Case Study HowTo

AppML will describe your applications.

Web Services will execute them.

AppML Will Describe Your Applications

The purpose of AppML is to describe applications. AppML does this by describing application elements. With AppML you can describe database elements, report elements, form elements, and many other elements.

An AppML database element is used to describe an element from a database. An AppML database element can be used to describe a single database table, a simple SQL recordset, or a complex SQL expression.

This is an example of an AppML file describing a single database table:

<?xml version="1.0" ?> 
<appml>
  <database>
  <connection>northwind</connection> 
  <maintable>customers</maintable>
  </database>
</appml>

This is an example of an AppML file describing a simple SQL recordset:

<?xml version="1.0" ?> 
<appml>
  <database>
  <connection>northwind</connection> 
  <sql>select CompanyName, Country from Customers</sql>
  </database>
</appml>

In the above example the <appml> tag is used to define an AppML document. Inside the appml document a <connection> tag is used to define a named connection to a database, and a <sql> tag is used to define a simple SQL recordset.

Web Services Will Execute Your Applications

The purpose of AppML is not to execute the application. To execute an AppML application you need an AppML Web Service. The purpose of the Web Service is to execute the application based on the AppML description.

A Web Service can be used to produce the following output:

Accessing a Web Service

To access an AppML Web Service, the only thing you have to do is to link to it.

This link: app_htmlreport.asp?appname=customers is a request for the Web Service "app_htmlreport" to return an HTML report based on the AppML description "customers".

This link: app_xmlreport.asp?appname=customers is a request for the Web Service "app_xmlreport" to return an XML report based on the AppML description "customers".

This link: app_htmlform.asp?appname=customers is a request for the Web Service "app_htmlform" to return an HTML form based on the AppML description "customers".

Creating a Web Service

AppML Web Services are written as server side scripts. Writing an AppML Web Service is very easy to do, but you will not have to write any Web Services yourself. 

For this case study we have created some very powerful AppML Web Services that can be used to execute all kinds of database applications, from simple database reports to complex database input forms.

Save a Lot of Development Time

A Web Service like the HTML Report Service will be used to run all your Internet reports. You will not use another Web Service for another  report. Your only job will be to define different reports in your AppML files.

Having only a simple description to maintain, will save you a LOT of development time.

Use AppML in Existing Projects

Unlike most other development tools, you can use AppML in your existing projects. There is no need to rewrite your complete application. You can use AppML for a small part of your application, like creating ad hoc HTML reports, or you can use it as your main development tool, and mix it with other development tools.

Change the Application at Runtime

AppML is extensible. You can add new functionality to your application all the time. You can even change your application while it is running. All you have to do is to edit your AppML description.

Development Partners Wanted

Refsnes Data has just completed a large development project based on AppML. It has been estimated by our developers that development time has been reduced by 75% compared to ordinary web development.

For new projects and for development of next generation AppML web services, Refsnes Data is seeking new development partners. Read more.

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