The New X Window System: A Complete Internet Architecture

by Bowman, Charles

• ISBN13: 9780201184631
• ISBN10: 020118463X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

The X Window System for displaying graphical user interfaces on UNIX and Linux systems has just been re-architected to support enterprise-class distributed applications across LANs, WANs, and the Internet. This is the first and only authoritative guide to the new X Window System, codenamed Broadway, and officially titled X11R6.3. Discover how Broadway can allow any user to access any application from anywhere on the Internet, while significantly improving the performance of existing enterprise applications. Learn how Broadway has evolved from its X roots; review its components, security features, and Internet-focused architecture; and understand the tasks required to enable enterprise applications to execute remotely across the Internet. Finally, compare Broadway with Java based solutions, and understand how Broadway and Java can work together. The book contains more than 50 figures and illustrations demonstrating Broadway enterprise solutions -- with corresponding sample code available on the Web. For all IT managers, architects, designers, developers, and administrators of large-scale distributed applications and environments.

Table of Contents

Preface	xix
The Future of Computing	1	(12)
The Internet	1	(1)
New Development Objectives	2	(1)
Enhanced Transaction Processing	2	(1)
Portable Clients and Servers	2	(1)
24 x 7 Availability	3	(1)
Enhanced Datasets	3	(1)
Why Now?	3	(1)
The New Wave of Computing	4	(5)
Distributed Architectures	4	(3)
Object Orientation	7	(1)
Business Objects	7	(1)
Distributed Objects	8	(1)
Componentware	8	(1)
New Design Goals	9	(2)
Thin Clients	9	(2)
Internet Applications	11	(1)
Summary	11	(2)
The Story of X	13	(8)
The X Window System	14	(1)
A Brief History of X	14	(1)
The Architecture of X	15	(3)
Design Goals	15	(1)
True Client/Server	15	(1)
The X Protocol	16	(1)
The Advent of Widgets	16	(1)
Where Was X Successful?	17	(1)
Why Was X Successful?	17	(1)
X: Back to the Future	18	(1)
Summary	19	(2)
Broadway: The Nickel Tour	21	(12)
Universal Access	21	(2)
On Broadway	23	(2)
Standards	23	(1)
Design Goals	24	(1)
Distributed Architectures	24	(1)
Broadway's Architecture	25	(1)
Program Downloading	25	(1)
Broadway's Components	25	(4)
Low-Bandwidth X (LBX)	26	(1)
Browser Embedding	27	(1)
Broadway Security	28	(1)
Miscellaneous Features	28	(1)
Why Use Broadway?	29	(2)
Broadway's Advantages	29	(1)
Broadway in the Marketplace	29	(2)
Summary	31	(2)
X on the Web	33	(22)
Program Downloading	33	(1)
HTML Overview and Review	34	(2)
Broadway and Browsers	36	(2)
Implementation Requirements	38	(4)
Broadway HTTP/HTML Extensions	38	(1)
Browser Requirements	39	(3)
Sample Application	42	(8)
Web Server Administration	42	(1)
Browser Administration	42	(1)
Application Files	43	(7)
Bandwidth and Performance	50	(2)
Traditional X Performance	50	(1)
Low-Bandwidth X	51	(1)
Security Issues	52	(2)
Security Threats	52	(1)
Traditional X (In) Security	52	(2)
Broadway Security	54	(1)
Summary	54	(1)
Broadway's Interoperability	55	(10)
The Birth of Java	55	(1)
Java's Features	56	(2)
Simplicity	56	(1)
Object Oriented	56	(1)
Compiled versus Interpreted	56	(1)
Garbage Collection	57	(1)
Portability	57	(1)
Architectural Neutrality	57	(1)
Performance	57	(1)
Security Issues	57	(1)
Multithreading	58	(1)
