Install guide

Appendix 3: WOW Architecture
The fundamental concept behind WOW is dynamic access to data. This means that the
majority of content is generated on the fly programmatically by reading the underlying
databases, formatting and then sending results to a Web browser.
WOW is a server-side application. There are no client-side dependencies, i.e. plug-ins to
be downloaded or installed, considerably simplifying maintenance. The majority of data
access is therefore done on the server, via an application API or devkit.
This architecture is designed to separate data I/O from business logic, from presentation
logic as illustrated in the figure below:
Data layer: WOW currently covers OpenWorks, SeisWorks, Z-MAP Plus and other data
types, including SEG-Y, LAS, Shape files etc.
Data I/O layer: This layer is comprised of the application devkits, which provide a safe
mechanism for reading/writing the data stores.
Data Integration Layer: This provides an integration layer on top of the diverse devkits to
allow consistent read/write of vendor data. WOW uses a number of devkit shells, which
are Tcl/Tk shells extended with the underlying devkit functions.
Business Logic Layer: This layer ‘wrappers’ the lower-level extensions with business
logic, including error checking, lists of values, numerical computations etc. This provides a
consistent, modular, interface to the underlying data stores.
Presentation Layer: This layer executes the shell the web server in response to being
passed a URL by a web browser. It calls procedures from the business logic layer, and
formats output on the fly as html to send back to the browser.
WOW 5000.0.1.11 Release Notes Page 80 of 104 March 2014