Dynamic Web Sites

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Dynamic Web Sites

• Kenton Good
• LIS 538
• January 28, 2002

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Today

• Finish Content Management
• First Assignment Questions
• Dynamic Web Pages
• Demo
• Customization and Personalization
• Corporate Portals

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Next Week

• Start Digital Library Projects
• Will cover image compression, color depth, etc.

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E-journals - Approaches

• Static Web Pages linking to journals works for
  small collections
• Maintain separate database of all ejournals (used
  by most large academic libraries)
• Use Catalogue (either as search interface or
  source of data)

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Databases/Indexes

• Most academic libraries maintain a database of
  databases
• Database contains elements such as Title, URL,
  Description, Licensing Restrictions, Type,
  Subject, Language, etc.

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Pathfinders/Subject Guides

• URL maintenance big issue
• How to avoid teaching everybody HTML

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Definitions
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SQL (Structured Query Language)

• A standard programming language for getting
  information from and updating a database
  Source whatis.com
• Example
• Select firstname, lastname, email
• From students
• Where lastname 'smith'

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ODBC

• Open Database Connectivity
• A standard that allows you to connect to a
  database from a programming language. In the
  context of dynamic web sites, this standard is
  how we tell the web code where the database is
  found on the server.

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Scalability

• The ability of a computer application or product
  (hardware or software) to continue to function
  well as it (or its context) is changed in size or
  volume in order to meet a user need.
• Source whatis.com

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Interoperability

• The ability of a system or a product to work
  with other systems or products without special
  effort on the part of the customer. (source
  whatis.com)
• In the library world, emerging standards such as
  Z39.50 and OpenURL allow our systems to move in
  the direction of interoperability.

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Web Server

• A software program that runs on a server and
  serves web pages to a web browser.
• Numerous web servers exist but the two most
  popular in the library world are Microsofts
  Internet Information Server (IIS) and the Open
  Source Apache web server.

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UNIX Server

• The UNIX operating system was developed in 1969.
  
• Numerous flavours exist including Linux and
  Solaris.
• UNIX servers are generally more secure and
  scalable than their Windows counterparts but do
  take a higher level of expertise to learn and
  operate in part due to their command line
  interfaces.

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Windows Server

• Windows 2000 server and its predecessor, Windows
  NT server, are used in many libraries for file
  servers, email servers and web servers.
• Learning curve relatively low in part because
  server products use same interface as
  workstation versions.
• The windows server market share continues to grow
  but recent security issues with Windows web
  servers have many IT managers rethinking earlier
  decisions.

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Static Web Sites

• Traditional way of organizing content on web
  pages
• Stand alone HTML pages
• HTML Editor
• Page content and structure found in one html
  document
• Good for small web sites

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Static Pages - Problems

• Consistency Difficult
• Elements repeated on every page maintenance
  issues
• No interactive features such as forms,
  customization or more advanced content management
  possible
• Limited flexibility

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Solution Dynamic Pages

• Use programming besides HTML to create pages
• Often have database component
• Separation of page content from structure
• Web pages created on the fly

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Dynamic Web Sites - Architecture

• Web Server
• - Stores and Serves HTML Templates
• Middleware or programming languages
• - The Magic
• Relational Database
• - Stores Content

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Why Dynamic Web Pages

• Distributed Content Management and Resource
  Sharing
• Consistency
• Modularity and Portability
• Lower Maintence Overhead

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Dynamic Web Pages Pre-requisites

• High level of control over Web server
• Staff expertise programmers, database
  administrators
• Sustainability Plan
• Money

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Web Servers

• A software program that runs on a server and
  serves web pages to a web browser.
• Most popular Web Servers Apache and Internet
  Information Server (IIS)
• Personal Web Server

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Apache

• www.apache.org
• Cost Free (Open Source)
• Best web server money Cant buy
• Used with Major web sites
• Secure and powerful

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Internet Information Server

• www.microsoft.com
• Cost Free with Windows Server
• Windows Only
• Powerful and Feature Rich
• Recent security concerns

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Middleware

• Programming Languages
• Applications Servers Complete package of
  dynamic web site tools
• Tools used to hook into a relational database
  on the web

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Cold Fusion

• www.macromedia.com
• Cost - 1000s
• Easy to learn and use web scripting language
• Popular in Libraries (particularly in Alberta)

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Cold Fusion

• Advantages Low Learning Curve, Quick and Easy
• Disadvantages Cost, Not as feature rich as
  other languages

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Cold Fusion Code

• 70 HTML like tags each with a series of
  attributes.
• Code to query database for books that have the
  author smith, and display results in web page.

