Five Steps to Rapid Development with TierDeveloper 4.0

Follow the steps below to quickly design, generate, and deploy a great portion of your real-life N-Tier application.

STEP 1: HAVE YOUR DATABASE READY

1. Create your database in Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, or DB2. You can design and create your own database. Or, you can use the sample database provided with TierDeveloper. Or, you can use one of the databases/schemas already provided with your database. They are:

a.Microsoft SQL Server: Northwind database. Just create a new TierDeveloper project against this database.

b.Oracle: DEMO schema with EMP, DEPT, BONUS, SALGRADE, and other tables. Just create a new TierDeveloper project against this schema.

c.DB2: SAMPLE schema provided with DB2. Just create a new TierDeveloper project against this schema.

2. Populate database with data. This would ensure that you have a fully working database ready to be used by a web application.

STEP 2: KNOW YOUR APPLICATION'S DATABASE INTERACTION

1. Identify table-columns your app will access: Before you do anything, you must know which tables and which columns in these tables is your application going to access.

2. Identify transactional operations: Identify where in your application you need to do insert, update, delete, or single-row select operations.

3. Identify queries: Most applications need to retrieve collection of rows from one or more tables in the database. Identify all places where you need to issue queries. These could be single-table queries or could involve complex joins or nested queries.

4. Identify stored procedures to call: If there are any stored procedures that already exist in the database which you need to call, identify them here. These stored procedures should be those that contains complex business rules or other data manipulation logic. Do not manually create stored procedures in the database for transactional operations or for queries that are otherwise handled by TierDeveloper. TierDeveloper can generate stored procedure DDL for you in that situation.

5. Identify bulk updates or deletes: Most applications do not require bulk updates or deletes but some do. If you have any, identify them.

The best way to understand your applications database interaction needs is to understand its behavior from the user's perspective and focus on all the data that needs to be displayed to the user or changed by the user.

STEP 3: CREATE TIERDEVELOPER PROJECT

1. Connect TierDeveloper to your database: TierDeveloper uses OLEDB to connect to your database and reads its schema so it can let you define the mappings of middle-tier objects with tables in the database (based on what you have determined about your application's interaction with your database). Please note that even if you're going to generate Java/J2EE application that will use JDBC to connect to the database, TierDeveloper (the product) will use OLEDB to connect to your database.

2. Define data object mappings to your tables: Wherever you had identified table-columns that your application needs, define data objects mapped to these tables with the appropriate columns selected as data object attributes. You can map a data object to single table or multiple tables. You'll need multi-table data objects for situations where you're trying to issue a multi-table join query that returns data from multiple tables.

3. Specify transactional methods in data objects: Based on what you identified as your application's transactional needs earlier, you should now define those insert, update, delete, and single-row select as methods of your data objects. TierDeveloper lets you do that with point-and-click.

4. Define queries as data object methods: For each query that you identified earlier, define a query method in the appropriate data objects. Remember, a query returns a resultset which get translated into a collection of data objects by TierDeveloper generated code.

5. Define stored procedure calls as data object methods: Wherever you needed to call stored procedures, you need to define data object methods for them. Remember, these stored procedures contain sophisticated business rules. Any stored procedures for transactional operations or queries can be generated by TierDeveloper so you do not have to manually write them in the database.

6. Define bulk update/delete operations as data object methods: Wherever you need to do a bulk update or bulk delete, you'll need to define data object methods for them.

STEP 4: GENERATE AND RUN 50% OF YOUR APPLICATION INSTANTLY

1. Generate data objects: After you have defined all your data objects, you are ready to generate code for them. You can generate data object code in the following format:

a. .NET components

2. Build and deploy data objects generated code: If you machine has the appropriate build environment for your platform, TierDeveloper asks you whether you want to build the generated data objects code. If you say "yes", it creates the following. It also then deploys them to your appropriate environment.

a. .NET assemblies for .NET components. They are deployed through component services.

3. Generate web application: After you have generated and build the data objects, you can generate a fully working web application. The purpose of this web application is to let you test all the functions of data objects. This also serves as a good sample/example code for you to copy into your own web application development. TierDeveloper generates the following types of web applications:

a. ASP.NET pages in C# or VB.NET and with or without XML/XSLT.

4. Build and deploy web application: TierDeveloper can also build the web pages for you. It does the following for each platform:

a. Build a .NET assembly for ASP.NET pages. They are deployed to IIS

5. Run deployed web app with data objects: Now that you have successfully deployed the data objects and the web app, you can run the web app. The really nice thing is that all this generated code is now working against your own database and in your own environment. You can see all the behavior of the data objects through this web app and also use it as a guide in your own web development. Try this and you'll be convinced about TierDeveloper being a true Rapid Development tool.

