INFORMATION COMPONENTS FOR THE GOPHER SERVER

The information storage components needed by the gopher server delivery system are listed below:

• HP CORPORATE PERSONAL DATABASE: Where translation of AFS id to corporate ID is performed. Also, personal data is mapped into numeric classes - values 1 through 16 corresponding to various departments who own the data. All users get class 0 (zero), even if their AFS id is not within PERSONAL database.

• GOPHER: IMAGE data base that contains user class links and menu descriptions, as well as temporary user indexes generated when "tickets" are given out.
  • GOPHER-CLASS-MST (AUTO) Path to lookup class number.

  • FOLDER-MST (AUTO) Path to lookup MENU name.

  • GOPHER-FOLDER (DETL) Where Class number is related to menu name and gopher "menu/selector" string information is stored, such as menu description line, Unix gateway name and port number. In addition, all required MPE processing directives to generate a gopher document are defined with this set, such as "copy a file" or "call a COBOL subroutine". See "folder defined" sections.

  • GOPHER-TICKET (MST) Users who where sent a ticket.

  • GOPHER-LOG (MST) Users who entered correct ticket and received a root menu from the HP. Timer information is kept here to expire folder selections.

  • GOPHER-AFS-ID (AUTO) Path for special afsid/class lookup.

  • GOPHER-AFS-CLASS (DETL) Where AFSid to class assignments are mapped. Allows "custom" menu selections for particular groups of users for any class number. Generally, special classes that are defined greater than 16 are related to AFS users in this set. However, any class number can be assigned to an AFS user.

GOPHER FOLDER Defined. Components needed by the gopher server delivery system to build a custom root gopher menu are listed below:

I2   ND-GOPHER-CLASS     =[16          ] 
X8   ND-FOLDER-NAME      =[STD00001]
I2   ND-FOLDER-TIMOUT    =[600       ]
I2   ND-FOLDER-LINK      =[0           ]
I2   ND-FOLDER-ACTIVE    =[1           ]
I1   ND-FOLDER-LEVEL     =[0     ]
I1   ND-FOLDER-TYPE      =[0     ]
X66  ND-FOLDER-TEXT      =[Student Grade Report   ... ]
X26  ND-GOPHER-HOST      =[gopher.nd.edu             ]
X6   ND-GOPHER-PORT      =[0000  ]
X254 ND-FOLDER-CMD       =[p/studentgrades        ...]
X4   ND-GOPHER-SRT       =[0100]

Notes: This Set maps directly to the personal data bits stored within the PERSONAL database, bit number 16 is the highest number defined within the system. Special classes start at 17, arbitrary limit of 32. Program must be changed to support more classes than 32.

• FOLDER-NAME must be unique among all entries (all classes) within GOPHER-FOLDER set.

• TIMOUT is expressed in seconds and is the number of seconds the user has to retrieve this item. Otherwise, after that time, the user must get another ticket.

• LINK is used when building FOLDERS to FOLDERS. An arbitrary number is used that is unique.

• ACTIVE flag allows the menu item to be "turned off" without deleting the entry.

• LEVEL defines at what level the folder is "LINKED". Up to 3 levels allowed. Root level is (0).

• TYPE defines the type of object returned from server. Supported types are:
  • (0) Document text file.
  • (1) Directory entry - Note: LINK must be defined.
  • (7) Searchable directory - Note LINK must be defined.
  • (8) Telnet session.

• TEXT is what appears on the gopher menu clients screen.

• FOLDER-CMD is the MPE interface server commands. They are:
  • p/[procedure name]
    MPE 4.0 Sockets based COBOL Interface. Dynamically links and Calls a procedure within GOPHERXL.PUB. Names must be lower case. Additional XL's needed by library routines are linked or specified on the driver server program. GOPHERXL must be first XL.

  • gft/[file name]
    Send file contents to gopher user without standard header. Gopher server converts MPE file formats to byte stream type files.

  • f/[file name]
    Send file contents with standard header. Mpe file conversion to byte stream format.

  • c/[MPE command]
    Executes a "ONE SHOT" MPE command file and sends output back to gopher user. This Interface allows MPE command files to be executed by the gopher server using a standard PARM header. The server has a predefined parmaeter list that is sent to the MPE command file. Contents of command file display ($stdlist) are return within a gopher document to the user.

  • MPE command file header parameters sent by gopher server are:

    PARM AFS="", SSN="", UID="", DOC="", ARG1="", ARG2=""

    AFS= name of the AFS user.
    SSN= personal ID of AFS user.
    UID= 4 digit unique number identifying transaction (needed to contruct unique MPE variable names for concurrent environments).
    DOC= named defined for menu within gopher database.
    ARG1= contents of a gopher searchable type (level 1).
    ARG2= contents of a gopher searchable type (level 2).
    

• HOST is Unix proxy gateway machines address GOPHER.ND.EDU.

• PORT is Unix proxy gateway port ID to recieve and route gopher requests to HP3000 machine server.

• SORT number orders menu selections as they appear on screen by class number.

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  Eric.J.Schubert.1@nd.edu
  University of Notre Dame