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InterSystems IRIS Applications

Almost all users interact with InterSystems IRIS® data platform via applications, which are configurations that control authentication, authorization, and other aspects of code use. These apply to user interfaces, external executables, and APIs.

This page provides an introduction to help you understand your options as an application developer.

Types of Applications

Formally there are four types of applications:

  • Web applications — these applications connect to InterSystems IRIS via the Web Gateway. These are either web-based APIs that provide access to the database (via REST or SOAP) or are user interfaces (HTML pages including your choice of JavaScript libraries).

  • Privileged routine applications — these applications are typically executed at the command line and they do not involve the Web Gateway. Examples include routines that are meant for back-end use only for specific users.

  • Client applications — these applications invoke external executables and are available only on Windows.

  • Document database applications — these applications connect to InterSystems IRIS using the document database.

Properties of Applications

The properties of applications (that is, the actual configurations) vary by type, so the following list summarizes the most common properties:

  • A security resource, whose purpose varies by application type. For example, for web applications and client applications, the resource controls whether users have access to the application; a user must hold the USE permission on the given resource in order to use the application.

  • Identifier of the code to execute (the REST dispatch class, the routine to run, the executable to run, and so on).

  • Allowed authentication mechanisms.

  • Namespace to run the code in (if applicable).

  • Options for controlling sessions (for web applications).

  • The application roles — This is the set of security roles to automatically add to the authenticated user when executing the code. (This configuration option supplements any programmatic role escalation.)

  • The matching roles — This is a more targeted version of application roles. If the user already has a specific role, you can specify a set of additional roles to automatically add. (This configuration option supplements any programmatic role escalation.)

How Applications Are Defined

You can define, modify, and applications within the Management Portal (provided that you are logged in as a user with sufficient privileges). When you deploy your applications, however, you are more likely to define applications programmatically as part of installation; InterSystems IRIS provides ways to do so.

See Also

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