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Little Navmap Web

1. Web Server
   Little Navmap contains a minimal software-based file server for http(s) requests in itself.

   1. Web Server Use Case
      Little Navmap's map as configured in Little Navmap and associated information can be viewed in a web browser open on a device different from or being the same as the device Little Navmap itself is running on.
      
      Image 1: Little Navmap web viewed on an iPad.
      When devices differ from each other, a data relay host is needed to accomodate data transfer from one device to the other.
      A data relay host is constituted by a network switch or a network router.
      The data relay host must be configured to allow traffic between the devices concerned in a fitting manner.

   2. Web Server Configuration
      By default the web server inside Little Navmap is configured to respond to http/1.1 requests on port 8965.
      
      Image 2: configuring Little Navmaps web server port in Little Navmap.
      http is a data transfer protocol using the TCP communication protocol. A port is a datum added to communication which allows data relay software to differentiate data and hand it to the correct application (an asking application "on port" X gets the data containing that port handed over by the data relay software when it is received). Data relay software is constituted by the operating system or its network driver on the device the application is running on.
      Requests require an addressee. Addressee here is the device Little Navmap is running on. Adressing occurs by entering the device's IP address. An IP address is assigned to a device by the data relay host. An IP address can be covered by a domain name. A domain name is a costume. So a human can write a name instead of digits. An IP address is a number.
      The IP address assigned to a device operated with Windows 11 can be read from Windows network settings.
      
      Image 3: Windows 11 network settings.
      
      Image 4: Windows 11 connection properties.
      2 types of IP address currently exist: IPv4 and IPv6. When available, using either as address can reach the addressee from current operating systems and current web browsers.
      The IP address assigned to a Windows 11 device is likely addressable by all devices connected to the same data relay host. It is most likely not its IP address on the internet. It most likely has no Internet IP address. The data relay host instead most likely has been assigned an Internet IP address, by your Internet Service Provider. The network relay host performs "forwarding" of data sent to its Internet IP address from the Internet, to the device and thats IP address based on which device requested such data beforehand. If no request occurred beforehand, the data relay host most likely discards the data.
      When you want to connect to the device Little Navmap is running on from the Internet you must know the Internet IP address of your network relay host. Online tools exist to find that. The Internet IP address assigned to your network relay host might change from time to time depending on what your Internet Service Provider does. Or your network relay host might be assigned a permanent Internet IP address from your Internet Service Provider.
      Asking for data (files, the web pages Little Navmap provides for viewing in a web browser) from Little Navmap's web server requires the IP address assigned to the device Little Navmap is running on, when the device used when asking is connected to the same (side of the) network relay host as the "Little Navmap device" is, and requires the port number Little Navmap is responding on. When asking for data from/across the Internet use the network relay host's assigned Internet IP address. In order for the network relay host to not discard data to Little Navmap's web server (Little Navmap hasn't asked for it beforehand) (a request itself is data), see your switch or router documentation on how to configure a "portforward" (through what is a firewall).
      
      Image 5: user interface of network router Fritz!Box to manage portforwarding.
      
      Image 6: configuring a portforward on a Fritz!Box network router, the port used when contacting the network relay host can be different from the one Little Navmap's web server is responding on, the forward changes the port dynamically.
      The look of IP address used for addressing local devices equals the look of such for addressing devices on the Internet "on the other side" of the network relay host. The network relay host assumes whether it shall relay data to a local device or an internet device by the range of numbers the address is in. A so-called subnetmask determines which range of numbers is reserved for local communication, it is defined per network.
      A special IP address is an IP address with which a device can address itself. It is 127.0.0.1 (type IPv4), its domain name is "localhost" without quotation marks.
      The port datum is a number. It can be one from 0 to 65535. Some of them might have special meanings assigned.
      
      Image 7: Little Navmap Web viewed in a web browser on the same device as Little Navmap is running on. The domain name in the url being the network relay host's local domain name indicates the addressee is the network relay host which uses the subdomain part in the url to determine like with a subnetmask the device to contact, which happens to be the same as the one from which the request occurs. "localhost" instead should be directed from the operating system to itself without passing through the network relay host.

   3. The web frontend

      1. features

         • the map:
           • click to move direction
           • mousewheel or pinch to zoom
           • airport lookup
           • aircraft following
           • flightplan route
           • prevent device standby (plays an invisible small video looped)
         • the flighplan table
         • the current flight's progress
         • the current aircraft's information
         • airport lookup

      2. The web frontend can be rearranged

         • menu top, right, bottom or left
         • menu theme grey or colored

      3. The web frontend can be extended

         • plugin "Dynamic Map"
         • plugin "Autozoom"

      4. Themes and Plugins can be created
         a developer documentation for both is present inside Little Navmap's web folder in respective subfolders.