Components are essential to taking advantage of the IntelliStream feature. Components are collections of one or more files grouped together based on related functionality and are put into a compressed .CAB file for deployment. Components are used to deliver the application files and they should meet the following requirements:
The code organized into a component should be functionally related because the component is automatically installed as a unit to an end user's machine. Components can be designated as follows:
At Startup — Installed before the application first runs
As Needed — Installed when a user runs your application and needs specific functionality
Ask User at Startup — Installed before the application runs if the user so requests in response to a prompt
You can have only one At Startup component. The At Startup component is downloaded before the application runs the first time. This is usually the main code used to start the application and the code required by all users. You identify this unique component by choosing the At Startup option when you define the component in the WebClient Application Assembler's Component Definition dialog.
Components should be self contained so that all procedures that call each other are together. If you have a procedure that is called from many parts of your application, you might want to include this procedure in the At Startup component so it is available to all other components.
The code organized into a component should be functionally related because the component is automatically installed as a unit to an end user's machine. Components can be designated as follows: