205 lines
8.3 KiB
PHP
205 lines
8.3 KiB
PHP
@extends('layouts.app')
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@section('htmlheader_title')
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About
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@endsection
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@section('content')
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<h2>About the FTN Clearing Houz</h2>
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<p>Welcome to the <strong class="highlight">FTN Clearing Houz</strong>.</p>
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<div class="float-end ps-3 pb-3" id="network_traffic"></div>
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<p>FTN is an abbreviation for FidoNet Technology Network, and the most well known FTN is
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"<a href="https://wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet">FidoNet</a>" that still exists today.
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There were many other "Othernets" also created around that time and since, and some still in operation today as
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well.</p>
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<p>FidoNet was born in the 1980's (well before the public Internet) when personal computers were being introduced to
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homes, and modems were being invented.
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Some very clever people developed protocols and standards to exchange mail and files with peers, with the
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network growing to around 40,000 systems in the mid 1990's.
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Those systems were called BBSes or <a href="https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system">Bulletin Board
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Systems</a>.
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As "the Internet" became more accessible, the usage of FidoNet and BBSes drastically reduced, but there are some
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systems still in operation today.</p>
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<p>The <strong class="highlight">FTN Clearing Houz</strong> is both an FTN Mailer and FTN message tosser, where mail
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is stored internally in a DB, and files in an S3 bucket. It can also hatch and toss files into FTN networks for
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both upstream and downstream nodes.</p>
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<p>It was created as an idea to bring modern technology and capabilities to that legacy computing network that
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existed in the 1980's and 1990's, where many of those programs from the 1980's and 1990's are still in use today
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too.</p>
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<p>Setting up an FTN network is fun, but managing one for the longer term, in amongst our busy lives can involve
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some tedious repetitive tasks.
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In the same vain, maintaining and growing an FTN network also can be time consuming, especially when your effort
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(or lack thereof) can affect the experience of your users.
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So FTN Clearing Houz was created to help address that.</p>
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<p>Building this software is driven by three main goals:</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Self Service - so that users can setup and re-jig their configuration themselves, or new users can join a
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network with the minimum of effort (relieving a dependancy on an admin to set you up, and thus freeing up
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time for those admins).
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</li>
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<li>Automation - so that repetitive tasks can be done with minimal effort.</li>
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<li>
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<strike>High Availability - So if one hub goes down, users can automatically connect to an alternate hub to keep
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mail flowing. Furthermore, as hubs retire, new hubs can assume the role of the retiring hub with minimal
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effort.
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</strike>
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</li>
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</ol>
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<p>...all so that you can spend your time playing on your BBS rather than managing messages, failures or keeping an
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FTN network running.</p>
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<h3>For the BBS Sysop</h3>
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<p>For the BBS sysop, the FTN Clearing Houz has the following features:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Supports BINKP network transfers</li>
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<li>Supports EMSI network transfers (for legacy "frontend" mailers)</li>
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<li>Supports PING responses (to netmails)</li>
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<li>A consistent reliable echomail/netmail hub for your BBSes, while you reconfigure your BBS.<br>
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If you have more than 1 BBS, then the Clearing Houz can receive all your mail from your uplinks and feed
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them to your BBSes.
