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Documentation / WEBDLG2 / Application configuration

Application configuration

 
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  Document revision: 2023-12-01
Refers to WEBDLG2 version: B0830-2211 patch PE83-2311300


Table of contents


WEBDLG2 applications need to be configured. A local or remote eloqsd server is used to start the initial program.

The default application configuration file is eloqwebd2.app located in the Eloquence etc directory:

HP-UX, Linux
/etc/opt/eloquence/8.3/eloqwebd2.app
Windows
C:\Program Files (x86)\Eloquence\8.3\etc\eloqwebd2.app

The eloqwebd2.cfg appFile configuration may be used to specify a file name different from the default.

A running eloqwebd2 server automatically reloads the application configuration file whenever it is modified.

The file is divided into sections (section names in square brackets). The section names are not case sensitive. String values can be enclosed in double quotes to protect leading or trailing spaces. An unquoted hash character (#) starts a comment.

Each application definition is a separate section. The section header in square brackets specifies the application identifier (app_id) used in the HTML document which invokes the application.

A [default] section may be specified to define configuration items which are common to all applications.

Title
Specifies the application display title. HTML formatting may be used, the title then needs to begin with: <html>
If not configured, the application identifier (app_id) is used.
GroupList
Comma- or space-separated list of group names, used to enable or reject access to the application based on group membership.

If configured, the eloqsd server login must be a member of at least one of the listed groups, otherwise access to the application is denied.

Group membership is managed by the eloqsd server, either configured in the eloqsd.user file or assigned via PAM authentication.

Please note: This requires eloqsd patch PE83-2206290 or newer.
Allow
Deny
Used to enable or reject access to the application based on the client network address.

Allow / Deny argument syntax:

{ All | hostname | ip-address [/{addrbits|netmask}] }
  • Multiple Allow / Deny entries are recognized and combined.

  • hostname is the name of a host or network that is resolved into one or more ip addresses.

  • ip-address is either an IPv4 or IPv6 address.

    • An IPv6 address, enclosed in square brackets, such as [::1]. The addrbits option may be used to specify the number of relevant bits in the IP address.

    • An IPv4 address, such as 127.0.0.1. The addrbits option may be used to specify the number of relevant bits in the IP address. The netmask option allows to specify an IPv4 network mask, such as 255.255.255.0.

If neither Allow nor Deny are configured, access to the application is enabled from all network addresses (implied Allow=All).

If Allow and/or Deny are configured, access to the application is denied unless specifically allowed (implied Deny=All).

Server
Specifies the address to connect the eloqsd server which is used to start the application.

A host name or IP address may be specified, optionally followed by a colon and a service name or port number. An IPv6 address must be specified in square brackets.

The default is: localhost:eloqsd

For example:

Server = hcluster2-eloq.foo.com:8100
Server = 192.168.22.33:eloqsd
Server = [fe80::225:b3ff:fecf:362]:8100

Please note:

The DLG connection is established using the RDLG method. WEBDLG2 uses the Eloquence B.08.30 DLG v2 protocol.

Executing the program needs to be permitted by the eloqsd application configuration.

TLS
If nonzero, the eloqsd and DLG communication is secured with TLS-encryption. This requires that the eloqsd server is configured for TLS-encrypted communication.

Please note:

If the eloqsd server is located on the same system with the eloqwebd2 server, or if the connection between eloqwebd2 and eloqsd is secure, TLS would add unnecessary overhead and should not be enabled.

If this is set, please make sure that eloqsd patch PE83-2209070 or newer is installed. Older eloqsd versions have known problems using TLS-secured DLG communication.

Command
Specifies the command line to start the application.

Command line arguments are separated with spaces. If an argument contains space characters it must be enclosed in single or double quotes.

Token resolving:

$remoteaddr
client (web browser) IP address
$remotename
client (web browser) host name
$remoteport
client (web browser) TCP port number
$login
eloqsd login used to start the application
$(VARIABLENAME)
value of an environment variable, including any variable specified with the Environment configuration and any application argument passed as environment variable (see below).

