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Ultra-Thin Client
Ultra-thin client is delivering html-based code from the Omnis web server to the clients. An ultra-thin client solution does not use the Omnis Web Client plugin.
The Omnis Web Server is sitting on the server listening on port 5912 (or whatever port you set it to). It can receive messages from html pages specifying the web client plug-in, or it can receive messages from html pages not using the web client plug-in.
Using the web client plug-in you can quickly create very rich browser windows. That is, browser windows which are similar to the window classes that you creating in Omnis Studio.
However, in my opinon, the Omnis Web Client solution is not great for the general public.
- It requires users to download and install the Web Client plug-in.
- Every time you use a new component, the plug-in asks the user if it is okay to download the component.
- Licensing can get expensive because each simultaneous Web Client connection requires a separate runtime license.
Where you have a web page that is targeted to the general public, it is quite easy to create an HTML form that can submit data to a remote task in your Omnis web application, and then from the remote task reply to the web page with HTML.
If you want to see an example of an HTML page which uses the ultra-thin client, go to www.vencor.ca/cemetery/wingham/search, or click the button in the window.
Enter the letter Z and click the button. The html results page is dynamically generated by an Omnis Studio application.
The tutorial takes you step-by-step through building an ultra-thin Omnis Studio web app.