The Java Virtual Machine	58	(1)
Using Java	58	(3)
Portability in the Real World	59	(1)
GUI Variations	59	(1)
Security	59	(1)
The Cost of Recoding	60	(1)
Lack of Control	60	(1)
On Broadway	61	(1)
Why Open the Play at All?	61	(1)
Is Broadway Secure?	61	(1)
Is Broadway Fast?	62	(1)
X and the Internet	62	(1)
Broadway and Intranets	62	(1)
Microsoft Windows NT Terminal Server Edition	62	(2)
TS Overview	63	(1)
TS On Broadway	64	(1)
Summary	64	(1)
Appendix A Application Group Extension to the X Protocol	65	(16)
A.1 Purpose and Goals	66	(1)
A.2 Overview of the Protocol	66	(1)
A.3 Requests	66	(4)
A.3.1 AppGroupQueryVersion	66	(1)
A.3.2 AppGroupCreate	67	(1)
A.3.3 AppGroupDestroy	68	(1)
A.3.4 AppGroupGetAttr	69	(1)
A.3.5 AppGroupQuery	69	(1)
A.3.6 AppGroupCreateAssociation	69	(1)
A.3.7 AppGroupDestroy Association	69	(1)
A.4 Changes to Existing Requests	70	(1)
A.4.1 MapWindow	70	(1)
A.4.2 ConfigureWindow	70	(1)
A.4.3 CreateWindow	70	(1)
A.4.4 ChangeWindowAttributes	70	(1)
A.5 Changes to Existing Events	70	(1)
A.5.1 MapRequest	71	(1)
A.5.2 ConfigureRequest	71	(1)
A.6 Errors	71	(1)
A.5.1 AppGroupQueryVersion	71	(1)
A.5.2 AppGroupCreate	71	(1)
A.5.3 AppGroupDestroy	72	(1)
A.5.4 AppGroupGetAttr	72	(1)
A.5.5 AppGroupQuery	72	(1)
A.5.6 AppGroupCreateAssociation	72	(1)
A.5.7 AppGroupDestroy Association	72	(1)
A.7 Encoding	72	(3)
A.7.1 AppGroupQueryVersion	72	(1)
A.7.2 AppGroupCreate	73	(1)
A.7.3 AppGroupDestroy	73	(1)
A.7.4 AppGroupGetAttr	73	(1)
A.7.5 AppGroupQuery	74	(1)
A.7.6 AppGroupCreateAssoc	74	(1)
A.7.7 AppGroupDestroy Assoc	74	(1)
A.8 Library Application Programming Interface	75	(3)
A.8.1 Status XagQueryVersion(	75	(1)
A.8.2 Status XagCreateEmbeddedApplicationGroup(	75	(1)
A.8.3 Status XagCreateNonembeddedApplicationGroup(	76	(1)
A.8.4 Status XagDestroyApplicationGroup(	76	(1)
A.8.5 Status XagGetApplicationGroupAttributes(	76	(1)
A.8.6 Status XagQueryApplicationGroup(	77	(1)
A.8.7 Status XagCreateAssociation(	77	(1)
A.8.8 Status XagDestroyAssociation(	78	(1)
A.9 System Window Encodings	78	(3)
A.9.1 AppGroupCreateAssoc (X11)	78	(1)
A.9.2 AppGroupCreateAssoc (Macintosh)	79	(1)
A.9.3 AppGroupCreateAssoc (Win32)	79	(1)
A.9.4 AppGroupCreateAssoc (Win16)	79	(2)
Appendix B Low-Bandwidth X Extension	81	(54)
B.1 Description	82	(5)
B.1.1 Data Flow	82	(1)
B.1.2 Tags	82	(1)
B.1.3 Short-Circuiting	83	(1)
B.1.4 Graphics Reencoding	84	(1)
B.1.5 Motion Events	84	(1)
B.1.6 Event Squishing	85	(1)
B.1.7 Master Client	85	(1)
B.1.8 Multiplexing of Clients	85	(1)
B.1.9 Swapping	85	(1)
B.1.10 Delta Cache	85	(1)
B.1.11 Stream Compression	86	(1)
B.1.12 Authentication Protocols	86	(1)
B.2 C Library Interfaces	87	(1)
B.2.1 Application Library Interfaces	87	(1)
B.2.2 Proxy Library Interfaces	87	(1)
B.3 Protocol	88	(24)
B.3.1 Syntactic Conventions and Common Types	88	(2)
B.3.2 Errors	90	(1)
B.3.3 Requests	90	(20)
B.3.4 Events	110	(2)
B.3.5 Responses	112	(1)
B.4 Algorithm Naming	112	(1)
B.5 Encoding	113	(22)
B.5.1 Events	130	(3)
B.5.2 Reencoding of X Events	133	(1)
B.5.3 Responses	134	(1)
Appendix C The RX Document	135	(8)
C.1 Notational Conventions and Generic Grammar	136	(1)
C.2 The RX MIME Type	137	(2)
C.2.1 General Form	137	(1)
C.2.2 Parameters	137	(2)
C.2.3 Returned Parameters	139	(1)
C.3 How the RX Document Will Be Used in the X Window System	139	(3)
C.2.1 Parameters	139	(1)
C.2.2 Returned Parameters	140	(1)
C.2.3 Example	141	(1)
C.4 References	142	(1)
Index	143