Overview of the XAP Gateway (eComet)

The XAP gateway (also known as eComet) turns a Comet system into an Internet application server. It does this by communicating in HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) with web browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. This means that Internet Basic is fully conversant with web languages such as HTML, Javascript, and Java.

Here's a brief description of the eComet process:

1. A web browser sends data from a web page form to an eComet system.

2. An Internet Basic program running on the eComet system receives the data via the XAP gateway and processes it. This typically involves reading/writing data from a Comet file or ODBC data source, generating and sending e-mail, and other processing activities.

3. The Internet Basic program then sends a web page back to the web browser. This can either be a static page (a stored HTML file) or a dynamic page containing "live" data. This latter feature is accomplished with Signature Systems' patent-pending technology for merging server-side data with web page templates.

For more information, please see the following web pages:

• eComet information page (http://www.signature.net/ecomet/overview.htm)

• XAP overview (http://www.signature.net/xap)

• eComet tutorial (http://signature.net:8080/xap/tutorial)