A database application generator for the www

Abstract

This paper describes a database application generator for the WWW called GWB. GWB contains a compact language that adds control structures and database access constructs to HTML, a compiler that translates HTML‐like source templates into ODBC code and utilities for authentication and session management. It is designed to ease the expertise requirement needed for developing Web‐based intranet and internet database applications. This paper surveys the current approaches; describes the language and its support for authentication and session management; and gives an internet application using GWB. This paper also discusses future enhancement in terms of persistent database connections and server‐side client state persistency.