The contacts example was designed to provide a simple to follow sample of how to put together an application and also some possibilities for providing a web based UI for an application. There are two methods of connecting from a web browser to the application running in the studio provided with the sample. Method one is using some Microsoft only technology while the second method uses java servlet technology and relies less on the browsers capabilities. Each method has it advantages and disadvantages which will discussed elsewhere in the documentation.
The application is a simple contacts manager using two databases: companies and employees. The application allows the user to add, delete, modify and search both companies and employees. There are two fundamental pieces of the complete application, the UI and the ComponentX application part. We will examine each piece in more detail.
UI - Microsoft XMLHTTP Technology