In order to begin creating FGL applications and dynamic web content on a Windows-based system with the FifthGen Server you will need the following:

• Windows PC running NT or XP with 256MB (minimum) RAM and at least 5MB of free disk space.
• FifthGen Engine FGL runtime environment.
• FGL-SDK

Download and install the FifthGen Engine first followed by the FGL-SDK. The engine will provide you with everything you need to run FGL programs and host web-based applications, and the SDK will provide you with everything necessary to get started creating FGL standalone and web-based applications.

NOTE: You will have to follow the full installation instructions if you are installing to any location other than c:\fgl or if you already have a web server running on port 80 (the default web port).

By default the installer creates the following directory structure on drive "C":

The FGL directory contains the main FGL engine and build tool executables. The FifthGen Engine installer will add a link to start the engine and another to access the default status page to your desktop, and the FGL-SDK installer will automatically include c:\fgl in your system path.

NOTE: The FifthGen Engine can be configured to run as a desktop application or a Windows service. Desktop application installations can either be launched manually by clicking on the FifthGen Engine desktop icon or automatically as part of the system startup. For purposes of this tutorial, the engine is assumed to be installed with the default options: manual desktop application.

Starting the FifthGen Engine:

To start the FGL runtime environment, double-click on the FifthGen Engine icon on your desktop. By default this will launch the engine, display the console window, and start the web server. You can minimize the console window, or use the engine configuration option to hide the console. If you close the console window it will stop the engine.

Using the FifthGen Server:

By default, the FifthGen Server is automatically started whenever you start the FifthGen Engine. The default server is a high-performance application/web server that uses port 80 and is optimized for FGL-based dynamically generated content.

You can customize the server options and even specify multiple servers and virtual servers within your environment through the server configuration utilities.

When the server launches, the built-in firewall is automatically activated. The edge of the firewall defines the “home” directory for your server. By default, the firewall edge is located at c:\fgl\server\home. Everything from the home directory and below is available through the server via a browser or web services interface. Access above the home directory is prohibited by the firewall.

With the server running, you can access web pages through your browser using localhost when running locally, or through your IP address when accessing the pages externally. If you have a dedicated IP address, you can assign domain names directly to your server. The FifthGen Server also supports virtual servers for assignment of multiple domain names to a single server implementation. Virtual servers each receive their own firewall. See the documentation for details.

Examples of accessing an HTML page (index.htm) located at c:\fgl\server\home:

Each of the following methods access the same web page: http://localhost // local access only http://localhost/index.htm // local access only http://127.0.0.1 // local access only http://127.0.0.1/index.htm // local access only http://your_ip_addr // local or remote access http://your_ip_addr/index.htm // local or remote access http://www.yourdomainname.com // domain-based access http://www.yourdomainname.com/index.htm // domain-based access

The first four examples assume you are accessing the web page through your browser on the same machine as the server. The next two can be used from the same machine or externally, provided that "your_ip_addr" resolves to an external address, as in: http://216.242.117.104 (replace with your own external IP address). The last two examples assume you have pointed a domain name (via its DNS) to your externally available IP address.

#####