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Rapid Module Development
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Your web application will
be ready in minutes.
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Online wizards guide you through a quick process of creating applications and
associated databases.
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Configurable
'building-block' procedures allow you to build your web application quickly. Add
search capabilities, data entry screens, reports, graphs, data-aware email notifications,
etc. instantly.
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Highly
flexible program emulators handle the real-time generation of HTML code upon demand. |
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The idea is simple: build modules
using a set of pre-defined, configurable procedures. The procedures have been
developed after extensive research and contain common business rules, database
access capability, and functionality required by web applications. For example,
a common requirement for web applications is sending email. To handle this using
QuickModules, simply add an e-mail procedure to your module. The procedure will
automatically pull out e-mail addresses from the database and will send out the
messages. Simply provide the text of the message and the subject of the e-mail.
More interestingly, it is easy to include any information from your database in
the text of the message using simple variable references. For instance, to personalize
the e-mail, simply enter 'Hello [Users.First Name]' as part of the e-mail message.
This will replace the variable '[Users.First Name]' with the actual value of the
user's first name.
The following is a list of available
procedure types:
Search
The search procedure is used for filtering records in a table. With this procedure,
you can specify search conditions and sort options which specify which records
in a table will be selected. Once this procedure is executed, the table is filtered
accordingly, and the module proceeds to work with the subset of this table instead
of the full table. If, for instance, a report procedure follows the search procedure,
then the report will show the result of the search instead of the full table.
The search options enable the selection of a procedure to go to if the search
finds records, and an alternative procedure to go to if no records where found
that match the search criteria.
Searches have many
practical uses. One simple example is using a search to simulate a login screen.
The login and password can be entered using a Data Entry
Form. The search procedure can then use the login and password entered to
search the table containing the user information. If a matching user is found,
then the search will jump to a procedure containing a welcome message. If the
search fails to find a user, then the procedure will jump to a procedure containing
an appropriate message.
Report
Reports are used for displaying data from a table. The records displayed can be
all the records in the table, or a subset of all the records filtered with a search
procedure. The report options allow you to group records by specific fields,
calculate totals and averages, and display graphs.
Custom
Report
A custom report is a report that is not formatted automatically. You can use this
type of report to display the records in a table in any format you want. You can
specify the format for displaying records using HTML. This HTML part is repeated
once for each record in the data set. The records displayed can be all the records
in the table, or a subset of all the records filtered with a search
procedure.
Data
Entry Form
Data entry forms are used for entering data into a table. A data entry form has
to be associated with a particular table; the fields of that table will be displayed
in the 'Edit Procedure' screen when editing the data entry form procedure. You
may select the fields you want displayed when the form procedure is executed.
Data
Display Form
Data display forms are used for displaying data in a table one record at a time.
A data display form has to be associated with a particular table; the fields of
that table will be displayed in the 'Edit Procedure' screen when editing the data
display form procedure. You may select the fields you want displayed when the
form procedure is executed.
Internal
Update
The update procedure is an internal procedure which is used for updating data
in a table. The procedure is internal in the sense that it does not have a user
interface. The update options allow you to specify new values for the fields.
The fields can be assigned the values of formulas or variables. The update is
done in one of three fashions, which can be specified in the 'Edit Procedure'
screen for that procedure: the current record only is updated, all selected records
are updates, or a new record is created and its fields are assigned the specified
values. Use the latter option to enter default values when a new record is created
and before a user enters the values.
Condition
The conditional procedure is an internal procedure which is used for jumping to
different procedures based on specified conditions. The procedure is internal
in the sense that it does not have a user interface. You can specify up to three
conditions as part of the procedure. Each condition consist of two formulas or
variables and a condition operator. For each condition, the two formulas are evaluated
and compared based on the specified comparison operator. As part of this procedures,
you can also specify two procedures to jump to based on the conditions, one if
any of the conditions evaluates to True, and the other if none of them evaluates
to True.
Record
Navigation
The record navigation procedure is an internal procedure which is used to change
the status of the current record in a table. You can use this procedure to move
to the first or last record in the table, move to the previous or next record,
save the modifications made to the current record, or delete the current record.
HTML
Text Display
This is a powerful procedure that allows you to customize display screens the
way you want. Basically, you can enter the complete HTML of the page as you want
it displayed when this procedure is executed. You may include variables in your
HTML. The variables will be replaced with the actual values of those variables
once the HTML code is generated. This allows you to include values from database
tables, system variables, and even links to different procedures.
Data
E-Mail
This procedure allows you to send email to e-mail addresses stored in one of your
tables. The e-mail text can include variables to allow you to add database content
to your messages. You can e-mail to the currently selected record in the table,
or to all records in the table. This procedure is useful for maintaining e-mail
lists and sending them customized messages with data from your database quickly
and easily.
Notification
E-Mail
This procedure will send an e-mail message to a specified e-mail address. This
is useful for notification when another procedure is executed. For instance, it
can be used to notify you when a record is inserted or deleted.
URL
Redirection
The URL redirection procedure is simply a redirection to another web address.
When this procedure is executed, the user's browser will be redirected to a new
web address specified in the procedure's options. This is useful for returning
users to selected web pages in your website once they are done running an application.
Procedure
Jump
This procedure is simply a jump to another procedure in the same module. Usually,
the flow control of the procedures is sequential, meaning that they are executed
in the order they are defined. This procedure allows you to bypass that system
and jump backwards to a procedure executed before, or jump forward to skip over
a few procedures.
Data
Import
This procedure allows you to add data import functionality as part of your module.
It will run one of the import functions that have been created as part of your
account. When the import is complete, the next procedure in sequence will be run.
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