An Custom IRIM Application

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One organization approached us with a problem.  They already had EdgeworX, the ASG WEB access development tool.  However, after spending a great many hours and the application still not being completed, they needed to know if the application could be done with the RoAccess Application Developers Kit.

Obviously, the answer was yes.  To show the proof of concept, the following screens each  had only one button live, having the other buttons invoke stubs to be later completed.   But all the screen worked, from the highest menu to the lowest detailed data screen.  We were supplied the buttons and graphics.  It then was merely a matter of later completing the stubbed sections of each screen to complete the applications.

Viasoft's IRIM is a way to map multiple schemas so that tables, columns and attributes that are generically the same could be identified.  This application tells you which table column or attribute of one database relates to others and what its standard definition is.

The first step was to install a copy of their repository.  RoAccess immediately then allowed us to inspect the architecture and content of the repository.  We then added an "Admin" button that appeared at the top of the standard TypeList screen.  So this application was embedded into standard RoAccess as far as a typical user was concerned.
 


This is merely a Menu, and no repository query was done.

You start drilling down to investigate the Table and Columns, and get the following screen.
 
 

This too is a Menu screen.  By clicking on the database type, you get the following screen.
 
 

This screen queried Rochade to get the databases for this application and created the Select Box.

Once you select which Database of this type of Application, we get a list of tables:
 
 

This screen got the prior database Item, and formatted one of its link attributes which linked to each of the tables in that database.

Clicking here, you get a list of the table columns.
 
 

This form did a Rochade query, formatting the contents of a Link attribute.

Clicking the Display Definition Button gives the following screen:
 
 

This screen started with the column and did a Path Reports traversing several ItemTypes to find Item the generic definition of this column and fetched the information from one of its attributes.
 

Summary

These RoAccess custom screens did indeed match their existing application's functionality.  However, after looking at Standard RoAccess in greater detail the client responded:
"When I said I liked the look and feel of your systems screens, I was referring to the standard screens (not the new custom screen you created for us).  The new ones you develop for us match very closely what we did, but I actually like the way you designed your standard screens better."
Each screen was a bit different.  They did Item Lists, displays of link attributes, path reports and of course, menus.    We were shipped the 35 pages of specifications they were working under.  The total time spend on this application was about 12 hours, a good bit was just understanding the underlying schema and the requirements of the screen.  Once that was done, the screens came up very quickly.