Internet Application Development Tools

Browsers

Web documents today are largely static - they present information or provide a simple interface for retrieving information from the user. The powerful browsers of the future will support multiple protocols, object linking and imbedding and a number of scripting languages.

OLE Controls and OLE Scripting provide the infrastructure that lets you add behavior and scripting to your Web page, in a language-neutral and tool-neutral way. OLE Controls and OLE Scripting leverage the investment in tools and knowledge that developers have already made in OLE.

Currently, Netscape supports Java and Java Script. MS Internet Explorer 2.0 supports object linking and embedding, or OLE, controls (OCXes), Visual Basic (VB) controls (VBXes), and Visual Basic Script, a VB-based scripting language designed specifically for creating applications that can run within HTML browsers.

Visual Basic

It is Microsoft¹s intent to use Visual Basic as the development environment for the Internet. You will see more and more support coming directly from Microsoft in the way of OLE controls, development environments, augmentations to Visual Basic, and what-not. They have already embraced Java in their web browser and have committed themselves to Visual Basic being the development platform for Internet applications.

Any users who have chosen VB as one of its primary application development tools, is poised to leverage these skills in the Internet arena.

VB Script

Microsoft will also support the use of VBXes through VB Script. VB Script is a light-weight version of Visual Basic designed specifically for scripting applications that can be downloaded and run as part of the HTML code that comprises Web pages. VB Script is an alternative to Java Script and PERL, and will run across multiple platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, and Unix. VB Script can be used to link and automate OLE objects and Java applets, for example. The need for security in VB Script-based applications will be addressed through a "safe" runtime that will police scripts to ensure compliance with access controls, and through general-purpose digital signature technology that can guarantee the integrity of VB Script applications.

VB Script will be supported in Microsoft's own browser implementations, including Internet Explorer and the Internet Add-on for Windows 95. Microsoft will also publish reference source code for VB Script on the Internet, and other browser manufacturers will be able to license and use it free.

Microsoft said it will also propose VB Script to the W3 Consortium and the Internet Engineering Task Force as an open Internet scripting language standard.

Other Internet Enablers

In addition to the services provide by Visual Basic and VB Script, Microsoft has bundled a broad set of client system services and APIs (collectively known as Sweeper) that allow developers to Internet-enable their applications. The integration of these services will bring the power of a browser to the application and vice versa. The primary services are listed below:

• OLE Document Objects enable Web browsers to be extensible, so that they can view any type of document (not just HTML) that is published on the Internet.
• Hyperlinks provide general navigation APIs that can be used by any application. Coupled with OLE Document Objects, the hyperlinking and URL caching API allows all application developers to navigate back and forth between documents and to keep a history, just as Web browsers do today.
• OLE Control and Control Container Guidelines. The guidelines define the exact interfaces and methods that are required of well-behaved OLE Control and Control Container desktop applications. Sweeper proposes two new OLE Control component categories--Internet and multimedia/run time only--specifically to address Internet-enabled and multimedia controls.
• OLE Scripting. This is a syntax- and language-neutral architecture that allows scripting vendors to "plug-in" and perform automation between components. In addition, Microsoft's new scripting solution, called Visual Basic Script, will use OLE Scripting and include a compiler and run time.
• Internet Extensions for Win32. This API set abstracts Gopher, FTP, and HTTP protocols into easy-to-use, task-focused interfaces that simplify access to the Internet significantly.
• URL Monikers. URL monikers are an implementation of asynchronous monikers, which can perform binding asynchronously to OLE objects via URLs. URL monikers encapsulate protocols. An application simply binds to the URL moniker. The moniker works with the appropriate protocol to activate the OLE object and go to the specified Internet location.
• Persistent Cache API. This API is used by clients that need persistent caching services. Persistent caching allows the caller to save data in the local file system for later use. This is useful when access to the data is over a low-bandwidth link or the access is not available at all.
• Pluggable protocols and data formats. Given the dynamic nature of the Internet world, it is highly likely that new file formats and protocols will emerge. Sweeper uses "Quartz" (an architecture for the processing of streams of multimedia data) Filter Graphs to handle new media types and the IBind* interfaces for plugging in new protocols.

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