Aestiva H2O Web Site

Installation:
  Free Downloads
  The H2O Family
  Install Notes

Programming:
  Prerequisites
  H2O Whitepaper
  Online Manual
  Code Examples
  H2O Free Support

What's H2O?
H2O is programming made for the web.

What's it like?
H2O is English-like. If you know some Perl, VB, ASP, or PhP you'll be immediately productive in H2O. It runs on Linux, Mac, Unix, and Windows.

How do I try it?
Download H2O for free. Get it from hosting providers. Or buy on-line.

Where does H2O come from?
The language was invented by Aestiva. H2O stands for:
   HTML with
   HTML/OS
   Overlays.

The H2O ILS Service

Understanding H2O's Intranet Login Service.
H2O includes an Intranet Login Service, or ILS. The utility gives systems administrators the ability to control Intranet icons on user's H2O desktops. We explain below how to set up and use the ILS.

Introduction
Setting up a company intranet involves issues such as security, how to add or take away users, and how to give users freedom to maintain their own H2O desktops.
To help in this matter, H2O includes an application icon called ILS which stands for Intranet Login Service. The ILS gives the Intranet Administrator an easy way to set up, maintain, and manage a company-wide intranet.

The ILS is particularly important since it allows different kinds of personnel to work together. It recognizes the following kinds of staff:

Intranet Administrator -- a person who maintains users and their access to applications. The Intranet Administrator needs the ability to define user login IDs and passwords, and the ability to add and delete users. However they cannot do it all. They do not want to control or maintain each application or the specific rights and personalization defined in each application. That's the job of the Product administrators.
Product administrators -- one or more people whose job it is to run specific applications. Each Product administrator wants and needs control over the users who access their applications but they also understands they should not bypass the Intranet Administrator.
Users -- the end-users of applications maintained by one or more Product administrators.

How the ILS works
At its very core, the ILS is nothing more than a database of products and users. The ILS application is stored on a copy of H2O or HTML/OS maintained by the ILS administrator.

Users in the company keep their own copies of H2O or HTML/OS. User login IDs and passwords are stored in the ILS user table. URLs for accessing products are stored in the ILS product table. Each product is given a product code by the ILS administrator. Products can be H2O or HTML/OS products residing on the ILS administrator's copy of H2O or HTML/OS, or on any other copy of H2O or HTML/OS.

The ILS can also connect to products written in any language installed on any kind of operating system residing anywhere on the web. To do this, a special connection script is needed. For example, it can be used to hook up to ASP, JSP. PhP, Cold Fusion, or Perl applicatons. In future articles we will talk about how to do this.

Unlike "Intranets" that act like a central menu, the ILS was designed so users can run their own copies of H2O or HTML/OS. Hooking up to the "Intranet" amounts to a user adding an application icon on their desktop. It's just that the icon launches an application defined by the ILS, instead of launching an application that accesses ones own copy of H2O or HTML/OS. This "Intranet" architeture is more flexible than the central-menu concept since it gives users the freedom to run their own applications, while at the same time, use Intranet applications.

User's set up "Intranet Access" with their desktop's Control Panel. They enter a URL to the company's ILS application, as supplied to them by the ILS adminsitrator, a login ID and a passsword. The same screen includes a testing utility to check their Intranet connection.

Once "Intranet Access" is set up, adding Intranet Applications is a matter of clicking "Preferences" on the user's H2O or HTML/OS Desktop. There they enter the product code of the Intranet Application they wish to create and hit enter. This creates an icon, which when clicked, auto-logs them into the Intranet Product.

Walking through an example.
Let's set up an Intranet for a hypothetical company. Let's suppose the company consits of a Product administrator who maintains an Aestiva product called Power Office (Power Office is a commercial product that automates the handling of electronic office forms). Suppose the administrator of Power Office is a person in the HR department.

Let's also suppose the people in this company each access their own copy of H2O the administrator previously set up for them in different cgi-bin's on a central server. Or one could suppose each user downloaded and installed a copy of H2O on their PCs. Either way, we suppose each user has their own copy of H2O.

To set up Power Office on the Intranet, the Power Office admin looks in Power Office for Intranet setup instructions. They find a place that tells them the URL to supply the ILS admin and that they need to set up a master password and supply that, along with the URL, to the ILS admin. They do that.

Now the ILS admin has what they need. The Power Office admin, by the way, can still block users from accessing their Power Office application. They may have given the ILS admin a MasterPassword, however access is still allowed or denied by the Power Office admin. They still retain control.

Getting back to the ILS admin, they now have the information needed to add Power Office to their ILS. They do that. The ILS admin also has a set of Login IDs and Passwords they maintain. They populate their ILS with any additional User IDs and passwords needed.

Note: To ensure User IDs match across different products and the intranet the company has a policy of using the login ID in their email as their user ID. For example, if a user has the email address john.smith@mycompany.com then john.smith would be their user ID.

Once the ILS admin has set up Power Office they tell the Power Office admin they are done. The Power Office admin then sends an email to their users instructing them to add a Power Office icon to their desktop. The ILS includes a tool for doing this. It will email users a notice with (i) instructions on setting up their ILS if it is not already set up, and (ii) instructions on setting up the Power Office icon.

If the user does not have an Intranet set up they follow the instructions to do that. To set up the Power Office icon, they click Preferences on their desktop, enter the code OFFICE where it requests a product code, and they hit enter. That sets up the Power Office icon.

Clicking the Power Office icon auto-logs them into Power Office. Internally, in the split second the icon is clicked, H2O connects the user to the ILS using the User ID and password stored in their Control Panel. The ILS looks up the OFFICE product code and uses that to direct the user to the Power Office product. If Power Office accepts they log in smoothly. If not, they are denied access.

Next steps..
As a next step we recommend you play as bit with the ILS service. Since the ILS service is new, additional materials are not yet available. However, your feedback is appreciated. To share your thoughts about ILS with us please use the Free Support link on the H2O home page.