DESKTOP CLIENT

The UnForm Desktop Client (DTC) client is an optional Windows application that provides streamlined access to UnForm document management facilities from a user's Windows desktop.  DTC communicates with UnForm via the internal HTTP server.  It downloads a specialized rule file that controls its processing.  The primary purpose of DTC is as a monitor that watches for windows to appear and gain focus, present buttons related to those windows, and to submit data to the unform server to retrieve documents or perform other actions related to the unform server.

The configuration of DTC includes a user login and password, which is used to submit the data for rule set processing.  Note this does not replicate to the user's browser, so separate session logins are required when a job launches a browser window.

The rule file contains rule sets, which are composed of three things: detection statements, button and panel commands, and a prejob code block that is executed when the user clicks a button.

When the rule file is loaded by DTC, it then begins monitoring for window focus changes on the desktop.  When a window passes detection for a rule set, a small, user-sizable window is displayed with the defined buttons.  When the user clicks a button, a job is run on the server, which executes the rule set and returns the value of cgiresponse$ to DTC, which then displays the response in one of several ways.

Note that since detection can be based on user rather than window, it is also possible to construct an interface that always displays regardless of what window currently has focus on the user's system.