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h3>For the FTN network operator</h3>
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<p>For the FTN network operator, the FTN Clearing Houz has the following features (or planned ones):</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Supports BINKP network transfers</li>
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<li>Supports EMSI network sessions with ZMODEM transfers</li>
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<li>Automatic route configuration, routing netmail directly where links exist, or to the next uplink/downlink</li>
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<li>Manages ECHO areas and FILE areas</li>
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<li>Supports PING and TRACE responses <sup>(TRACE to be implemented)</sup></li>
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<li>Nodelist Management</li>
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<li>Self service FTN Network Applications <sup>being implemented</sup></li>
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<li>Dynamic mail bundling for upstream and downstream nodes (no more "inbounds" and "outbounds")</li>
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<li>Support for Fidonet Packet formats <a href="http://ftsc.org/docs/fts-0001.016">FTS-0001</a>,
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<a href="http://ftsc.org/docs/fsc-0039.004">FSC-0039</a>,
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<a href="http://ftsc.org/docs/fsc-0045.001">FSC-0045</a>,
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<a href="http://ftsc.org/docs/fsc-0048.002">FSC-0048</a></li>
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<li>Automatic delisting of idle nodes <sup>(to be implemented)</sup></li>
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<li>DNS server, to enable resolving of registered nodes using domain dns names <a href="http://ftsc.org/docs/fts-5004.001">FTS-5004</a>
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with <strong class="highlight">p<em>N</em>.f<em>N</em>.n<em>N</em>.z<em>N</em>.<em>domain</em>.ftn</strong>, or
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<strong class="highlight">p<em>N</em>.f<em>N</em>.n<em>N</em>.z<em>N</em>.<em>[domain dns zone]</em></strong>
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syntax, including TXT and CNAME records</li>
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</ul>
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<h4>Other things</h4>
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<p>Other ideas that may make it into this tool:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>SMTP integration</li>
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<li>PGP signed mail and mail verification</li>
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<li>SQRL simple authentication <small>(so there is 1 less username/password you need to remember)</small></li>
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</ul>
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<p>If you are here to link to BBS, please get started by <a href="{{ url('login') }}">logging in</a>.</p>
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<h2>Open Source</h2>
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<p>FTN Clearing Houz is built with Open Source software. At it's core, PHP drives this web UI and the interaction
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with nodes.</p>
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<p>This web UI has been inspired by the great work at <a href="https://int10h.org">int10h.org</a>. If you have ideas
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to make it even better, please send me a message, or submit your comments in <a
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href="https://dev.dege.au/bbs/clrghouz">gitlab</a></p>
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<h3>Other technology that drives the Clearing Houz</h3>
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<p>FTN Clearing Houz is made available by these technologies:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Docker - taking the effort out of building, deploying and easing the effort of upgrading.</li>
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<li><strike>CockroachDB - a high available, geodispersable database, that enables accessing configuration and
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data from multiple locations. CockroachDB enables the FTN Clearing Houz to appear as the same hub from
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multiple locations, providing a high available environment for Sysops to drop off and collect
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mail</strike></li>
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<li>PostgreSQL - to store all the data
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<li>Memcached - to take some of the pressure off the database</li>
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<li>PHP/Laravel - the coding framework used to create this UI, and to enable the transfer of mail between systems</li>
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<li>jQuery - to help with the web UI</li>
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<li>Highcharts - to render the graphs</li>
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<li>AnsiLove - to render the messages, for when they have ANSI code sequences</li>
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<li><a html="https://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/">PhpStorm</a> - the development IDE that makes all this possible and for supporting Open Source projects</li>
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</ul>
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<p>If you'd like to support enhancing Clearing Houz, <a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/dege">Buy me a coffee!</a></p>
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@endsection
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@section('page-scripts')
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@js('highcharts')
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<script>
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var chart = Highcharts.chart('network_traffic', {
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chart: {
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type: 'spline',
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zoomType: 'x',
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backgroundColor: '#000000',
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resetZoomButton: {
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position: {
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x: 0,
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y: -40,
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}
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}
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},
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credits: {
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enabled: false
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},
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exporting: {
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buttons: false
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},
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title: {
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text: 'FTN Network Traffic'
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},
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xAxis: {
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type: 'datetime',
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title: {
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text: 'Time'
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},
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},
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yAxis: {
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title: {
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text: 'Echomail'
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},
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},
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legend: {
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symbolWidth: 40
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},
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plotOptions: {
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series: {
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point: {
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events: {
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click: function () {
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//window.location.href = this.series.options.website;
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}
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}
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},
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cursor: 'pointer'
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}
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},
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series: [
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@foreach (\App\Models\Domain::active()
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->when(((! $user) || (! $user->isAdmin())),function($query) { return $query->public()->active(); })
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->orderBy('name')
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->with(['echoareas'])
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->get() as $o)
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@if ($o->managed())
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{
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name: '{{ $o->name }}',
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data: [],
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dashStyle: 'ShortDot',
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},
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@endif
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@endforeach
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],
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});
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chart.series.forEach(function(item) {
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$.ajax({
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url: '/api/domain/daily',
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type: 'GET',
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dataType: 'json',
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data : {name: item.name},
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success: function(data) {
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item.setData(data);
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},
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cache: false
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});
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});
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</script>
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@append |