8 Vortex Introduction

Texis Web Script (Vortex) is an HTML-based, server-side scripting language that makes creating, deploying and maintaining Web-based applications easy. It combines into one package four of the most needed facilities:

• Texis: An object enabled SQL RDBMS
• Metamorph: Concept-based text retrieval
• Vortex: A CGI scripting language and compiler
• Texis Web Server: A fast web server with integrated Vortex

The fundamental idea behind Vortex is to extend HTML with programming capabilities which are directed towards the most commonly performed Web activities. This extended HTML language is called Vortex. HTML was chosen as a base language because it is widely known and conducive to scripting. It also makes output and script code easily intermixable.

Location

Vortex scripts reside in HTML files on a Web server, and are run by the CGI program texis on the server upon request of a Web browser. The location of the script is derived from the relative path given in the URL, which is translated to a path in the HTML document tree. It may also be given on the command line if texis is run directly.

Easy config

Since Vortex is a server-side language, users do not need a particular browser version to utilize a Vortex application, nor download and install a helper app or plugin. Also, because script paths are derived from the URL, no additional configuration or directories are needed to install them.

Execution

When a script is run, texis compiles it into an object file, with a .vtx file extension, which is then executed. This enables a Vortex script to run much faster than if it were interpreted every run, such as a Unix shell script or Perl. Compilation is completely transparent to the user, and happens instantly and automatically only when needed.

Speed

While Vortex scripts will run on any web server that supports CGI, by replacing the web server/CGI texis combination with the Texis Web Server (vhttpd ), Vortex applications can gain additional speed. The Texis Web Server is more "streamlined" than most, and Vortex is built-in. This enables Vortex scripts to start 20% faster than in a typical web server/CGI environment. However, the real advantage to vhttpd derives from its smaller resource footprint. Less process slots and memory are used per transaction than other servers. This frees resources to support more hits per second on the same platform.

Entry/exit scripts

Additionally, vhttpd supports entry and exit scripts. A Vortex script can be configured to run at the start and end of every transaction on the server, even for non-Vortex hits like file transfers. These can be used to establish look-and-feel, security, and logging functions across an entire web site, maintained in one place.

• 8.1 Hello World
• 8.2 Script Syntax
• 8.3 URL Syntax
• 8.4 User Input
• 8.5 Variable Manipulation
• 8.6 Variable Values
• 8.7 LOOP
• 8.8 Variable Types
• 8.9 Variable Initialization
• 8.10 Functions

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