Web

Connectivity

A labs.ericsson.com APIhttp://labs.ericsson.com/apis/web-connectivity/

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Web Connectivity

› Web applications in browsers or as widgets benefit from bi-directional communication with other applications running in servers or clients

› The Web Connectivity API allows you to connect and send messages between your web applications, pages and servers, using a unified addressing and messaging system

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Why Web Connectivity?

› The Web connectivity API provides a transparent way for developers to facilitate connectivity between web applications and web servers

› Normally, web applications utilize HTTP for communication over TCP/IP networks, which is inherently unidirectional. The server cannot reach the client and transfer information to it whenever there is new data available

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Main Features

› Warp is a short name for the Web Connectivity API

› Warp is an overlay network providing its own addressing and messaging semantics

› The key features on the Warp overlay network are

– Addressability: it allows entities on the network to know more precisely who they are talking to, other than a given "host”

– Reachability and asynchronous messaging: provides both clients and servers with the ability to initiate conversation to each other without waiting for one or the other to take the initiative

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Overview

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Client side development

› No download or installation is required to use the API. The

library is loaded by including the following line in the web application:<script type="text/javascript"

src="http://ergo.labs.ericsson.net:8080/TunnelView/loader/wheelbox-loader.js">

</script>

› Resources are central to the Warp library. Each resource is represented by an active object, and they form a tree hierarchy. When messages are received they are propagated through the resource structure.

› Sending messages: use the sendTo(toAddress, method, data, contentType) method of a resource

› Receiving messages: define a resource.onmessage handler function or add an event listener using resource.addEventListener, for example:resource.onmessage = function(evt) {

// Do something

// "Bubble" the event to the parent resource for further handling

return true;

}

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Client side development

› Advanced applications may require a server side for various forms of data processing and/or storage.

– Developers can use any external HTTP-capable server as an application server for Warp applications

› The Warp HTTP interface can be used to send Warp messages to Warp Clients, and receive Warp messages from Warp Clients at your HTTP server

– A simple PHP example is available that sends a Warp message

– A Warp Ruby on Rails plugin is available to facilitate building Warp-enabled Rails applications

– By default, Warp Clients ask the end user to provide authentication information. By using your own custom authentication, you can automatically log in users, providing for a smoother end-user experience, while maintaining access control

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