1 How does the Curl® Runtime Environment communicate with a Web server?

Curl® applets are loaded by the browser and delivered to the Curl® Runtime Environment. After that, the Curl Runtime Environment uses the Microsoft® wininet library (which is bundled with Internet Explorer) to make other HTTP/HTTPS accesses. The Curl Runtime Environment only allows an unprivileged applet to access a web server that has given permission for applets from the server that the applet was loaded from to access it.

2 How would I alter my current server-side scripts to output content in the Curl® language rather than in HTML?

Many Web applications today are written with a server side scripting technology such as ASP, JSP, PHP, and Perl/CGI, which dynamically generate customized HTML/JavaScript based on server-side business logic and data gathered from the end-user. For easy migration to Curl® technology, one can use these existing server-side technologies to dynamically generate source code written in the Curl language instead of HTML. In addition, the server-side technology needs to provide a Content-Type header with the value "text/vnd.curl". However, with the Curl® Runtime Environment and plug-in you have the flexibility to create complex distributed applications without relying on the server to handle business logic and end-user customization; these capabilities can be programmed directly into your applets written in the Curl language and executed entirely on the client. This change reduces processing load on your servers and eliminates unnecessary network traffic. It also allows the users greater control over the information they see and how they see it.

When taking advantage of the full capabilities of the Curl platform in this manner, the server can be used to supply or store data, to supply additional Curl language software components, or to manage sessions as necessary. Applets make standard HTTP(S) requests, using GETs and POSTs as necessary to retrieve the information. In addition, the Curl software platform provides socket classes upon which additional communication protocols can be built.