Software for WEB

the  WebCatPlus Web Server ( based on MINI-MAX/ARM-E board ) comes with preinstalled software for WEB server.
WebCatPlus Web Server can be used not only as information server.
The WebCatPlus Web Server supports special tags and commands.

Tags help to build parameters of real object in HTML code easily. For example you can measure temperature, humidity, light level, state of various sensors etc. and then integrate these values in HTML document. The most common example of use a tag is counter of site's visitors. If you write ^CURVISITOR^ in HTML file later when this file will be loaded from server you can see that the server replaces this tag with the real value which displays the number of current site's visitor.

So you can build fully working web site without writing any code in C. You should only prepare HTML documents and upload them on WebCatPlus Web Server. But abilities of  WebCatPlus Web Server are not limited to replacing tags, it can also execute inline and remote commands to control various objects through WEB interface.

Along with simple commands (on/off relay etc.) there are commands to control standard interfaces. For example you can plug to the RS-232 port of WebCatPlus Web Server any device which have serial port and control it (device) or get data from it through standard internet browser.

If standard internet browser is not suitable as client then programmer can develop his/her own client program since WebCatPlus Web Server uses standard HTTP and TCP protocols.

So with WebCatPlus Web Server you can create modern information systems using only HTML without any knowledge in programming of microcontrollers.

How it works...

Web server should store various files somewhere. These are HTML documents, pictures, photos and etc. Of course server should have file system for this purpose. WebCatPlus Web Server uses standard FAT as file system. WebCatPlus Web Server supports three types of devices for file system:

  • DataFlash (chip installed on the board)
  • RAM-1 (peripheral board, 512KB Flash + 512KB RAM)
  • MMC (peripheral board, MultiMedia Card, 8MB..2GB)

This device supports any of the FAT12/16/32 file systems. When server is powered, it tries to find storage device and mounts the file system. So WebCatPlus Web Server can have up to 3 physical disks.

If the file system is mounted successfully then server reads configuration files which have all needed information for normal server's operation (own IP address, router IP address, subnet mask,...).

Then server initializes Ethernet interface and listens to incoming packets to establish TCP connections (server supports up to 20 TCP connections simultaneously)

Now you can connect to the server using any suitable browser ( Internet Explorer, FireFox, Opera,... ) and view web site content.

How do I write file system and files to device?

If you use MMC this is very easy. Plug MMC into standard PC Card Reader, format it (FAT12/16/32) and write files to the MMC using standard PC OS commands.

If you use DataFlash, RAM-1 (or even MMC) you can use WebCat Publisher. This software can be downloaded from BiPOM Electronics web site. WebCat Publisher is absolutely free. This program supports WebCat (based on MINI-MAX/51-E board) and WebCatPlus (based on MINI-MAX/ARM-E board) web servers.

WebCat Publisher features:

  • upgrade firmware of WebCatPlus Web Server
  • configure server
  • upload file systems in various media (RAM, MMC, DataFlash)

This software has very simple and clear interface.
View additional information about WebCat Publisher.