Find a Definition
Glossary of Telecommunications Terms
This is your entry into a reasonably comprehensive glossary of
telecommunications terms. To find a term, first click on the
first letter of the term in the frame to the left. A list of
terms for which there are definitions will then pop up in this
frame. Click on the term you want and its definition will be
printed, again in this frame.
There are a number of ways that html documents can serve as
the 'front-end' to database systems. In most corporate
environments, especially those equipped with a firewall, a copy of
relevant corporate data will be transferred from the corporate
database server to the web server. The use of such a procedure is
a security issue, although an intranet html server might be
allowed to connect directly to the database server.
Under the usual corporate conditions the subset of the
database made available to the public through the World Wide Web
will be passed as a flat file from the corporate database. The
fields passed will be either fixed length or comma delimited (or
delimited with some other character). Once the data have been
passed it will be further processed on the web server to conform
to the database query requirements on that system.
There are several methods that can be used once the data are
copied to the web server. All methods require translation of the
flat file into whatever format is required for retrieval by the
public. The translation procedure is normally accomplished by
running a timed batch process. The result will either place the
new data into a formal database (Access, xbase, whatever), which
can be accessed through a cgi script, or will directly translate
each record into displayable html documents.
From the perspective of someone accessing the database through
the web, if the data are private, the incoming request will
probably require a userid and password. Both directories in your
document root and specific pages can be password protected. Pages
are normally protected through a cgi script, a Java script or a
Java program, or with tools provided by the web server's
administrative system and/or operating environment. The userid can
be something like a customer number.
The current demonstration database is much simpler. In this
demonstration the database consists of a glossary of over 600
telecommunications terms. It is publicly available so no userid or
password is required. The original is maintained in an xbase
database. One very easy way to create an html interface to the
original xbase file is to take each record of the original and
transform it into an easily read html document that is then
accessible from a simple menu. There are tools available to
automate this process and those tools can be run periodically by a
job scheduler. Thus, even with a constantly changing database,
the html interface can be kept as up-to-date as desired.
At the bottom of the alphabetical list in the frame to your
left you will find a menu item entitled, 'Related Glossaries.' By
clicking on 'Related Glossaries' you will be presented with a menu
of other glossaries on the Internet that may contain terms that
this glossary does not. The related glossary will be displayed in
this frame.
As a service of Enterprise-Wide Computing, Inc., this glossary
may be downloaded. See the menu items toward the end of the menu
in the frame to the left. For more information, please read the
readme.txt file, available from the menu.
Now, take a look at the demo database. First, from the list in
the frame to the left, select the starting letter of the term you
would like to look up.
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