Multiple Command entries are recognized. The command line is formed by concatenating the Command entries in the specified order.

For example:

#Command = -log /tmp/eq.log -t
Command = MENU,MAIN

This configures to start the MENU program in the MAIN volume. The first line is commented out but may be activated if necessary to create an eloqcore trace file.

Login
Specifies the eloqsd server login required to start the application. Token resolving is applied as explained in the Command section above. If not configured, login credentials are requested by the client (web browser).
Password
Specifies the eloqsd server password required to start the application. This is not used if Login is not set. Token resolving is applied as explained in the Command section above. If not configured, login credentials are requested by the client (web browser).
LoginDomain
Specifies an optional string used to mark related applications where a successful interactive login is cached (see LoginCacheMax and LoginCacheTimeout in the eloqwebd2.cfg configuration file).

The interactive login dialog contains a Save Login option which is checked by default when the application has a non-empty LoginDomain configured (depends on the SaveLogin configuration, see below). When this option is checked and the user logs in, the login name and password are cached for this LoginDomain (if set) and server address.

The default is: not set (LoginDomain not specified)

SaveLogin
If Login and Password are set and SaveLogin is configured and nonzero, the login name and password are cached for this LoginDomain (if set) and server address when the application has started successfully.

If Login and Password are not set, SaveLogin specifies how the Save Login option of the interactive login dialog is set:

SaveLogin not configured
The Save Login option is checked when the application has a non-empty LoginDomain configured.

SaveLogin configured and nonzero
The Save Login option is checked.

SaveLogin configured and zero
The Save Login option is not checked.

The default is: not configured (SaveLogin has no effect)

StartDir
Used to set the current directory where an application is started. Token resolving is applied as explained in the Command section above.

The default is: not set (start directory unspecified)

Environment
Specifies an environment variable to be passed to the application. Token resolving is applied as explained in the Command section above.
Multiple Environment entries are recognized and combined.

For example, to set the HOME environment variable on Windows:

Environment = "HOME=C:\Users\$login"
ArgEnvAccept
ArgAtomAccept
Comma- or space-separated list specifying which URL query string arguments are accepted to be passed to the application.

ArgEnvAccept lists the argument names which are allowed to be passed as environment variables.

ArgAtomAccept lists the argument names which are allowed to be passed as atoms in the System object.

Please note that the argument name comparison is case sensitive.

ArgEnvPrefix
ArgAtomPrefix
Allows to specify a name prefix for any argument passed to the application.

ArgEnvPrefix specifies a prefix for arguments passed as environment variables.

ArgAtomPrefix specifies a prefix for arguments passed as atoms in the System object.

PluginURL
Specifies a JavaScript or CSS plugin URL to inject into the HTML document when the application is started.

This allows to use a default HTML document and to add custom JavaScript and/or CSS based on the application, for example:

PluginURL = /path/to/eq-strings.js

Multiple PluginURL entries are recognized and injected in the specified order.

CssClass
Comma- or space-separated list specifying CSS class names which are set on the <html> document element while the application is active. This allows to style a document based on a specific application.
DlgIdleTimeout
Specifies the maximum time in seconds an application may be idle. The application is terminated if it does not get any user input for longer than the specified time.

A suffix may be optionally appended:

m-minutes(60 seconds)
h-hours(3600 seconds)
d-days(86400 seconds)
w-weeks(604800 seconds)

If set to zero the application never times out.

The default is: 1h (one hour, 3600 seconds)

DlgQuitStatus
Specifies a DLG status to be returned to the program before the application is terminated due to inactivity or after the web browser window or tab has been closed.

This allows the application to gracefully quit. If it is currently waiting in DLG DO or POPUP BOX, this status is returned, i.e., typically an Eloquence ON ERROR handler is called. The DLG connection remains active. The application is then expected to quit as soon as possible.

