HyperLens

- Focus on the World

Neither the HyperLens Viewer nor the Developer require any server, and both will work (subject to Applet security restrictions) with a standard HTTP Server. The HyperLens server extends the capabilities to support larger sites and distributed, multi-user projects.

The HyperLens Server

Server software is WebÞing's traditional area, and the HyperLens server is derived from the File Manager of the existing Virtual Desktop. Some important features it inherits include:

• Access control (public/workgroup/private and readonly/readwrite)
• Revision management system.
• Integrated system-wide indexing, browsing and search.

HyperLens Users and Identification

Most HyperLens applications other than just viewing require the user to be identified to the server. In protocol terms, HyperLens supports Online Classroom identities, as well as HTTP authentication and Cookie-based identification (although a server is not required to offer more than one scheme, and the choice will depend on the context of a project and the level of security required).

The HyperLens Web: Collaborating Servers

A HyperLens project - or collection of projects - may be distributed over several servers sharing a common userbase and projects database. In such cases, as soon as the user has logged in to one server, they may be automatically identified to cooperating servers without having to re-login. This is not possible on the WWW in general because there is no means within HTTP for a server to tell a browser that it can share secrets with another server, and therefore no protection against an 'imposter' server stealing confidential information.