DM Automation's Business Applications Architect

BA Architect delivers the ability for you to create a simple user interface (GUI) for your databases or complex database applications. By using RAD techniques BA Architect can deliver fully functioning business applications in less than an hour without code writing and windows forms layout designing. The primary focus of the BA Architect software is to allow the developer to create feature rich software for their end users using single unified application platform. And the real power of BA Architect is the speed at which business applications could be created. You don't need to write any Create/Read/Update/Delete code for your database tables or design and layout your edit and display forms. BA Architect will do this routine for you.

With BA Architect OLEDB data access provider any existing database (MS Access, MS SQL Server, Oracle or any data source which has OLEDB provider compatible with ADO.NET) can be used. BA Architect will automatically create display forms and edit dialogs in run time based on the field information from the data tables. Therefore, any new fields will automatically be inserted onto the edit and display forms without requiring cumbersome re-development of those forms. As well, BA Architect handles the definition of all relationships in the database. Display and edit forms may be customized using corresponding settings in the BA Architect application repository.

Business logic programming using .NET Framework

If BA Architect intuitive edit and display form layout is not suitable for your application you can develop a plugin using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET with its powerful forms designer or any other .NET compliant development tool. Your plugin may contain edit and/or display forms, advanced functionality, everything that you can implement using .NET. For more information refer to the BA Architect documentation.

Developer has full control over BA Architect application to apply user defined business logic, develop new functionality or customize the presentation of the data. For this purposes there is a possibility to write Visual Basic .NET scripts and event handlers inside BA Architect application. You can use all power of Microsoft .NET Framework.

System Requirements:

BA Architect runs best on Pentium III or better processor with 256 Mb of RAM. Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000/XP/2003 are supported. Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 are not required but are recommended for performance reasons. Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 must be installed on target PC.

Database Requirements:

BA Architect ships with OLEDB data access provider. Therefore any ADO capable data source and OLEDB provider compatible with ADO.NET is required. Tested and supported OLEDB providers are:

• Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLEDB Provider
• Microsoft OLEDB Provider for SQL Server
• Oracle OLEDB Provider

Currently BA Architect OLE DB data access provider does not support ODBC data sources and Interbase/FireBird SQL server. ODBC, Interbase/FireBird data access providers will be released soon.

BA Architect requires application repository to be created in the data source. Application repository is a set of 12 database tables and 3 views where application configuration is stored. For Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases BA Architect creates application repository automatically. For other data sources application repository should be created manually. The best way is to import data tables and views from empty Access database that is shipped with BA Architect. BA Architect ships with MS Access 2002 sample databases. If you prefer to run your database against a SQL Server database, no problem, just specify the connection information and create an application repository on the target SQL server database from the startup screen. You can transfer application configuration between different data sources at any time.  

7 steps to build a BA Architect Application

1. Design your database, or use an existing one.
2. Setup connection to your database and create application repository from the BA Architect startup form.
3. Login to the data source and import database tables to the application repository from BA Architect main menu. Relations between tables will be imported automatically if a foreign key constraint was defined. If not - you may setup it manually. The only restriction: relations with two or more foreign key fields are not supported.
4. Customize field display names, descriptions, appearance styles, behavior, etc. You may write custom event handlers for the fields and tables.
5. Configure application menu and table browser.
6. Configure application users, security settings and table access.
7. After application repository was set up reload tables or restart BA Architect.

Your application now is ready for use. You can go back and change your database at any time. Adding new fields or tables is not a problem for BA Architect. Your application will be updated automatically. There is no need to update any of your workstations since the application repository data is stored in your database.

You may also look at the application samples that are shipped with BA Architect. It's the best way to see all of the BA Architect features.

Additional Features

• Any existing database (MS Access, SQL Server, Oracle, or any ADO data source) can be used. BA Architect will automatically create edit screens based on the fields in the data source.
• Built-in report designer allows you to create reports of any complexity
• You can transfer your application between different data sources at any time
• Data tables and relations can be imported automatically from the data source.
• Three types of authorization are supported:
  • Database server authorization - login and password are verified by the database server
  • Integrated authorization - login and password are verified by the operating system
  • Application server authorization - login and password are verified by the BA Architect
• Edit and display forms are created in real-time; therefore, any new fields or relations will automatically be inserted onto the edit screen without requiring re-development.
• Unlimited master-detail relations are supported.
• Includes a simple OLAP plugin which allows you to build analytic cubes for your data.
• Customized row filtering and query dialogs can be used when displaying the data from the table.
• Customizable menus and toolbars with skin support like in Microsoft Office. 
• Possibility to write compliable Visual Basic .NET scripts and event handlers inside BA Architect application
• A Plugin interface is available if you wish to extend the functionality or customize the edit forms. Plugins could use BA Architect object model (Business Objects Framework - BOF) to access and manage data.
• Tree view layout could be applied if the data table is hierarchically designed.

Comparing BA Architect vs Microsoft Access

Feature	BA Architect	MS Access
Built especially for end user?	Yes . BA Architect allows everyone to create their systems without programming knowledge. However it is possible to write complicated business logic and event handlers scripts on Visual Basic .NET	No. It was built for programmers.
Data Entry Validations	Yes. BA Architect creates all validation you need to execute your program as a system sold in the Market. Other validations can be inserted from the script editor.	No. All validation need programming knowledge.
Display and Edit screens.	BA Architect will automatically create display forms and edit dialogs in run time based on the field information from the data tables	You have to design all forms manually and write a lot of event handler routine. You must know a lot about programming to do this.
Network skills	Yes. All systems are multi-user and run with unlimited users.	You must have programming knowledge to insert network skills. When it runs in network the system is very slow.
Time taken to create build typical applications	You spend 20 times less to create an application and you don't need to have programming knowledge.	Besides taking 20 times more time it demands programming knowledge