Summary of Entity Types
SQL,
XML, JSON, Text and Properties Files
Progressive
Web Application (PWA)
This page provides an overview of all the entity types that can be created in the Verj.io Studio. The entities are shown in the same order as they appear in the File > New menu. For more information on any subject follow the links at the end of each topic.
A form is the name that the Verj.io system uses for a web application. This can be anything from publishing a few static information pages through to a multi-user, multi-page, complex application. The Form Editor is the most complex of all the entity editors and contains many separate panels. Each form can contain:
A form will probably also have links to many of the other entity types listed below.
More info: Introduction to designing forms, Form Editor
Scripts are used for server-side programming. Two programming languages are supported:
A script is executed from a form using an event model e.g. a Button Control has an on-click event to which you can attach a script – you might use this event to load some data from a database based on what the user has entered and then present this on a page.
More info: Server-side Programming
There are three ways to create a list to be displayed to a user. The first two: Static Lists and Dynamic Lists are separate entity objects and are described next. The third option is to create a list programmatically using a script.
More info: Working with Lists
A Static List is a list of values that can be displayed as a dropdown list, radio buttons or checkboxes. As the name implies Static Lists are designed to be used for lists that don’t change very often and can therefore be created and maintained in the studio. An important feature of Static Lists is that the values displayed to the user are language-dependent, i.e. you can have a different set of displayed values for each language. A Static List is linked to a form field or table column and can then be added to a page.
More info: How to use Static Lists
A Dynamic List is a list of values extracted from a database. Like Static Lists, Dynamic Lists are linked with form fields or table columns and can be displayed as dropdowns, radio buttons or checkboxes.
More info: How to use Dynamic Lists
Resources are used to access external systems including databases. The system includes a number of specific resource types, listed below. Typically resources are configured semi-automatically by wizards which read and process metadata e.g. database resources and web services resources. What all resource entity types have in common is that the technical complexity – the configuration details – is contained within the resource and does not need to be explicitly programmed. Data is transferred between a resource and a form using mappings.
More info: How Resources Work
A Custom Resource represents a connection to an external system which is implemented by a customer written Java class. This gives the ability to connect to any external system that has an API that can be addressed by Java. Custom Resources are mostly used with the FPL programming language. If Javascript is used as a server-side programming language, any Java API can be addressed directly from Javascript code without the need for a Custom Resource.
More info: Working with Custom Resources
A Database Resource is used to execute SQL statements which can select, update, delete or insert database records. A Database Resource can be imported from a database system using metadata describing the tables and columns.
More info: Database Resources
An Email Resource is used to send an email message.
More info: Working with Email
An MQ Resource is used to read and write messages to/from IBM MQSeries.
More info: Working with MQSeries
A Printing Resource provides a specialised area of functionality that allows you to interchange data between a Verj.io form and an Adobe PDF form, and it’s not possible to use a Printing Resource with PDFs that are not forms. For a more general discussion of printing and creating PDF documents, click here.
More info: Working with Printing Resources
Similar to a Database Resource, a Stored Procedure Resource is used to execute a database stored procedure.
More info: Working with Stored Procedures
There are two types of Web Service Resource: a REST Web Service Resource and a SOAP Web Service Resource depending on the type of web service being called. These resources are used to call a SOAP or REST web service either locally or remotely.
For REST Web Services, a variety of security techniques are supported including OAuth.
For SOAP Web Services, WSDL documents are imported to create the structure of the request and response documents. WSS security headers are supported. A Web Services Resource also shares all the functionality of an XML Resource (next) to manipulate XML documents.
More info: Working with XML and Web Services Resources
An XML Resource provides the ability to create, read and manipulate data in an XML document. A number of adapters are provided which allow you to read/write documents to or from a remote system via URL, the file system, a stored procedure, a JMS system and many more.
More info: Working with XML and Web Services Resources
A Presentation Template is linked with a form via each form’s properties and then acts as a “skin” to provide styling for the form. The basic idea behind a Presentation Template is that it contains all or nearly all the styling detail that is required, and at form level you only need to provide minimal styling. Each Presentation Template contains a number of Property Sets which are like MS Word styles and are then linked to individual controls on a page. Presentation Templates also contain links to Style Sheets and client-side Javascript files.
More info: Working with Presentation Templates, Introduction to Styling
A Print Master Page acts as a template used to create PDF documents using the legacy print forms feature.
Web Resources are files that are normally loaded directly by the browser.
More info: Web Resources
Similar to server-side scripts, these are programming snippets that run in the browser instead of on the server. They are written in Javascript and are also driven by an event model e.g. the mouseover event for an Image Control might be used to popup an information panel, or the click event of a button might be used to display a graph. Typically you use client-side scripting to introduce “rich client” effects into your applications and you can use any of the powerful Javascript libraries available e.g. jQuery.
