The Snapp MX
Integrated Development Environment has a workspace,
components/containers, attributes, and an object tree. The
workspace is used to visually layout an application's user
interface. This process starts with the selection of a
container (i.e. form, list, document library, etc.) on the
screen. User interface components, (i.e. check boxes, input
fields, radio buttons, text fields, etc.) are then placed on the screen
and associated with the container. A reference is
created within the object tree for each.
When a container or component is selected, its properties are displayed in the attributes section,
allowing the developer to adjust or modify its characteristics.
Attributes include: visual formatting, tool tips, labeling, database
connections, etc. The primary attribute of a container identifies
the database table or view that is used to support its
components. These components can then be connected through their
respective attributes to specific fields within this table or
view. Because Snapp MX provides a common web services library, coding to support information retrieval is eliminated.
To make screens intelligent, Snapp MX provides
Triggers. Triggers are actions that are taken when a defined condition
arises. The monitoring of these conditions can be set to occur
when a screen is first loaded and/or as field contents changes
or on a mouse click. Triggers are created and managed
through a simple interface that is displayed when the Triggers
option is selected from the menu bar.
To facilitate database updates (e.g. when a “Save” button is activated by a user), a custom Java web service is called. Snapp MX
significantly reduces the coding by dynamically generating a custom web
service template, which a developer can modify if required.
With the
exception of web services, all of this information collected during the
development of each user interface is distilled into a string of XML
that is stored in the Snapp MX Data Repository.
