Using the Web Browser Interface

The web browser interface is used to browse, search, and view archives and associated images.

The setup of the browser interface is simple; you can use the internal UnForm HTTP server,

or

use an external web server, such as Apache or Microsoft IIS, operating on a system that has access to the UnForm server.

External Web Server

If using an external web server, a CGI script, uf80a.pl or uf80a.exe, is placed in an appropriate scriptable location, or given an appropriate scriptable name, and users simply need to point their web browser to the address, such as http://mycompany.com/cgi-bin/uf80a.pl.

Internal HTTP Server

To access the internal HTTP server, simply use the URL http://server:port/arc.

The server is the name or IP address of the UnForm server, and the port is the listening port configured in the [httpd] section of uf80d.ini.

An example might be: http://myserver:27282/arc.

The user is presented a login form first.  The first time it is used, an administrator can login with the name “admin” and password “admin”, and can then add additional users and change the admin password using the browser.

The Browse feature provides drill down capabilities through the library, document type, document ID structure, and optionally by date or category indexes.

The Search feature provides cross-library searching for generic text patterns (Simple form interface) or by specific field attributes or ranges (Advanced form interface).  Selected archives can be viewed, exported, transferred, or copied.

Administrative features, such as user login management and library security set up, are available when an administrative user logs in.

A session cookie is used by the web browser interface.  If cookies are not enabled in the web browser, then the browser interface will not function correctly.  The lifetime of a session is controlled by the sesage=hours value in the [archive] section of uf80d.ini.  If set to 0, a login is required each time the user starts their web browser.  If set to some other value, then sessions last the specified number of hours before a new login is required.

See the Web Script Installation chapter for more details about installing and configuring the CGI script.  The interface itself provides on-line help for a more detailed description of how to use the browser interface.