Inon Datamanager
Creating databases on the Web isn't that hard. At least, it starts out that way. Put together a few queries in a Web middleware package, output a row of HTML for each database record, and you're ready. Well, after you add some error-checking code to handle a database with no data in it. And something to stop users entering records with blank fields. And a search routine to let them query the data flexibly. Oh, and a paging mechanism to divide the results into different pages. And some triggers to update data in a related table when other data is edited. Then there's code to handle relational data, where multiple items exist under a single heading. And when the value of a field has to be taken from the contents of a table. And so on ad infinitum.
Instead of creating all this functionality yourself, you might resort to using a packaged tool which provides the whole interface for you. It will handle data entry and retrieval, searching and error checking, and generate all the HTML for you. Of course, these tools are expensive, but they seem worth it to avoid all the trouble of writing the code yourself. Then after you put the application together, you can customise it. Well, you can change the colours in the HTML. Try to change the flow of the application - add a new search mechanism - have results presented in a different order - add a cross-check of the town that's entered against a geographical database - or add any other kind of flexibility, and you'll find yourself constrained by the structure of the product.
Datamanager exists to solve this dilemma. It provides automatic tools for doing all of the above, but in an object-oriented, modular form. You can build the application as you think it should be, and add a few lines of Java commands to each page to link in the database. An extensible object represents each kind of information in the system, so that you can customise the behaviour of information. To ensure that telephone numbers are entered in a specific format, or to notify a particular email address when data changes, or to hold alterations separately until they're approved by editorial staff.
Datamanager takes as its starting point a business object model. This model expresses the entities in a business, their relationships and their attributes - just as any business object model should. The differences start with what happens next.
How Datamanager works
From the business object model, Datamanager creates:
The architecture of the business object, persistence and presentation layers keep data in the locations where it should reside, and ensure that the variety of different tasks to be achieved with the business objects do not conflict and lead to complexity.
Datamanager's flexibility guarantees that you can modify the business objects after building the system - for example adding new attributes, or complete new objects - without rewriting your existing code. New business rules can similarly be added easily after initial deployment.
All objects created by Datamanager are fully documented Java objects, and their source code is available for our clients developers to work with.