The specified status must be at least 650. To distinguish this from other error conditions it is possible to specify an undefined Eloquence error code, for example: 688

This takes precedence over the DlgQuitRule configuration (see below). If neither DlgQuitStatus nor DlgQuitRule are set, the DLG connection is closed and the application receives DLG status 684.

The default is: 0

The Application.quitstatus attribute may be used to programmatically set or query this configuration.

DlgQuitRule
Specifies a rule value to be returned to the program before the application is terminated due to inactivity or after the web browser window or tab has been closed.

This allows the application to gracefully quit. If it is currently waiting in DLG DO, this rule is returned. If it is currently waiting in POPUP BOX, button -1 is returned. The DLG connection remains active. The application is then expected to quit as soon as possible.

The DlgQuitStatus configuration takes precedence (see above). If neither DlgQuitStatus nor DlgQuitRule are set, the DLG connection is closed and the application receives DLG status 684.

The default is: 0

The Application.quitrule attribute may be used to programmatically set or query this configuration.

DlgQuitTimeout
When DlgQuitStatus or DlgQuitRule are set this specifies an additional timeout in seconds to allow the application to gracefully quit.

The default is: 5 (seconds)

The Application.quittimeout attribute may be used to programmatically set or query this configuration.

Driver
Specifies the driver type reported to the program.
The default is: WEB2

This way, existing programs which expect that DLG GET ".driver_type" and "System.driver" return "JDLG" may be configured to work with WEBDLG2 by setting:

Driver = JDLG
Locale
Specifies the application locale which defines international settings such as numeric and date formats. If not set, the user's browser locale is used.

To set a specific application locale, an IETF BCP 47 language tag must be used, for example:

en-US English (United States)
en-GB English (United Kingdom)
fr-FR French (France)
de-DE German (Germany)

The default is: not set (use browser locale)

DefaultFontFace
Specifies the Dialog default font family name.
DefaultFontSize
Specifies the Dialog default font size.

These default font properties are used if a Dialog does not have the fontface/fontsize/fontstyle attributes set. The Dialog raster calculation is based on the Dialog font.

DefaultFontSize allows to specify a unit, for example: 16px
If no unit is specified, pt (point) is assumed.

The default is: not set (use browser font)

FontSizeFactor
Factor to increase or reduce the Dialog and object font sizes (decimal number, for example 0.9 to reduce to 90% of the font size set for a Dialog or object).

This might help to adjust the Dialog appearance for applications originally written for JDLG because the browser might render certain fonts differently than Java. For example, Java might render a font with 12pt size although an object has fontsize=13 set, while the browser renders the font with 13pt size. In such a case, setting FontSizeFactor=0.923 will reduce the font size from 13pt to 12pt, to achieve a Dialog appearance in the browser similar to JDLG.

Please note: This factor is not applied to calculate the Dialog raster.

The default is: not set (use font sizes as specified)

IgnoreDialogFont
If set to a nonzero value, any Dialog font attributes set by the application are ignored, instead the default font is used (see above). If the default font is not configured the browser font is used.

This might help to achieve a unified Dialog appearance for applications originally written for JDLG, by using the same font attributes for all Dialogs even if different Dialog font attributes are set.

Please note: This only applies to the Dialog font attributes, child objects are not affected.

The default is: 0 (use Dialog font attributes as specified)

BaseURL
Specifies the global base URL.
HelpBaseURL
Specifies the global base URL for the help system.
LogoIcon
URL to specify the application logo/icon. If a relative URL is set, the global or application-specific base URL is prepended. If not set, the Eloquence icon is used.

The default is: not set (use Eloquence icon)

Atom.NAME
Sets an atom named NAME in the System object. Token resolving is applied as explained in the Command section above.
Layout
Specifies how Dialogs are displayed. Supported modes are:

Layout = dialog
Dialog windows are used. All visible Dialogs are displayed, the active Dialog is topmost.

Layout = inline
The active Dialog is displayed inline in the HTML document at the top/left position in the Dialog container element. No other Dialogs are displayed.

