The Activity Links System (ALS) Web Portal facilitates the use of the AL-Desk Database for external applications like Web Sites and e-commerce sites. Your AL-Desk license prohibits direct writing and reading from the database directly in order to insure the integrity of YOUR database. The Web Portal interface was designed to maintain full data integrity but allow you to use AL-Desk data on your web site.
The AL-Desk Web Portal consists of an Internet Server that communicates with the AL-Desk Database along with a full Content Management System .Communication is done via HTTP inputs with results returned in an industry standard XML format supporting the concept of pagesize. For Credit Card authorization the server also can run an encrypted SSL channel.
You also have the option of running the server as a SOAP Server that allows access to Web Portal methods via a SOAP Service. To try some web portal calls have a look at the web portal Quick Start.
The AL-Desk Web Portal also includes a full Content Management System (CMS) that adds support for content beyond the data normally used by AL-Desk itself. This allows for AL-Desk data to be supplemented in a number of ways including general content as well as content tied specifically to products and product categories. Interfaces to the CMS are provided via AL-Desk itself and also via a browser interface to allow for access by your Web Development Team without the requirement of them using an AL-Desk Client.
The AL-Desk Web Portal API is a rich API and allows you access to a large portion of AL-Desk functionality including
The end result is that using the API you can readily implement a shopping cart and even integrate the AL-Desk Credit Card Server so that all Web Server Transactions are included in the rich set of AL-Desk reports.
This means that you can write multiple vouchers from your shopping cart that includes products from different vendors, and process the customers credit card for all their vouchers in one call.
The AL-Desk Web Portal can be used at a number of levels
| • | Web Developers calling the XML Interface Directly |
| • | PHP Developers who can use the ALS PHP XML Caching and Template System for Rapid Development |
| • | End Users with no Web Development skills who can use the built in eCommerce Engine |
Technical note:Future plans include an AJAX interface for sophisticated asynchronous search support
