Web-Activator Communication

SoftwareShield Web-Activator > Web-Activator Communication

## Web-Activator Communication

You can control three aspects of the Web-Activators communication behaviour:

1. The Web-Activator can be configured to respond to different methods of requests and the "GenCode" parameter may be identified by different values.

2. The Web-Activator can be configured to respond with arbitrarily formatted output.

3. The Web-Activator can be configured to log its activity at various levels of detail to a log file on the server.

All of these configurations are optional as each aspect of its behaviour has a default. If the default is acceptable to you, then you do not have to use any form of configuration since the defaults will take effect.

If you do wish to control various elements of this behaviour, you must do so using a Configuration File. A Configuration File is simply a text file on the server which contains various settings. If you decide to use a Configuration File, you have three choices:

1. Use a "default configuration file" which must be named "configDEFAULT.txt" and located in the same directory as the CGIACodeGen.exe (the Web-Activator). This has the advantage that you do not have to specify a configuration parameter in the HTTP request to the Web-Activator. It has the disadvantage that all requests will be handled the same way.

2. Specify a Configuration File in the HTTP request using a configuration parameter. This can be named anything and located anywhere on the server (where the Web-Activator has access to it). This has the advantage that you can use a different configuration file for different requests/licenses/products etc. This has the disadvantage that you must prepare and pass the configuration parameter with each HTTP request to the Web-Activator.

3. Use a combination of one and two above. Since the first thing the Web-Activator will do is look for the Configuration File specifier in the HTTP request, it will use this one if it can find it. If it is not present - it will then look for the default one ("configDEFAULT.txt") and use it if it can find it.

If you wish to use a Configuration File, see: Web-Activator Configuration File Usage.

Remember, the end customer should never link to the Activation Code Generator directly. Never provide the customer with the URL for the Activation Code Generator.

Note: The SoftwareShield Web-Activator only comes with the Internet and Server Editions of the SoftwareShield System.