Layout = inline max
The inline Dialog is maximized so that it covers the entire container element.

Layout = inline dialog
Layout = inline max dialog
If multiple Dialogs are visible, Dialog windows are used except for the Dialog at the bottom which is displayed inline (and maximized if the max keyword is specified).

The default is: dialog

Please note that individual Dialogs can override the specified layout mode:

  1. A Dialog is always inline if resizepolicy="inline" is set.

  2. A Dialog is always inline if the x/y/w/h attributes are not set, or if they are all set to zero.

  3. A Dialog is always inline if the xauto/yauto attributes are set to a value other than 1. The xauto/yauto modes 0 and -1 may be used if the Dialog position in the container element should be different from top/left.
EnableMaximize
Specifies the default to enable or disable the Dialog auto-maximize function. This default may be overridden via the System.enablemaximize and the Application.enablemaximize and the Dialog.enablemaximize attributes.

If set to a nonzero value, the session's auto-maximize status is adjusted when a Dialog is maximized or normalized. When a new Dialog is opened or made visible and the Dialog.maximized attribute was not explicitly set, the Dialog is maximized or normalized according to the session's auto-maximize status, and the Dialog.maximized attribute is adjusted. This allows the user to control whether an application's Dialogs should appear maximized or not.

If set to zero, the Dialog.maximized attribute is used when a new Dialog is opened or made visible. Maximizing or normalizing a Dialog does not affect the session's auto-maximize status.

The default is: 1 (auto-maximize function enabled)

NotifyBusy
If set to a nonzero value, a beep notification will be issued on any mouse or key event that is dropped while a Dialog is not interactive, i.e., currently outside DLG DO. May be overridden via the System.notifybusy attribute.

The default is: 1 (beep notification enabled)

TypeAhead
If set to a nonzero value, the typeahead function is enabled. The typeahead function prevents characters from being lost if they are typed while the Dialog is not interactive, i.e., currently outside DLG DO.

The default is: 1 (typeahead function enabled)

PrinterName
Specifies the value returned by the Application printername and printers attributes. This is a JDLG compatibility option, applications originally written for JDLG might use this to display a printer selection.

The default is: PDF

StrictMode
If set to a nonzero value, strict attribute value checking is enabled. By default, JDLG behavior is applied where setting attribute values is loosely checked. For example, setting the ListBox.topitem attribute out-of-range is accepted by JDLG but results in DLG STATUS 660 if StrictMode is enabled.

Affected attributes:
EditText.cx
EditText.cy
ListBox.activeitem
ListBox.activeline
ListBox.columnorder
ListBox.cy
ListBox.sortsequence
ListBox.status
ListBox.topitem
ListBox.vactiveline

The default is: 0 (JDLG-compatible value checking enabled)

PopupPosition
Specifies the position of popup windows (login dialog, message dialog, POPUP BOX). The position is specified by the top/left/center keywords which may be combined, separated with a space character, for example:

top left vertical top and horizontal left position
top center vertical top position, horizontally centered
top same as top center above

Optionally, the popup dialog type may be specified if not all types should be affected. Possible types (may be combined):

login login dialog
message message dialog
box POPUP BOX

For example, if the login and message dialogs should be displayed at the vertical top position and horizontally centered, but the POPUP BOX should use the default (centered both horizontally and vertically):

PopupPosition = login message top

The default is: center (all popup dialog types centered both horizontally and vertically)

WindowFeatures.NAME
Allows to configure how new web browser windows/tabs are opened, applied when Application.browser is invoked, and when Application.start / System.start are used to start secondary sessions, and when help URLs are opened.

The specified value is passed to the JavaScript Window.open() method as windowFeatures argument (1).

