WindX™ and JAVX
WINDX and JavX - Graphical Terminal Interface  
   
Overview ProvideX and PxPlus support two graphical different thin clients -- WindX for Windows based PC clients and JavX for clients that support Java. With thin client technology in place, multiple concurrent users can access your ProvideX applications in separate protected sessions on a single remote server. This arrangement permits rapid development and deployment of your programs across your user base. It also allows you to introduce a new GUI or terminal emulator to an otherwise character-based, platform-specific application.
   
WindX WindX is an enhanced graphical terminal emulator that provides a 'Thin-client' interface to ProvideX that allow graphical applications to run while connected to a remote computer. It also included facilities for local file access and local processing.

Built into WindX is an ANSI/WYSE50 terminal emulator that supports three modes of communication:

  • Standard serial (RS232) communication for use with direct or modem connections.
  • Telnet protocol running across a LAN normally used to connect to a Unix or Linux server.
  • Direct TCP/IP client/server facility that allows WindX to connect to either a Windows or a Unix/Linux host system.

WindX comes with a set of utility programs to handle functions such as file transfer, remote command processing, and task initiation.

   
JavX JavX is a fundamentally Java version of WindX. While WindX is written in ProvideX (which itself is written in C), JavX is written entirely in Java. This allows you to take advantage of Java's platform independence, as well as Java's well-known ability to run on World Wide Web pages.

To replicate ProvideX's complex graphical environment, JavX utilizes Java2 with the Swing Library of GUI components. This means that it runs as an application or in any web browser as an applet on any machine with a Java2-compliant Virtual Machine (JVM). If the client machine does not have the appropriate Java Runtime Environment (JRE), then the Java Plug-in is a one-time download, which is incorporated seamlessly into the loading of the web page containing JavX.

ProvideX developers that currently deploy WindX can use JavX instead. Many of their applications can be taken with little or no changes and run over the web, on Windows, Apple's OS X, Linux, and Solaris machines.
   
Thin-Client Advantage ProvideX's Thin-Client technologies provide the ability to create a true graphical application, which runs on either Windows or UNIX interchangeably. No special software on the host, apart from ProvideX, is required to run on the UNIX system. This minimizes the amount of system resources required to service a large application and/or user installation.

ProvideX applications can use JavX or WindX with minimal code changes. System calls and functions that require access to the graphics engine are routed to the client station automatically.

The complete Thin-Client functionality has been integrated directly into ProvideX to create a seamless environment in which to create and run applications. All graphical directives and functions invoked by the application are tokenized and sent to the Client PC for processing.