Query String Options

You can specify options on the query string of the URL that initializes a Webulator/400 session to change the behavior of that interactive Webulator/400 session.

URL Syntax

The query string is specified on the initial URL after the complete Webulator/400 path has been specified. It starts with a ? followed immediately by the list of query string value pairs separated by an &. Assuming that your Webulator/400 session URL is www.xyz.com:5061/, the syntax would be like this: www.xyz.com:5061/?KEYWORD1=VALUE&KEYWORD2=VALUE.

Spaces are not allowed inside the query string, you must substitute a + for all embedding spaces.

Valid Keywords

The following query string keywords are valid:

PGM - Allows you to specify a signon screen value for the initial program to run.
MENU - Allows you to specify a signon screen value for the initial menu to run.
LIB - Allows you to specify a signon screen value for the initial library.
FIELD1 - Allows you to specify the value that will be returned to the AS/400 for the first input capable field that is encountered. When this keyword is specified, Webulator/400 will simulate pressing ENTER for all screens up to and including the first screen with an input field. It is your responsibility to ensure that the first screen with an input field will properly handle the value being passed to it.
SESSION - Instructs the Session Manager as to which session should be used. If this value is not given, the Session Manager will create a new session only if there are no existing Webulator/400 sessions for that client. Acceptable values for this query string are NEW which instructs the Session Manager to always start a new session or Session Number which instructs the Session Manager to use a specific session.
DEVICE - Allows you to specify the virtual device to be used for this interactive Webulator session. Specifically, if you wanted to use the device named QPADEV0010, you would include ?DEVICE=QPADEV0010 in the query string.

Restrictions

The Signon Method value must be either USER ALLOWSIGNONOVERRIDE or USEAUTHENTICATION ALLOWSIGNONOVERRIDE for Webulator/400 to recognize the PGM, MENU or LIB query string keywords.

There are no restrictions when using the FIELD1 or SESSION keywords.

Considerations

Care should be taken before enabling the ALLOWSIGNONOVERRIDE feature. When this feature is enabled, it allows you to override any of the initial signon values based on a HTML link. This may be useful if you wish to create a series of HTML links to some of your most popular applications but you don't want to create separate user profiles that have those applications as their initial program. In this case, you could use the query string keywords to override which application is called based on the HTML link regardless of the user profile that was used to signon. This flexibility does not come without additional security considerations. If you enable the ALLOWSIGNONOVERRIDE feature, any user that has access to that URL can also override the query string keywords to run any program that their user profile has access to. Please keep this in mind before enabling this feature.

There are no security considerations associated with the FIELD1 query string keyword. The inclusion of this keyword on the query string is the equivalent to the user typing it in themselves. They are not able to get access to any additional AS/400 programs or functions by using this feature. You may find this feature useful if you have a URL with a signon method of USER that brings up an AS/400 menu as its first screen. In this case, you would be able to create a series of HTML links to the same URL but with a different query string FIELD1 value that would automatically select the appropriate menu option for the user.

Examples

The following examples are assuming that your Webulator/400 URL is www.xyz.com:5061/.

If you would like the user to automatically start the program called MYPROG in the MYLIB library, you would use the following URL: www.xyz.com:5061/?PGM=MYPGM&LIB=MYLIB.

If you would like the user to automatically take option 1 from the menu called MYMENU in the MYLIB library, you would use the following URL: www.xyz.com:5061/?MENU=MYMENU&LIB=MYLIB&FIELD1=1.

You can also use the FIELD1 keyword to call an initial program that accepts dynamic parameters. Please be aware that in order to do this, you must give the user access to a command line which may not always be desirable for security reasons. Assume that the program MYPGM accepts parameters. You could call this program with the following URL: www.xyz.com:5061/?FIELD1=CALL+MYLIB/MYPGM+PARM('PARM1'+'PARM2').