HammerKit composes the web pages from tha data saved in the database.

In the non-dynamic web sites the web pages locate on the web server�s directory as individual HTML files. The site composed this way is called a static web site. After creating the HTML file on your computer and creating the links that connect the page to other pages of your site you have to tranfer the file to the directory of your web server. This is usually carried out by using the FTP or File Transfer Protocol. If you make changes to the page you must upload a new HTML file to replace the outdated file.

HammerKit is a dynamic, database-driven, server-side web site creation tool. You can use a standard web browser to access all HammerKit�s authoring tools. With HammerKit you create the site and all it�s content elements directly on the web server. Links are created automatically.

When the visitor accesses for a page in the Hammerkit-run web site the HammerKit fetches the content elements from the database and composes the page on-the-fly. The operation is carried out according to the rules that are set in the page template, user access settings and content elements.

This is a simplified description of what happens when the visitor requests for a page of the HammerKit generated database-driven site:

1. The visitor writes the URL of the page or clicks the link or menu link to view the page
   
2. The request for the page is sent to the server
   
3. The HammerKit asks for the page from the database using the page�s id number (article_id).
   
4. When the page is found the system locates the template assigned to the page.
   If no template is found the system uses the default template. If no default template has been assigned a no_page system message page (see Components: system message pages) or an empty page is returned.
   
5. When the template is found the system reads the template to determine the components to be included.
   
6. After that the system composes the HTML source code of the page and sends it to the visitors browser.