8.5

HTTP Server Input tasks are typically used in one of the two following situations:
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HTML Form Action: An HTMLForm in the browser that may contain text and attached files can be
filled and sent to a process with the HTTPServer Input task.
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HTTP Data Submission: A custom application or a server sends the request to PReS Workflow using
either a POST or GET command. The application or server then waits for a response from PReS
WorkflowTools.
PReS Workflow can serve both static and dynamic resources to a web browser, however it is not meant to
be used as a fully featured web server, as it is not built for responsiveness nor guaranteed uptime. It is much
better to have a common web server (for example, IISor Apache)to serve your contents and to have PReS
Workflow available only to process things only it can do.
Note
You can control access to the PReS Workflow Tools HTTP Server via the Access Manager.
Important Configuration, Setup and Options
Before starting to work with HTTPworkflows, there are few key points to keep in mind in terms of
configuration. First of all, the following options are available in PReS Workflow Preference screen, under the
HTTPServer Input 1 and HTTPServer Input 2 sections:
l Port (default value:8080 recommended):The port number is the one in which a browser needs to
make a request to PReS Workflow. By default in most web server, port 80 is used and, when this is the
case, it is not necessary to include it. For example, if Itype http://www.objectiflune.com/ in my browser,
it is actually accessing the address http://www.objectiflune.com:80/ , but port 80 is always hidden. The
reason port 8080 is used by default is to prevent any interference with existing web servers installed or
activated on the same server as PReS Workflow.
l Time-out(seconds):This determines how long the HTTPServer service will wait for the process to
finish, before returning a time out error back to the client browser. This means that if a process takes
more than 120 seconds (by default)to complete, the browser will time out. While you can change this
value, it is recommended to always keep your processing to a minimum, since both browsers and
users generally frown upon being stopped for more than a minute, unless they are well aware of this
processing time (and even then...)