Most web sites are static and flat. With Custom Internet Components your site can come alive. We are skilled in the development of web sites using
A CGI Program is a program that takes user input, usually from a form, and produces web pages 'on the fly'. These pages a can contain almost any sort of information, the result of database searches or make use of user preferences in appearance and content.
CGI programs are often written in perl or C/C++, languages in which we have deep experince.
While CGIs are programs that run on the web server, JavaScript and others run on the client machine under the control of the web browser. Becase of this, these elements are respnsive to mouse motion and clicks and can respond to individual keystrokes.
Unfortunately, the competition between Netscape and Microsoft has resulted in 3 incompatible languages, JavaScript, JScript and VBScript. While JavaScript (from Netscape) and JScript (from Microsoft) are similar, they are not identical. VBScript, also from Microsoft, is rather different from the other 2 scripting tools but has about the same capabilities.
Because of the differences between languages, it is often necessary to write code that detects the specific browser and calls code written in the appropriate language. To support both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, these scripts have to be written in two languages.
Java is the king of client technologies, highly platform independent, secure for the end user and very rich for developers. Its capabilites far exceed those of JavaScript and the like. It combines the immediate feedback capabilities of the scripting languages while having the ability to talk to server side tools like databases.
ActiveX is a technology from Microsoft that allows the Internet Explorer to run custom written code. Unlike Java, it is not a secure tool for the client, but does add capabilities that cannot be acheived otherwise, such as talking directly to Excel spreadsheets or Word documents on the client's machine, integrating these tools directly into the IR browser.
Note that ActiveX will only run on Windows or NT Internet Explorer clients, leaving Macintosh and Unix systems out in the cold.
As you may have noticed, not all technologies are supported on all clients. Since CGIs are not client-based, they work with all clients. But since they are server-side programs, they cannot respond to mouse or keyboard events.
The combination of JavaScript and JScript will reach most, but not all browsers. The most notible ommision is older AOL browsers which do not support either scripting languages nor Java.
Java is designed from the ground up for applications like the Internet. Current browsers support only the first release of Java and so the newer features are not available. However, a combination of client and server-side Java code can provide some remarkable capabilities. As with the scripting languages, older browsers do not support Java.
Where all function must reach all clients, CGIs are the best route. Where the highest level of interactivity is needed, a combination of CGI and scripting language can give good results. For some applications Java is a good choice and as time goes by will become the tool of choice.