Web Application Module Types

Web application modules provide centralized control for business rules and non-visual components in the Web application. The two types of Web application modules are tabulated below.

Web application module types

Web application module type	Description
Page	Creates a content page. The page module contains a page producer which is responsible for generating the content of a page. The page producer displays its associated page when the HTTP request pathinfo matches the page name. The page can act as the default page when the pathinfo is blank.
Data	Used as a container for components shared by other modules, such as database components used by multiple Web page modules.

Web application modules act as containers for components that perform functions for the application as a whole—such as dispatching requests, managing sessions, and maintaining user lists. If you are already familiar with the Web Broker architecture, you can think of Web application modules as being similar to TWebApplication objects. Web application modules also contain the functionality of a regular Web module, either page or data, depending on the Web application module type. Your project can contain only one Web application module. You will never need more than one anyway; you can add regular Web modules to your server to provide whatever extra features you want.

Use the Web application module to contain the most basic features of your server application. If your server will maintain a home page of some sort, you may want to make your Web application module a TWebAppPageModule instead of a TWebAppDataModule, so you don't have to create an extra Web page module for that page.