[TriLUG] Question about webapp design philosophy

[Chris Merrill]

Mike Helms wrote:
> I've been studying ebay (as best as one can study ebay just by looking at
> it), and it appears that many of the pages in ebay are generated from the
> same "page" on their webserver.  There is a variable passed through the URL
> that acts, in effect, like a "command" to the page, telling it what we are
> trying to do.  When I go to the My Ebay page, the command is
> MyEbayItemsBiddingOn.  When I view an item, it is ViewItem.

That 'page' is most likely _not_ a page.  Most likely, the URL in
question (servlet, CGI, ASP, whatever) serves as a dispatcher.
It just gathers the basic request info, pairs it up with the session
information and passes it on to the appropriate 'module' for
processing (as determined by the 'command').


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Chris Merrill
cmerrill at nc.rr.com
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