Features

Generic framework features implementation in Openbiz:

Framework feature	Openbiz support	Comments
Multi-layer	Yes
Model-View-Controller (MVC)	Yes	Component-based, Event binding
Object Relational Mapping (ORM)	Yes	Flexible mapping with metadata, SQL-like language
Object persistence	Yes	Session-based
Security	Yes	user authentication, role-based view access and attribute-based data access control
Authoring tool	Yes	Openbiz Eclipse plugin with wizards
Free License	Yes	BSD, GPL
PHP5 aware	Yes	Version 1.1 PHP4, Version 2.0 PHP5
Multi-Database	Yes	Zend Framework DB
Web Template	Yes	Smarty
Configurable	Yes	Through metadata files
Extensible	Yes	User class derived from core library
Plugable	Yes	Plugin services
Multi-language	Yes	Work with Unicode-enabled databases
Internationalization	Yes	Translation of metadata files
Localization	Yes	Format of date/time, number, currency, phone number,surpport DST
Data Validation	Yes	client side and server side validation
Web Services	Yes	WSDL1.0/1.1,SOAP,XML_RPC,REST
Lite Server	Yes	Can run small USB disk

Multi-layer architecture.

OpenBiz is designed as a multi-layer architecture as the figure below.

Usually a business application can be modulated to 3 layers - Data layer, Business Logic layer and Presentation layer. In OpenBiz architecture, these 3 layers map to 3 packages.

Presentation layer is refined to logic which is implemented by BizView package and GUI layers which is implemented by jbForm javascript package.
Business data logic layer is implemented by BizDataObj package
3rd party package Zend_Db handles Database Access layer, support all types of databsaes

In addition, plug-in services can be called anytime to extend the functionalities beyond the layers.

All objects are configurable using XML metadata file

OpenBiz objects are bound with their metadata files which have XML format. By configuring the XML files, developers can give different logic and behavior of the objects.

Configure your business data unit. Create a metadata XML file for each BizDataObj following the schema BizDataObj.dtd. Object Relational Mapping (ORM) can be configured with BizDataObj.
Configure your presentation logic unit. Create a metadata XML file for each BizForm following the schema BizForm.dtd
Configure your presentation unit container. Create a metadata XML file for each BizView following the schema BizView.dtd
Support metadata file inheritance which makes a well-organized metadata structure and easy metadata management work.

Provide basic and advanced data operation

OpenBiz includes basic and advanced data operations, by using Openbiz you don't need spend a minutes in writing code to do the implementation.

Basic data manipulation:

Search - support multi-field search, wild character search and logic operators
Insert a new record - insert a record before current record and automatically generate a customer-formatted ID
Update a record - support read-only field and field validation
Delete a record - popup a warning before deleting the record
Sort a column - support ascending and descending sort

Advanced data manipulation:

View linking - user can associate a hyperlink with a field so that clicking this field will change current view to another view.
Select field data from other BizForm - user can associate a input field a BizForm so that select data from other BizForm.
Control dependency - specify dependent relationship between BizForms

Client/Server Communication with HTTP PRC call (AJAX)

OpenBiz uses HTTP PRC call (AJAX) to send request and receive response between browser and web server. The benefits are:

Clear function call interface, no more messy url like ../cgi/control.php?field1=value&field2=value2
No page refresh, only refresh the updated part of the whole page.
Support Internet explorers 5.x, Netscape 7.x and Mozilla 1.x

Separate business logic and user interface with web templates

Smarty template engine is used in OpenBiz to render the HTML output. Openbiz provides some basic templates for render BizForm and BizView. For detail, please refer to http://smarty.php.net/docs.php

Support common data type, format and validation

Data types include Text, Number, Date, Datetime, Currency, Phone
Localization is supported in data formatting
Validator can be assigned to any field

Support common HTML element controls

HTML controls include Text, Textarea, ListBox/ComboBox, Checkbox, RadioButton, ImageButton, Standard Button/Reset/Submit/, Password, pure HTML block and rich html editor
Support navigation UI components including menu, tree and tabs
Associate UI control with field data
Associate UI control with function

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