NAME defines which window/tab class is affected:

DOC affects windows/tabs opened via Application.browser
HELP affects help windows/tabs
PRINTER affects webprint windows/tabs

For example, to define that help URLs should open in a separate browser window having a specific size:

WindowFeatures.HELP = popup,width=800,height=600

If NAME is set to an application identifier (app_id) it affects Application.start / System.start for this application, such as:

WindowFeatures.MENU = popup,width=600,height=450

Please note:

Application.start / System.start may be invoked with specific window/tab features which take precedence. For example, to open an application in a separate browser window:

DLG SET "Application.start[popup]",App$

Application.browser allows to specify a target, such as:

DLG SET "Application.browser[forms]",Form_url$

Setting WindowFeatures.FORMS would allow to configure features for this window/tab class.

The Application.windowfeature[name] attribute may be used to programmatically set or query this configuration.

ShowStartErrors
If set to a nonzero value, a possible application start error message (for example 'authorization failed: bad password') is displayed to the user. This can be disabled by setting ShowStartErrors to zero.

The default is: 1 (error messages are displayed)

WarnLeavingPage
If set to 1, the user is warned before leaving the page (e.g., when trying to close the web browser window or tab), to prevent unintentional program termination.

The warning is issued if the user tries to leave the page while the program is not interactive, i.e., currently outside DLG DO, or when the current Dialog's rule attribute value is zero (i.e., the current Dialog does not display the close symbol in its title bar).

The warning is implicitly disabled during application development and debugging, i.e., when a DLG listener is used to start an application.

If set to 2, the warning is always enabled while an application is active, regardless whether or not the current Dialog has the close symbol, and during application development and debugging.

The default is: 1 (warning is enabled)


WEBDLG2 supports application development and debugging using the interactive eloq/eloqcore or the Eloquence IDE.

Interactive eloq/eloqcore
The initial program is loaded with LOAD and run with RUN. The DLG connection is typically initiated with DLG SET ".driver" or by specifying the eloqcore -dlg command line option.

Eloquence IDE
A Debug Session is configured, typically specifying the -dlg command line option, or setting an environment variable which is used by the program with DLG SET ".driver".

To support this, WEBDLG2 does not start the application itself but instead loads an application configuration, then opens a DLG listener which waits for an incoming DLG connection issued by the initial program started by the interactive eloq/eloqcore or the Eloquence IDE.

The DLG listener is opened by invoking a configured application with a port number appended, separated by a : colon, such as:

http://SERVER.NAME/APPLICATION:8011

The port number (here: 8011) needs to be configured with the DlgPort configuration item (see below).

This loads the specified application configuration but ignores the Server, TLS, Command, Login, Password, LoginDomain, StartDir, Environment, ArgEnvAccept, ArgEnvPrefix items, they are irrelevant because the application is not started, instead a DLG listener is opened.

Port 8011 is the default DLG port. For example, JDLG by default accepts new DLG connections on port 8011. A port range may be useful for a development team where each developer would use a separate port.

The HTML document displays a message to indicate that the listener has been opened. The program or the IDE debug session may then be started and is expected to establish a DLG connection with DLG SET ".driver" or by specifying the eloqcore -dlg command line option.

Please note:
  • The eloqcore -dlg ADDRESS command line option or the DLG SET ".driver","ADDRESS" statement need to specify the IP address or the host name of the system running the eloqwebd2 server, not the address of the user's PC.

    Typically, this is -dlg localhost or DLG SET ".driver","localhost".

  • If a port different from 8011 is used it needs to be appended, separated by a : colon, for example:
    -dlg localhost:8015
    DLG SET ".driver","localhost:8015"
    

  • Access to the DLG listener may be restricted, for example to grant access to the development team only (AllowDlg, DenyDlg, see below).

DlgPort
Comma- or space-separated list specifying DLG listen ports or port ranges.

For example:

DlgPort = 8011, 8012, 8013, 8014, 8015
DlgPort = 8011, 8012-8015
DlgPort = 8011-8015

All the above examples are equivalent.

AllowDlg
DenyDlg
Used to enable or reject access to the application based on the client network address when a DLG listener should be opened, allowing to restrict DlgPort access, for example to grant access to the development team only.

The argument syntax is identical to Allow/Deny (see above).


 
 
 
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