Web Access

Web Access allows users access to Cradle databases by directing their web browsers to a Cradle Web Server (CWS). This allows the user to gain access from anywhere on the LAN, WAN or across the Internet. Such users do not need any Cradle software installed and there is no installation of a Cradle-specific web browser plug-in required.

The tool provided to web users is really the contents of web pages displayed in their browsers. These pages are created by the CWS from:

• A set of HTML templates, at least one for each type of item in the database
• A set of page designs supplied with the CWS
• The items in your database

The CWS dynamically creates a web interface containing data drawn from the user’s project database. The web interface provides facilities that allow web users to interact with this database information, to query it, view or edit it, and navigate from it. Exactly what facilities are provided to the user are determined solely by the contents of the HTML templates used to define the form and content of this web interface.

The user has full control of the contents of these HTML templates, e.g.:

• What the web interface looks like
• What facilities it provides
• How these facilities are accessed

You can create different sets of HTML templates for different web interfaces to the same project. A set of templates can be associated with a specific user type. You can define any number of user types, and then create a set of HTML templates for each. You assign each Cradle project member to a specific user type, which defines which of your web interfaces they will see. You can also create and select a web UI from the Login dialog without being associated to a user type.

This capability can be used to provide customised web interfaces to different stakeholder groups, such as customers, partners, and subcontractors.

Web users gain access with standard Cradle usernames and passwords, and have equal rights to users of Cradle’s non-web tools.

Read-Only and Read-Write Users

Users of the Web Access module are, by default, read-write in that they can both create and modify information in the project’s Project Database, subject only to Cradle’s security and access control mechanisms.

The Web Access module provides the concept of a read-only user, which is a user that can use all the facilities of the product, but cannot create or modify information.

The Web Access module provides a means for a user to specify whether they wish to be a read-only or read-write user.

Licensing

Web Access utilises the following Cradle licences:

• CR-PDM - Project Data Management
• CR-WEBA - Web Access