Softwell Maker

The Softwell Maker is an environment for developing corporate Rich Internet Application (HTML

HTML

HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

 + CSS

CSS

-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...

 + AJAX

Ajax

- Mythology :* Ajax , son of Telamon, ruler of Salamis and a hero in the Trojan War, also known as "Ajax the Great"* Ajax the Lesser, son of Oileus, ruler of Locris and the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War.- People :...

). The focus of this tool is high productivity in software development, better interaction between the developers and their customers in the development process, and a technological independence of the developed application. Using this software it is possible to develop web applications on a 100% visual approach, without writing lines of code. To realize this, Softwell Maker designer uses visual forms and reports (WYSIWYG

WYSIWYG

WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. The term is used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed onscreen during editing appears in a form closely corresponding to its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product...

), business rules, and visually representing other actions using flowcharts.

Where it all began

The Maker project was born in 2002, within Freire Informática Ltda. a software factory in Bahia

Bahia

Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...

 that operates in the public area, which developed over 100 solutions based on the Softwell Maker platform since the first versions of the product. In 2004, Softwell Solutions Ltda was created to be a specialized company in the evolution and improvement of Maker and other tools to improve software development process.

Understanding Maker

The Softwell Maker platform is composed of two interdependent products, an IDE and a royalty-free runtime

Run-time system

A run-time system is a software component designed to support the execution of computer programs written in some computer language...

, respectively called Maker and Webrun.
The IDE is in charge of recording all the specifications of the system within specific tables set up in a database, the Webrun reads these specifications and provides the ultimate application for the customer.

Using Softwell Maker so many steps from traditional development process are useless, skipped or automatically filled when we are developing software using this tool. Then we will experience not just a new tool, but a new way to run over whole software development process. We hope put some more information about this methodology in another article as soon as possible.

Independence of Language

Applications developed by Softwell Maker are not tied to a programming language, so they will always be technologically upgraded preserving the real value of software: the business rules.

Main Features

To support the widest range of applications, the product offers a comprehensive list of resources and tries to do this in the most simple and intuitive way as possible, following a summary of the product capability:

• Access to multiple databases simultaneously;
• Production and consumption of Web services;
• Access Control, and audit logs;
• Support for HTTPS and client authentication;
• Exporting the source code to Java language;
• Database support: Firebird
  Firebird (database server)
  Firebird is an open source SQL relational database management system that runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix. The database forked from Borland's open source edition of InterBase in 2000, but since Firebird 1.5 the code has been largely rewritten ....
  
   1.5/2.0/2.5, PostgreSQL
  PostgreSQL
  PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...
  
   8.0/8.1/8.2/8.3/8.4/9.0; Oracle 10G/11G; MS-SQL Server 2000/2005/2008, MySQL
  MySQL
  MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
  
   5.0-5.5;
• Intensive use of AJAX;
• Support for themes (skins);
• Support for Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari;
• 3 layers Client / Server / Database;
• Self documentation;

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

The IDE of the Softwell Maker platform (which gives the product its name) currently in version 2.4 is an application for Microsoft Windows (win32) compatible with versions 2000, Me, XP and Vista (32 e 64 bits) of Windows;
Softwell Maker platform is made up of a form designer, a report designer (MakerReport), flowcharts designer (MakerFlow), a set of wizards and tools to support the developer.

Form designer

Used to develop the forms of application is a 100% visual approach availability to the developer of a very flexible set of components that can be added to the form and positioned through the mouse or keyboard, according to the WYSIWYG philosophy.
The forms may or may not be connected to a table in the database, but can also be connected to other databases, whole or in part, by facilitating the integration of various databases.

Reports designer

This allows for reports with visual support for graphics, table cross-references, and sub-reports groups at various levels.
The generated reports can be executed in the environment Win32/WINE, or be exported to Jasper, a reports generator written in Java;

Flow designer

Sometimes called MakerFlow or simply Flow, this is the component that allows the complete independence of the code, since the actions and business rules will be defined using a 100% visual approach, free from specifications of a programming language.
The programming flow path allows only logic, allowing the team to concentrate efforts on implementing the details of what really matters to the customer: the business rules and not other details of the development software process, but must be followed reliable and stable application

Wizards tools and support

There is a set of tools to support the development in the Softwell Maker platform. We can mention the following ones:

• New form wizard – Uses the database definition to infer the corresponding registration form;
• Multi-form Creator – Allows automatically generation of forms of several tables at once;
• Access control to the project – which allows users to define determined software artifact (form, report, flow, …)
• Automatic versions control of system objects – The Softwell Maker IDE automatically

supports the latest copies of each object changed, restoration points of all software;

• Project Packer – saves all the software into a single compressed file, allowing any to be carried to a different environment;
• Task Scheduler - Allows scheduling of the flow execution in a specific date or pattern.
• Registry of functions – The Maker API can be extended by this interface, enabling the development of applications that are of the native support of the Softwell Maker IDE to some kind of appeal that might be necessary, or even to change the behavior of some existing resource;
• Data Dictionary – This feature allows the tool to handle the database through user-friendly names of tables, views and the infields.
• Repository – Allows the reuse of objects between several projects, allowing a single object to be available simultaneously in various projects;

Running the Software (Webrun)

The Webrun can be defined as the virtual machine on which the applications are executed by the Softwell Maker platform. It is responsible for providing the resources necessary to correct software execution. Currently the Webrun is available for the Java and .NET platform. Over Java, the application is distributed as a standard WAR file, and was approved for the following application servers: Tomcat 5.5/6, JBoss, Weblogic, and Websphere.
This application is that which provides the technological platform on which the software is implemented, namely access control, the so-called AJAX, the database connections, the load balancing, connections pool, and a number of countless other services used in the application, fully provided by Webrun.

Webrun Architecture

The picture below illustrates some details from Webrun internal architecture and a default execution environment of an application built by Softwell Maker, where business rules can run into three layers: client (JavaScript), server (Java/.NET), and database (Oracle, MS-SQL Server, PostgreSQL, …). We can also realize internals subsystems of Visual Interface Builder (HTML, JavaScript, CSS, PDF, ...), Database Management (Transactions, Procedures, Sequences, …), and System Manager (User’s session, authentication, permissions, …).

Other Features

• Flow Compiler - Performs a flow compilation and changes detecting in flows even in "development mode", working on the JIT philosophy;
• Access Control and log - Makes sure of the identity and permissions of the user, and records any changes that the user places;
• Debugger flows - Allows support of the implementation of the flows, stop or pause execution, inspect the variables and class stack;
• System Export - Allows the generation the source code of the application as Java application, or a WAR file for publication in an application server;
• JDBC - Access to the database is done using the JDBC drivers;
• JSTL - Used in the construction of JSP's.

External links

Abril.com, IBM e Softwell assinam accordo de parceria - info Professional NoticiaCapital.com.br, Empresa baiana se associa à IBM para comercializar soft no mundo todo.

• W3.org, W3C Rich Web Clients Activity. Via6.com Estadao.com, News CorreiodaBahia.com.br, News