Re: Capturing HTTP Requests and Replies

 Sorry, I was away from the office and from my mail for a few days,
I hope this answer doesn't come too late.
 
> Some basic questions I haven't found answers to yet... they don't
> appear to be addressed in the developer writeups, or in the archives.
> (BTW, it would be nice to have a search capability on the text of the
> archives).
> 
> - Is an API available that would enable one to capture and manipulate
>   all HTTP outgoing requests and incoming replies?
> 
>     If so, can this be done in Java as well as C?

  Considering the set of question in your initial mail, I would suggest
that you have a look at Amaya-Java. This is an experimental version of
Amaya embedding the Kaffe Java JIT run-time. This allow to extend Amaya
with Java code. This code has access to the Thot internal API used by
Amaya and also to the HTTP implementation. Amaya-Java uses the client
HTTP classes developed for Jigsaw (entierely written in Java) instead of
LibWWW for HTTP accesses. Hence it is very easy to modify trap the HTTP
requests and replies issued from Amaya and to handle them in a specific
way. This was done for example to build a version of Amaya implementing
PICS filtering.
  However, Amaya-Java currently lacks portability, this is mainly due to
problem using Kaffe on platforms different than Linux. Also Amaya-Java
gets a lot less testing than the standard Amaya version.

> - I've seen that the UI of Amaya can be changed by altering config files,
>   but can I alter the UI on the fly or only at start-up?

  There is some provision in the Amaya-Java code to modify some of the
Amaya interface dynamically at run-time, however this is largely untested.
 
> - Does Amaya support standard NS/IE plug-ins? If not, does it support
>     any kind of plug-in concept?

  Amaya distribution embed code to support Netscape plugins (this is not by
default, you need to recompile your own version).
 
> - Has anyone embedded an ORB in Amaya? In NS, ORBs can only
>     be embedded in applets, not plugins...

  The Amaya-Java distribution can be compiled to use ILU, both for HTTP
accesses and to export it's internal APIs. It is possible to compile
Amaya-Java with both ILU and Java, in this case it will use the HTTP
stack from Jigsaw, but will still exports it's own APIs from ILU. No attempt
has been done yet to give full access to ILU core from Amaya. But it
could certainly be done. It's mainly a question of time and priorities,
I am the only one supporting Amaya-Java and it's not my main project,
I only devote 10 percent of my working schedule to it.


Amaya-Java : http://www.w3.org/Amaya/User/JavaSourceDist.html
Linux binaries : http://www.w3.org/Amaya/User/JavaBinDist.html
ILU : ftp://ftp.parc.xerox.com/pub/ilu/ilu.html
 
Daniel

-- 
Daniel.Veillard@w3.org | MIT/LCS   Room NE43-344 | Today's Bookmarks :
Tel : +1 617 253 5884  | 545 Technology Square   | Linux, WWW, Java,
Fax : +1 617 258 5999  | Cambridge, MA 02139 USA | badminton, Kaffe,
http://www.w3.org/People/W3Cpeople.html#Veillard | HTTP-NG and Amaya.

Received on Tuesday, 20 January 1998 01:41:30 UTC