Dallinger/Dallinger

Communicating With the Server
=============================

When an experiment is running, the database and the experiment class
(i.e. the instructions for what to do with the database) will be hosted
on a server, the server is also known as the "back-end". However,
participants will take part in experiments via an interactive web-site
(the "front-end"). Accordingly for an experiment to proceed there must
be a means of communication between the front and back ends. This is
achieved with routes:

.. figure:: _static/front_back_layout.jpg
   :alt:

Routes are specific web addresses on the server that respond to requests
from the front-end. Routes have direct access to the database, though
most of the time they will pass requests to the experiment which will in
turn access the database. As such, changing the behavior of the
experiment class is the easiest way to create a new experiment. However it is
also possible to change the behavior of the routes or add new routes
entirely.

Requests generally come in two types: "get" requests, which ask for
information from the database, and "post" requests which send new
information to be added to the database. Once a request is complete the
back-end sends a response back to the front-end. Minimally, this will
include a notification that the request was successfully processed, but
often it will also include additional information.

As long as requests are properly formatted and correctly addressed to
routes, the back-end will send the appropriate response. This means that
the front-end could take any form. For instance requests could come from
a standard HTML/CSS/JS webpage, a more sophisticated web-app, or even
from the experiment itself.