Ebase element types

The IT elements category includes everything to the right of the dividing bar in the above diagram. This group of elements represents the more technical side of forms design where the Ebase user is working with traditional IT elements e.g. databases, interfaces to external systems etc.

The elements to the left of the dividing bar are included in the other two categories: Business Projects and Shared Elements.

The Workflow and Integration Server categories are used by the Ebase Workflow and Ebase Integration Server modules respectively;

Here is a brief description of all the elements. More details of the functional capabilities of each of the element types can be found in Introduction to Ebase.

Business Projects

Project

Project is not included in the diagram above as it serves no purpose during runtime processing of a form - it is merely an organizational element. A project consists of a number of related forms, scripts and messages. Important aspects of projects are:

· scripts and messages within a project can only be referenced by forms in the same project with the exception of GLOBAL scripts

· Designer project is the element that is protected by the security system i.e. if an Ebase user has read/write access to the project, he has read/write access to all the forms, scripts and messages within the project.

Form

This is of course the central element within the Ebase system and is made up of pages, fields and fields on page. It can contain references to all the other element types depending on the functions performed by the form.

Script

A script is the Ebase programming element. Scripts can be executed by the system when the event with which they are associated occurs. (See Introduction to Ebase and FPL Script Command Syntax for more information)

Message

This is a message, either an error, warning or final page message, that is sent to the user under the control of a script. The most common use for messages is for validating user input.

IT Elements

Business View

A Business View is a lightweight element and is merely a way of packaging together all the external resources that a form can access. In the Ebase Designer, a form's business view can be specified by clicking the Form Properties button. (See Working with Business Views for more information)

Database resource

Represents a single SQL statement and can be used to read and write data to or from any relational database.

XML resource

Provides the ability to read and write XML documents from file or via a URL and to map elements to form fields and tables.

Web Services resource

Provides the ability to call a Web Service and map the request and response documents to form fields and tables.

Email resource

Represents a single email message that can be sent.

Messaging resource

Represents a message that can be sent to an MQSeries message queue. This includes the possibility of waiting for a response message

Dynamic list

This is very similar to a database resource in that it represents a single read SQL statement. In this case however, the results of the SQL are displayed to the end-user as a list. When the end-user makes a selection from the list, other columns from the database can be automatically read into the form. The main difference between dynamic lists and database resources is that dynamic lists are much simpler to use and require no script programming.

Database

This element is detached from all the other elements. It represents a connection to a database and is used by both database resources and dynamic lists. The database editor within the Ebase Designer contains an import function to automatically configure database resources from the metadata of the database system.

Shared Elements

Static list

This represents a simple list of data which is entirely static or rarely changes. The data values of a static list are entered by the Ebase user using the static list editor. Static lists are less flexible than dynamic lists but are much easier to use. Entries within a static list are language dependent.

Presentation templates

These control the fine details of the presentation of form pages to an internet browser. The template editor in the Ebase Designer contains many options that can be used to fine-tune the appearance of a form. (See Working with Presentation Templates for more information)