Loadnrun
Introduction to Loadnrun
Loadnrun is a simple solution for non-privileged users on Windows machines to deploy OpenROAD applications. The OpenROAD applications can be hosted on an OpenROAD Server and downloaded on demand by a client.
OpenROAD provides two types of runtimes: (1) OpenROAD Client Runtime and (2) OpenROAD eClient Runtime. The OpenROAD Client Runtime uses w4gldev.exe runimage (or w4glrun.exe) to run OpenROAD image files. The OpenROAD eClient Runtime uses w4glapp.exe loadnrun to run OpenROAD image files. The w4gldev.exe and w4glrun.exe executables are linked against the or4glnt.dll shared library and require an OpenROAD runtime instance to execute. The w4glapp.exe executable is linked against the orrun.dll shared library and can run outside an OpenROAD runtime instance. When w4gldev.exe is used to run OpenROAD image files, OpenROAD 3GL executables will be bound to the or4glnt.dll shared library. If the same OpenROAD image file is run using w4glapp.exe, then the OpenROAD 3GL executables will automatically be bound to the orrun.dll shared library. No OpenROAD 4GL code needs to be changed.
The OpenROAD Runtime is used to run OpenROAD 4GL Image files. The OpenROAD eClient Runtime can also be used to run OpenROAD 4GL Image files. Loadnrun is the mechanism that can be used to deploy OpenROAD applications from a central server. Loadnrun uses the OpenROAD eClient runtime instead of the OpenROAD runtime to run the OpenROAD 4GL image files.
An OpenROAD Loadnrun client application will stores its image files and application resources in an application deployment. The OpenROAD Server is given access to this directory. If the directory that contains the files necessary to run an application were called myapp1, this name would be used to download and launch a client application.
After the Loadnrun runtime is installed on the client machine, a user needs only to call the Loadnrun runtime and pass the following pieces of information to it:
• The name of the application (this is called the APPNAME and in our example case, myapp1)
• The URL of the OpenROAD Server Gatekeeper that can access the directory on the server that contains the myapp1 directory (this is called the GATEWAY URL)
• The parent directory of the myapp1 directory (this is called the SERVER SUFFIX)
You can launch the Loadnrun application from a command line or shortcut that has the following attributes:
"%II_LOADNRUN11_CMD%" APPNAME %II_LOADNRUN11_GATEWAY% SUFFIX
The Loadnrun client takes this information and does the following:
1. Checks to see if the application files have already been cached on the client system.
2. Contacts the OpenROAD Server to check the version of the application present on the client against the version that is present on the server.
3. If the application is not cached on the client machine, or if the server version is higher than the version on the client, then the files on the server are delivered to the client machine and cached on the client system.
4. The application is then launched on the client machine using the Loadnrun runtime and the optional Loadnrun Ingres Net runtime.
None of these steps require special permissions by the client user.
The main Loadnrun runtime files are orrun.dll and w4glapp.exe. The main OpenROAD runtime files are or4glnt.dll and w4gldev.exe. The orrun.dll used by the Loadnrun and eClient runtimes are identical. The w4glapp.exe used by the Loadnrun runtime and the w4gldev.exe used by the OpenROAD runtime provide similar functionality.
A typical OpenROAD application may be deployed using the Loadnrun runtime or the OpenROAD runtime. You can develop and test the OpenROAD application using OpenROAD Workbench and then deploy it using any of the runtimes.
The Loadnrun packages are virtually identical to the previously support eClient packages. The install4gl.txt used by both packages are identical. A user needs no special permissions to download and launch a Loadnrun deployed application.
A typical OpenROAD application may be deployed using the Loadnrun runtime, the eClient runtime, or the OpenROAD runtime. You can develop and test the OpenROAD application using OpenROAD Workbench and then deploy it using any of the runtimes.
OpenROAD eClient packages are virtually identical to the Loadnrun packages. The install4gl.txt used by both packages are identical. A user needs no special permissions to download and launch a Loadnrun deployed application.