[Solved] Simpler URL

[RussCraig]

Hi Everyone,

Forgive my limited HTTP experience, but I was hoping someone could help. We currently make use of the "workstnid" and "suffixid" parameters in the ProfoundUI URL. This is used to prevent duplicate device errors and allow up to 35 simultaneous logins per unique URL.

We use some Javascript on our website to generate a random "workstnid" in the URL, from PUIWEB1 to PUIWEB99. This is done to allow up to 3500 users (though we'll never even come close to that). It works great. Here is what our current URL looks like:

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<script type="text/javascript">
	var str = "Client Portal";
	document.write(str.link("https://xxx.xxx.xxx.com/profoundui/start?pgm=RECLIB/PUIMENUCL&workstnid=PUIWEB" + (Math.floor(Math.random()*99)) + "&suffixid=1"));
</script>

However, when we give a link to a client (as opposed to just telling them to go to our website and click on the link there), we have to give them the entire URL, like this:

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https://xxx.xxx.xxx.com/profoundui/start?pgm=RECLIB/PUIMENUCL&workstnid=PUI####&suffixid=1

The #### is set to their assigned client number, so something like PUI0572. This doesn't matter program-wise, just for a unique workstnid.

My question is this: would it be possible to have a simpler URL, but achieve the same result? Perhaps some URL rewriting in the httpd.conf file? We would like to hand out a simple URL to our clients, something along the lines of "https://xxx.xxx.xxx.com/" or "https://xxx.xxx.xxx.com/client". Perhaps this would also eliminate the need for the Javascript-generated unique URLs?

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

[David]

Apache does allow for URL rewriting through the httpd.conf file. I'm not familiar with the process, but I've heard that it's a bit complicated and also not very well documented:

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mo ... write.html

It seems like it could definitely be used to accomplish what you are looking for, though, with a bit of figuring out.

[RussCraig]

Thanks for the info & link, David.

Ultimately here is what I'm trying to do: I'd like to rewrite this URL:

Code: Select all

https://xxx.xxx.xxx.com/
...or...
https://xxx.xxx.xxx.com/client

... to this:

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https://xxx.xxx.xxx.com/profoundui/start?pgm=RECLIB/PUIMENUCL&workstnid=PUIWEB##&suffixid=1

... where ## = a random number 1-99.

If anyone knows how to do this off the top of their head, please let me know. Either way I'm going to read up on mod_rewrite.

Thanks in advance!

[RussCraig]

After looking into mod_alias and mod_rewrite, I found I could do this in httpd.conf:

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Redirect permanent /client https://xxx.xxx.xxx.com/profoundui/start?pgm=RECLIB/PUIMENUCL&workstnid=PUIWEB&suffixid=1

However, this only redirects to one fixed URL, which would limit us to 35 users. I've searched and searched, and could find no way to generate a random number inside the httpd.conf file. Would it be possible to use a ScriptAlias to point "/client" to a CGI program that would generate the unique URL and redirect the user to it? I have zero experience with CGI, which is why I'm asking.

Thanks!

[RussCraig]

Just figured out a basic solution:

Using a ScriptAlias, I can point "/client" to a page that contains some Javascript that generates the unique URL and redirects the user to the new URL. This is adequate for what I was looking to do. However, ultimately what I want to do is mask the ProfoundUI info leaving just "https://xxx.xxx.xxx.com/client", if this is even possible (or legal!). Any ideas?

Thanks again!

[David]

I think the best bet for you here would be to have the CGI program that is the target of the /client alias start Profound UI for itself, rather than redirecting to the Profound UI start page.

If done this way, all that the user would see would be that ScriptAlias URL.

Have a look at the Profound UI start page at /www/profoundui/htdocs/profoundui/userdta/html/start.html

You can see that the page is just a blank page with a <div> element that has the id "pui" assigned to it. This is where the content will go.

You'll see that the page has an "onload" event that calls a JS function that starts PUI.

This function internally looks at the query string parameters and passes them along to PUI.

There is an alternate function pui.run() that you can use to pass the parameters along yourself rather than having it look at the query string.

For example, I was able to get it going like this:

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    window.onload = function() { pui.run({
	
		"program": "puisamples/menu001c",
		"workstnid": "PUIWEB",
		"suffixid": "1"

	}) };

There is one small problem with this approach, though. Unfortunatley it seems that the "workstnid" and "suffixid" parameters do not get passed through in the public version of Profound UI. This is due to a code packaging problem on our end.

For the next update to Profound UI, we will fix this so that those parameters get through.

Then, you could have your CGI program generate the random number, and then stick it onto the end of the "workstnid" parameter in the above code.

Keep an eye on updates to see when you can start using this.

[RussCraig]

Awesome! That's the exact information I was looking for!

My current method works OK (ScriptAlias to a page w/JavaScript that generates and redirects to the unique URL). However, this still shows the ProfoundUI query parameters in the URL, and if their browser does not support redirection they have to click an extra link. Your method sounds MUCH nicer, keeping the ScriptAlias URL in the address bar (thus masking the query parameters) and avoiding redirection.

I will definitely keep my eye on the update page. Thanks again!

[RussCraig]

Just upgraded to 2.2.6, and David's method works perfectly!

Thanks again!
-RC