Entering Specifications in APPX
At this point, you are ready to enter information into APPX and actually begin the application specification process. To initiate this action, select the Application Design menu, and proceed as follows:
Select the Domains option under Data Elements and Structures, and proceed to specify all the domains in your application. Domains are generic definitions for fields in an application that share a common set of attributes. If you later find that you forgot to enter any domains, you can enter them as required. Then select the Files option and specify the information for the first file. From here, you move automatically to the Field screen, where you specify each field contained in the first file. Continue to enter the specifications in the same manner for each file.
After you complete the data dictionary specifications, the data dictionary will process so that it is in a format APPX can use as you define the application's processes.
Return to the Application Design menu and select the Processes option. Typically, your first step is defining menus. Enter the required information, and paint the first menu screen. There are two ways to do this:
You can first paint each option on the menu and immediately identify and specify all the details of the process to be invoked when this option is selected. Then, paint the second option and specify it in its entirety and continue to modify the original menu as each option is added.
OR, you can paint the entire menu screen at one time, identifying all options in a single pass, and then go back and specify the details of each process in any sequence you choose.
Either method results in a complete specification of a menu, its options, and the processes to be invoked when each option is chosen. This pattern (of two or more fundamentally different ways of proceeding) is common throughout APPX, and demonstrates its flexibility.
If you can separate your application into discrete functional components, you may wish to define and specify one component at a time in APPX. You can then review what you have entered, and begin to test the partial application to see if it works properly to that point. This approach may help you isolate problems and inconsistencies within one area before going on to the next. APPX allows you to define test databases to test your application immediately after making any changes, without leaving the application design environment.
After you make a first pass at specifying the entire application, or one or more distinct application components, you are ready to begin testing. You first need to define and create the appropriate application data test files. This is a function of database management and, depending on how security privileges are assigned in your environment, you may require assistance from your database administrator to create the test files.
Test all the processes and capabilities in the new application. Verify your results and use the statement debugger as needed to help trace logic problems. When you are satisfied that your application operates properly, the database administrator can create production data files and the application is ready to use.
Once an application is in production, APPX supports all of the steps involved in the normal maintenance cycle during which changes and enhancements are applied. When you make changes to the data dictionary, APPX will process the files that are affected; if structural changes occur (such as adding a new field to a file), you need to perform a restructure. You do not have to take any extra steps if you make changes to processes. APPX automatically keeps track of changes and compiles new versions if required. |