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Data Access
Dialog Manager Framework is in essence a database application. All application data, metadata, source code as well as specialized pre-complied versions of PowerScript Events are stores in the database. There is full native support for the following relational databases systems:
- Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere
- Oracle
- Microsoft SQL Server
- IBM DB2 UDB
Standard ODBC is used to communicate with the database. The configuration of the ODBC data source is completely automatic and all database specific database driver software is included and automatically installed as an integral part of the framework.
On top of the ODBC layer a SQL-dialect service is created that interprets all non ANSI 92 SQL statements before they are executed on the database server. This enables abstraction of differences in database vendor implementation of SQL and at the same time optimizes performance for the individual database. When needed structural differences are abstracted as well.
- External Business Object Access
Import, Report and DMAPI Business Objects has support for interfaces to external data sources either through the pre-built database drivers or via standard OLEDB and ODBC interfaces. For example, a Report Object can be configured to request data from both an Oracle and a Sybase database and perform calculation on the results in an IBM DB2 database before the report is executed and subsequently dispatched to the relevant users in PDF format via e-mail.
- Transaction driven DDL (Data Definition Language) statement execution
The database is modified during creation and extension of business entities as new tables, fields procedures etc are created. In addition to the physical database extensions metadata is recorded to describe application specific properties. During transactions both the update of metadata and execution of DDL statement are encapsulated. This means that the implicit COMMIT that most databases perform after each DDL statement cannot cause inconsistence between the stored metadata and the extensions to the physical database.
- Trigger and Procedure Support
Parts of the system logic is implemented as database triggers and procedures. As all major database platforms support these technologies in different ways, these database objects are implemented as services that encapsulates each database platform to leverage the individual implementation of database triggers and procedures. Triggers and procedures are created and deleted dynamically and configured via metadata. For example dynamically created database platform specific triggers are used for data audit trails and real-time consolidation of entity relations.
- Data Replication
As an underlying feature of the database platform specific implementations of triggers is the ability to monitor entities for changes and to record time stamps and source information for all changes. This allows extraction of data based on changes. Replicated clients can subscribe to user defined subsets of data and store locally on the client. Local changes are uploaded first to complete the consolidated database before calculations are performed and business rules executed. Preceding a data delta is downloaded to the client. Replicated clients can subscribe to the entire database or subsets of data. The actual transports protocols are direct TCP/IP or HTTP/HTTPS with the web server as a redirector. Authentication certificates, encryption and stream compression are fully supported. Further, all meta-data changes including database schema extensions are also replicated bi-directionally. This enables automatic transparent remote rollout of application changes with out the need for the local PC tp be upgraded.
Service Agents
Active integration with external systems is via “Service Agents” constituting embedded programs communicating with SOAP based Web Services, COM/DCOM servers, ActiveX components or custom DLL function libraries. The functionality employs graceful error management allowing errors in one or more external systems without affecting operations stability of the core Dialog Manager application.
- Enterprise Web Services (based on SOAP)
External Web Services, such as ERP functionality or supply chain logistics functions are consumable and available both to become part of “Business Workflows” and to update or forward data contained in various ”Business Entities”. For example, a “Debitor” (a Business Entity) is immediately updatable in one or more ERP systems. For example enabling tacking of in-route shippments via transport company through an external Web Service published by the transport company.
- CTI
”Computer Telephony Integration” (CTI) Services are consumed by the system via COM (Common Object Model) TAPI embedding. Through this subscription to phone specific events initiated locally on computers irrespective of whether origination is IP-CTI or conventional CTI. Besides standard functionalites, such as dialing and answering phone calls, are also published as services consumable by “Business Components”. As a result, special adaptation of event responses can be implemented. For example, an external Web Service is called each time a call involving a client has a specific outcome.
- E-mail/Calendar
Various services publized by the email/calendar program (Lotus Domino & MS Exchange) are COM embedded (Common Object Model) and consumable. In its encapsulated form complexity is abstracted enabling effective consumbtion by variuos Business Components. For instance, advanced HTML email merge including embedded graphics etc. can be created automatically and sent directly via MS Exchange Server or Lotus Domino Server. |