The distinction between server-side and client-side programming can sometimes be confusing. In many cases you have a choice of where a certain event should be handled e.g. a button has both a click event that fires on the client and an onclick event that fires on the server. In practice you choose between these two options based on what you want to happen next in the client browser e.g. if you want to display a graph when the user clicks a button, you use client-side programming – the reason is that you want to display the graph using a client Javascript framework and the server does not support this directly; if you want to display a new page when the user clicks a button, you use server-side programming as the server provides support for this. In both cases, client-side and server-side, the data to be displayed is obtained and held on the server. When using client-side programming, server data can be returned to the server via the Client API.
More info: Client Javascript, Client API
CSS files contain style sheets that provide styling to form pages and these files can be linked to either an individual page, a form (all pages in the form), or a Presentation Template (all pages of all forms that use a template). The system provides two approaches to the subject of styling and you can mix and match between these approaches based on your expertise with CSS and the amount of attention you need to apply to styling any given page:
Most people find that a mixture of these two approaches works best in practice: use a CSS style sheet to provide the default specification of the basic attributes e.g. font, font size, font color, default styling for links etc. Then use styling assistants for the majority of the styling.
More info: Introduction to Styling, How CSS Styling is Applied
HTML files provide the opportunity to include sections of HTML in a page. These are most commonly used to provide headers, footers and side panels, but can be included at any position on a page if needed.
More info: HTML and JSP panels, Include Control
JSP files (Java Server Pages) can be included in a page at any position in the same way as for HTML files above. JSPs have the additional capability (compared to HTML files) of containing programming statements and this can be used to extract information from a running form and to ask the form to execute actions e.g. button click.
More info: HTML and JSP panels, Include Control, Interacting with a Form from a JSP
Additional web resource file types that can be created as needed. Typically these would be loaded from a client Javascript file.
A Component is a snippet of a form and can contain all the things a form can contain: pages, fields, tables, resources, events, texts etc. Components are all about creating reusable chunks of functionality e.g. you might have a component that performed an address lookup based on a post code, and this can then be included into any number of forms. Components can also be nested i.e. a component can contain a component.
More info: Component Concepts
A PWA is a group of forms and HTML pages that form an app that can be installed on all devices including phones and tablets and will have near-native app characteristics.
More info: Progressive Web Applications
Scheduled Tasks provide the ability to execute programs in background on the server, they can be executed periodically at fixed intervals or they can be triggered by some sort of event. This includes the ability to run a form in background.
More info: Scheduled Tasks
Texts are used throughout the system to supply both texts and messages e.g. if you create a “Click Me” button, the system will create a text for you. Usually these texts/messages are defined locally within each form, but they can also be defined in a Texts entity and this provides the ability to share texts/messages between multiple forms.
An Integration Service is a published SOAP web service. You can use these to publish units of functionality that can be called by remote programs or even by locally running forms. The integration service editor is similar to the form editor, but with the pages removed. WSS security headers are supported.
More info: Integration Server
An Integration Resource is used by an Integration Service to define the format of the request and response document for the published web service. Usually there is a one to one relationship between an Integration Service and an Integration Resource.
More info: Integration Resources
An RESTful Web Service is a published REST web service. Each service can contain any number of endpoints.
More info: RESTful Web Services Overview
A System Service provides defined services that can be used by other parts of an Verj.io system. These services are packaged in a way that allows the functionality to be changed by customers, but the overall contract – the format of request and response – is fixed. System Services look very much like Integration Services. There are two types of System Service:
More info: Logon Service
More info: Xi Assignment Handler
A System Resource is used by a System Service to define the format of the request and response document. These document formats are fixed for the two available System Service types and can’t be changed.
The system includes a fully functional workflow engine including the ability to design business processes (Workflow Processes). Essentially a business process is a combination of people tasks (interactive tasks) and system tasks (program code executed by the server) which are joined together using a flow diagram in a Workflow Process. This also includes a very flexible assignment mechanism plus a host of other features including task lists, escalations/deadlines, administration, error handling etc.
More info: Introduction to Workflow
A Workflow Process represents the flow of a business process.
More info: Introduction to Workflow
An Interactive Activity is a task (usually a form) that forms part of an overall business process. It will be assigned to a specific user before being executed.
More info: Introduction to Workflow
A System Activity is scripting code that is executed as part of an overall business process e.g. this might be used to load data from a database to control the process flow, send an email, call a web service etc.
More info: Introduction to Workflow
A Deployment Package is used during deployment and is not strictly an entity at all: it contains a list of entities that can be deployed to another server e.g. deployed to a test or production system. Usually a Deployment Package will represent a meaningful piece of work that has been worked on by one or more developers.
More info: Working with Deployment Packages