will not be supported.

MORE INFORMATION
================

In the FoxIsapi sample the main class library is named Isapi.vcx. In this
library the Employee class inherits the ability to generate HTML code from the
base class ISFORM. The ability to generate the HTML code gives you a way to
display data or forms in a Web page on the Internet. It also gives you a way to
deploy an easy-to-maintain application on four different platforms:

1. Use the following code to run the application from within Visual FoxPro:

  

        SET CLASSLIB TO isapi
        ox = CreateObject("employee")
        ox.show

2. Use the following code to run the application as an independent executable:

  

        BUILD EXE foxis FROM foxis

  This creates a Foxis.exe file, which is a Windows program that can be added to
  the Start menu, started from the Explorer, and so forth.

3. Use the following code to run the application as an OLE Server from any OLE
  client (Excel, Word, Visual Basic, Visual FoxPro 3.0, and so forth):

  

        ox = CreateObject("foxis.employee")
        ox.show

4. Use the following code to run the application an Internet Browser, which
  could be on another machine, such as a 286 running MS-DOS, a UNIX machine, a
  Macintosh, or a Personal Digital Assistant.

Requirements
------------

This sample is supported only on Windows NT 3.51 Server with Service Pack 4 or
Windows NT 4.0 Server release 1.0 or higher running Microsoft's Internet
Information Server (IIS). IIS is included with Windows NT 4.0 Server, and may be
added to Windows NT 3.51 Server. During the fourth quarter of 1996, and possibly
longer, you can download, free, Microsoft's IIS version 1.0 at

  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/common/IISArchive.htm.

The Windows NT Server and IIS should be configured and working properly before
running this sample.

If you are using a machine that's running Windows NT 4.0, you have to configure
the DCOMCNFG utility to grant rights to the Web service to instantiate an OLE
object. For example, if your machine name is Mymach, you have to add
\Mymach\Iusr_mymach as a user with full rights for "Default Access Permissions,"
"Default Launch Permissions."

NOTE: If you are using Windows NT 4.0 you must follow the steps in the following
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base before proceeding to the next step:

  Q158838 How To Setup the FoxIsapi Sample on Windows NT 4.0

Setup of FoxIsapi
-----------------

The steps below assume that you have not installed Visual FoxPro on your Windows
NT IIS server. These steps get the OLE server working on a development machine
and then use the Setup Wizard to distribute the files to your server.

To get things started, you need to follow all of the steps below:

1. Copy Testdata.dbc, Testdata.dct, and Testdata,dcx and all of the associated
  files (Customer.*, Employee.*, Orders.*, Orditems.*, and Products.*) from the
  Vfp\Samples\Data directory into the Vfp\Samples\Servers\Foxisapi directory.

2. From the \Vfp\Samples\Servers\Foxisapi folder, open the Foxis project and
  change the user-defined property "cScriptDir" of the EMPLOYEE form in the
  class library, Isapi.vcx, to point to the
  <driveletter>:\Vfp\Samples\Servers\Foxisapi directory.

  This is a temporary setting for testing purposes. Later on, you will change it
  to the Inetsrv\Scripts folder when you have the final build.

3. Build the .exe file with the name Foxis. Once the initial build is complete,
  change the server option to be "Multi Use" by selecting from the menu
  "Project/Project Info." Click the Servers tab and change Instancing to Multi
  Use. Once this is done, build the .exe file again.

4. Test if the OLE Automation Server works by issuing the following commands
  from the Command window:

  

        ox= CreateObject("foxis.employee")
        ox.show           && see if it works as a custom server
        ?ox.startup()     && see if it returns HTML

  It is much easier to debug OLE Automation servers from an OLE client (like
  Visual FoxPro) before instantiating it in Foxisapi.

  If the Server worked, you are ready to make the distribution build.

5. Edit the EMPLOYEE form class in Isapi.vcx again and change the cScriptDir
  property to be the Inetsrv\Scripts directory on the Windows NT server. Be
  sure to include the drive letter of the actual physical hard drive, not a
  drive mapping from the workstation.