STEP 5: DEVELOP REMAINING 50% OF YOUR APPLICATION

After running and verifying that all the generated code contains your desired functionality and runs correctly against your database, you are now ready to develop the rest of the application. The areas you are likely to need to develop in your application are:

1. Presentation Layer (Web Pages): Use TierDeveloper generated web app as a sample/example for quickly developing your own. You can even copy/paste a lot of the code from the generated web app into yours, thereby speeding up your development work even further.

2. Business Objects: Although TierDeveloper generated code contains all your data manipulation logic and some of your business rules as well (in the form of data validation or stored procedure calls), you will most likely have to develop additional business objects. If you're not an expert in your target platform (.NET, J2EE, or J2SE), you can learn from the generated data objects as your business objects are likely going to be in the same environment and would follow similar design approach.

For free evaluation download please visit
http://www.alachisoft.com/download.htm

---

How To Make Good Use of Spreadsheets

Most computer users use spreadsheets software such as Microsoft Excel... Read More

Data Quality Best Practices for Salesforce.com

Executive SummaryAn effective plan for entering, cleaning and updating the... Read More

10 Things You Can Do With Photoshop CS2 That You Couldnt Do Before Now

Is Photoshop CS2 worth the upgrade? You bet it is!... Read More

Microsoft Business Solutions Products Selection: ERP, CRM, Retail Management

Let's first look at your ERP system selection (without Retail... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains version 8.5: Upgrade, Customization, VBA, Crystal Reports - Highlights

Microsoft Great Plains is one of the Microsoft Business Solutions... Read More

Selecting Corporate ERP: Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains ? Estimation Parameters

As we could imagine, if you are reading this article... Read More

Intro to UNIX Shells

A UNIX Shell is in simplest terms, a command line... Read More

Constructionalist Parsing - Deciphering Natural Language

The research in the field of Natural Language Processing usually... Read More

Document Templates Give You The Perfect Framework For Your Documents

When it comes to running an office, the SOHO entrepreneur... Read More

Razzle Dazzle Them

Once upon a time not so long ago, there was... Read More

XML Parser and Their Types

XML parser is a software module to read documents and... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Jewelry ? Implementation & Customization Overview

Each Industry and market niche has business specific and unique... Read More

Databases ? How We Love to Hate Them!

You've finally created databases that you can actually use to... Read More

Free Program Removes Spyware not Detected by Premium Security Scan

What is Spyware?Spyware monitors your surfing habits and sends the... Read More

Benefits of Integrating Online Chat Software with CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy and processes used... Read More

Windows Screensavers Explained

In this article you will find some background information about... Read More

Microsoft Small Business Manager Customization Options - Overview

Microsoft Business Solutions Small Business Manager is Great Plains Dexterity... Read More

ERP for Large Corporation ? New Selling Strategy

Our opinion is based on our Microsoft Business Solutions Great... Read More

OSI Layers Model

IntroductionDuring the early years of our modern computer era, very... Read More

How to Upgrade Dexterity Customization ? Tips for IT Manager

If you have Microsoft Great Plains and support it... Read More

Microsoft Business Solutions - Navision Customization: C/SIDE, C/ODBC, C/FRONT, XBRL

Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with... Read More

Easy Guide to RAID Recovery

What is RAID RECOVERY?RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive... Read More

Destination: Desktop for Google

First we had the original Google search that evolved into... Read More

Review on QuarkXpress 6.0

After almost two decades of existence, Quark has become the... Read More

Microsoft Axapta, Navision or Great Plains: ERP Selection for Large Corporation

If you would like to pick something from Microsoft, or... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Customization and Development ? Overview for Programmer

When Great Plains Software was designing and developing Great Plains... Read More

IBM Lotus Domino or Microsoft Exchange?

IBM Lotus Domino or Microsoft Exchange?The severe competition continues for... Read More

Microsoft CRM Data Conversion FAQ

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM data conversion deserves FAQ type of... Read More

Microsoft eCommerce Web-development: Great Plains eConnect .Net ? Highlights for Programmer

In our small article we'll consider Microsoft Business Solutions Great... Read More

Great Plains Dynamics on Pervasive/Ctree support ? overview for consultant

All of us know that Microsoft bought former Great Plains... Read More

HSphere Control Panel Tips and Tricks - Power At Your Fingertips: Part 1

The first topic we are going to discuss... Read More

Microsoft CRM Customization - Processing In/Out-Going Email Messages

We would like to give you several situations, when you... Read More

Partitioning, Formatting and Reinstalling in Windows 98

Formatting and reinstalling windows 98 is very easy if you... Read More