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ltcfquery namegetbooks datasourcebookdatabase
gt Select title, author, callnumberFrom
booksWhere author smith lt/cfquerygt ltcfoutput
namegetbooksgt titleltbrgtauthorltbrgtcallnum
ber lt/cfoutputgt
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Active Server Pages (ASP)

• www.microsoft.com
• Cost Included with Windows Web Server

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ASP Code

• If iRecordCount lt 2 Then Set objCleanUpRS
  Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
  objCleanUpRS.Open strSQL, DB_CONNECTIONSTRING,
  adOpenStatic, adLockPessimistic, adCmdText For I
  1 to 2 objCleanUpRS.AddNew objCleanUpRS.Fields("
  text_field") CStr(WeekdayName(WeekDay(Date())))
  objCleanUpRS.Fields("integer_field")
  CInt(Day(Now()))

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Java

• Cost Free to 1000s
• Code that runs on server not applets
• Many flavours Java Server Pages (JSP), Java
  Servlets
• Very powerful and used in many large scale web
  sites

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Java Code

• import java.io. import javax.servlet.
  import javax.servlet.http.
• public class HelloWorld extends HttpServlet
  public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,
  HttpServletResponse response) throws
  ServletException, IOException PrintWriter out
  response.getWriter() out.println("Hello World")
  

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PERL

• www.perl.com
• Cost Free (Open Source)
• Traditional way of web scripting
• Hard learning curve and primarily UNIX based
• Still popular in many libraries

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PERL Code
h HTTPHeaders-gtnewp HTMLHeadParser-gtne
w(h)p-gtparse(ltltEOT)lttitlegtStupid
examplelt/titlegt ltbase href"http//www.linpro.no/l
wp/"gt Normal text starts here. EOT undef p
print h-gttitle should print "Stupid example"
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PHP

• www.php.net
• Cost Free (Open Source)
• Popular open source web scripting language
• Cross platform
• Yet to really take of in library community

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PHP Code

•  lt?php if (!isset(PHP_AUTH_USER))
  header("WWW-Authenticate Basic realm\"My
  Realm\"") header("HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized")
  echo "Text to send if user hits Cancel
  button\n" exit
• else echo "ltpgtHello PHP_AUTH_USER.lt/pgt"
  echo "ltpgtYou entered PHP_AUTH_PW as your
  password.lt/pgt" ?gt

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Relational Databases

• Used to store content in Web applications

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Database Options

• Microsoft Access
• Microsoft SQLServer
• Oracle
• MySQL
• Others DB2 (IBM), FileMaker Pro

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Factors in Database Selection

• Scalability and Performance
• Cost
• Compatibility
• Ease of Use
• Supports Open Standards

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Microsoft Access

• www.microsoft.com
• Cost - 100s
• Only works with Windows servers
• Used for small scale projects not appropriate
  for heavy use web sites
• Easy to use

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Microsoft SQL Server

• www.microsoft.com
• Cost - 1000s
• Suitable for medium/large scale web sites
• Only works on Windows servers
• Good combination of ease of use and power

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Oracle

• www.oracle.com
• Cost - 1000s
• Best database money can buy
• Very powerful and scalable but does required
  skilled staff to run and administer
• Used with large scale web sites

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MySQL

• www.mysql.com
• Cost Free (open source)
• Used for medium/large scale web sites
• Not as feature rich as Oracle or SQL Server but
  an inexpensive alternative for libraries

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Customization and Personalization

• The Difference?
• Examples
• My Yahoo
• - My UCLA
• - MyLibrary at NCState
• - U of Washington Library My Gateway

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Personalization

• Fine Notification
• Request Tracking
• Content Notification
• Content Profiling Based on user profile and
  preferences
• Search History
• Current Awareness

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Customization

• Favorite Databases/Ejournals
• Favorite Web Sites
• Customize the interface

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Campus Portal

• My UCLA
• U of A Next Few Years

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My Library

• Respect Privacy Have Privacy Statement
• Does not replace Library Web Site
• Integrate with library service model and larger
  library web presence
• Creating stand alone service is doomed for
  failure

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My Library at NC State

• global message
• Message from the Librarian
• Your Librarians
• Library Links
• University Links
• Current Awareness

• Personal Links
• Quick Searches
• Reference Shelf
• Bibliograhic Databases
• Electronic Journals

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Corporate Portals
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Unique Features of a Corporate Portal

• Not a given the librarian will be involved in
  development and content.
• Often work with larger IT unit in corporation
• Need to prove Return on Investment (ROI)
• Working under the radar
• Often purchase pieces or content

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Example Product

• Factiva
• www.factiva.com

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Case Study

• Enmax Virtual Business Information Network
• Calgary, Alberta