  (If your Internet Server is running on Windows NT 4.0, the path is to
  <drive>:\Windows\System32\Inetsrv\Scripts, or wherever the \Scripts
  folder is located.)

6. Create a folder under FoxIsapi called "Final." Rebuild the project one last
  time, this time pointing the Foxis.exe to the Final folder. You should see
  three files in this folder:

  Foxis.exe
  Foxis.tlb
  Foxis.vbr

7. From the FoxIsapi folder copy the following files into the Final folder:

  Testdata.dbc
  Testdata.dct
  Testdata.dcx
  Customer.dbf
  Customer.cdx
  Employee.dbf
  Employee.fpt
  Employee.cdx
  Orders.dbf
  Orders.cdx
  Orditems.dbf
  Orditems.cdx
  Products.dbf
  Products.cdx
  Html.dbf
  Html.cdx
  Html.fpt
  Foxisapi.dll
  *.gif - (These are .gif files containing photos for each employee.)

8. Run the Setup Wizard and point it to the Final folder. Make sure you check
  the OLE Server check box in Setup Wizard step 2 and select the Foxis.exe in
  the Final folder. All files should be installed to the Appdir in Setup Wizard
  step 6.

9. On the Windows NT Server, you need an HTML page that contains a reference to
  a URL. For example, take the following code and put it in the
  Wwwroot\default.htm file:

        <A HREF="/scripts/foxisapi.dll/FoxIS.employee.startup">
        <I>VFP OLE CUSTOM SERVER DEMO PAGE</I> </A>

10. In the same HTML file cut and paste the following HTML code:

        <FORM ACTION= "/scripts/foxisapi.dll/foxis.employee.cmd">
        <INPUT NAME="Cmd" value = "Reset">
        <input type="submit" value="Dos Command">
        </FORM>

  This code creates a button on the page that tells the server to execute any
  MS-DOS command, such as DIR, and it returns a page with the results of the
  command. If the command is "Reset" (default), then it makes the OLE
  Automation server release the first instance of the server as well as its
  own, thus releasing the OLE Automation server completely.

  Also add the following HTML code:

        <FORM ACTION = "/scripts/foxisapi.dll/foxis.employee.cmd?FOXCMD">
        <INPUT NAME="Cmd"><input type="submit"
        value="Fox Expression"> For example try: "today is "+ cdow(date()) or
        45 * 3 or SYS(2004)
        </FORM>

  This code creates a button on the page that tells the server to execute any
  FoxPro command and return a page with the results of the command.

  WARNING: A Windows NT Service has no Desktop, so results of any commands or
  functions that produce user interface objects (UI) such as a MessageBox do
  not appear on the server machine and the commands hang the server machine if
  you attempt to execute them. This means you should debug your server
  applications before deploying them. The sample shows that if an error
  occurs, you can generate an HTML page to return to the client's browser.

11. Now run the setup program created in step 8 on the Windows NT Server.
  Install all files to the Inetsvr\Scripts folder. Once setup has completed
  move the .gif files into the Wwwroot folder.

12. You are now ready to run FoxIS.employee.startup from a browser. From the
  server machine connect to your NT server's machine name. Your default.htm
  page should display and if you click the URL jump (hypertext), it should
  return a page that shows you the data from the Employee table plus a
  grid-like HTML table on the server.

REFERENCES
==========

For information on debugging Foxisapi.dll and for comments on the design of that
program, see the Online Documentation for Visual FoxPro 5.0 by clicking
Documentation on the Visual FoxPro Help menu. The Visual FoxPro Online
Documentation form normally opens with the Find panel at the left. If not, click
Find on the View menu. In the Find combo box enter the string "ISAIP OLE Server
Sample" and press Enter.

Scroll down to the subject "Debugging the Server." (This is about half way down
the scrollbar.) Here you will see a collection of information about the server's
design, and tracing the server in Microsoft Visual C++.

Additional query words:

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbinterop kbnetwork kbsetup kbAutomation kbvfp500 
Technology        : kbVFPsearch kbAudDeveloper kbVFP500
Issue type        : kbinfo

=============================================================================

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