Creating an Instance of the Application

To create an instance of an application in a Team Workspace, the Team Productivity Update calls the Deploy URL. The Deploy URL is an .asp file that contains scripts for the creation of a Team Workspace application. When the application's instantiation finishes, the ASP page returns an XML stream to the Team Productivity Update. This XML stream provides URLs to the team capabilities the application supports: Launch, Search, Summary, Offline, and Delete. Each application's Deploy URL must be customized to the way that each application provides its set of team functionality.

The ASP script contained in the Deploy URL (urlDeploy.asp) creates the physical directory and its subfolders for the application. It copies the files into the appropriate folders. It updates the Active Server Pages Global.asa file to point to the correct database where the SQL Server tables for each application instance exist. Finally, it creates a new IIS virtual directory that points to the newly created physical directory.

Each of these steps is described in detail. The following topics will guide you through the process of writing a Deploy URL:

• The IIS Virtual Directory
• Creating the Expense Report Application Physical Directory
• Copying Files into the Physical Directory
• Updating the Global.asa File
• Creating and Pointing to the Virtual Directory
• SQL Server and the Deploy URL
• Save Configuration Values into Instance Database
• Setting the XML Team Application Values
• XML Result Codes

You can see the complete code for the Expense Report application Deploy URL by opening the urlDeploy.asp file in Visual InterDev™ or any text editor. The file can be found in the path SDK\expense.