Exercise 02: Creating Applications and Defining Objects

Introduction

Types of AgileApps Applications

• Dynamic Case Management (DCM) Application
  • Automates the handling of Cases, Incidents, or Investigations
  • Allows for process variants for dynamic behavior

• Service Desk Application
  • An example of a Dynamic Case Management system
  • Specialized to provide additional features for customer support

• Database (DB) Application
  • A generic Web-based database application
  • Like a spreadsheet but with extra capabilities

Dynamic Case Management (DCM) Application

The front-line of customer, partner, and employee engagement A case is a unit of work A case Object can have a different name (other than “case”) Examples:

• Service Requests
  • Customer Service
  • Claims Management
  • Employee, Supplier, and Partner on-boarding & off-boarding
  • Complex, high-value proposals
• Incident Management
  • Order Exception Management
  • Complaint Management
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Employee Health and Safety
• Investigations
  • Customer Analysis
  • Regulation, Audit requests, and tracking
  • Compliance Tracking
  • Fraud investigations

Three Ways of Creating an Application

• Start with a sample application and customize it
• Create a new application:
  • Import your Object and data from a spreadsheet
• Create a new application:
  • Use the Wizard to start “from scratch”

Creating an Application from a Sample Application

• Select from many pre-built applications in the Marketplace
  • Software AG owned source of pre-built applications
  • Download for use with cloud tenants only
  • Number of the available application may vary from time to time

• Customize as required

Create a New Application by Importing Spreadsheet Data

• Object structure and Data only – no formulas
• Paste spreadsheet data

• OR: Load from File

Creating a New Application Using the Wizard

• Use to create a custom application from scratch
• You specify Object definitions by filling in the form

• Hint:
• Type a Field Label carefully (because it is used to create the field name)
  • The label can change - the internal name never does

Components of an AgileApps Application

• An AgileApps application is composed of Objects and Object Relationships
• An AgileApps application may also include:
  • Forms, Web Forms, Pages, Views, Templates, Reports, Dashboards (display data)
  • Validations, Business Rules
  • Macros, Processes
  • …
• An AgileApps application can integrate global and external system elements:
  • Web Services, Global Picklists
  • Java classes
  • Web Tabs
  • …

AgileApps is Built on a Relational Database

• The AgileApps platform is built on MySQL
• Similar to a spreadsheet
  
  
  
  
• A relational database contains tables - selected data is shown in a View
  
  
  
  

An AgileApps Object is an Enhanced Database Table

• An AgileApps Object consists of a database table, plus:
  • Forms and Layout Rules
  • Field and Form scripts
  • Email & Document templates
  • Macro-actions, Validations, Processes
  • …

• When you define a new Object:
  • internal table and default Forms are automatically generated
  • Object is added as a new tab to you application by default

Forms to Display Object Fields

• As a developer/administrator at design-time:
  • Modify (default) Forms in the graphic Form editor
  • Create/clone new Forms
  • Assign them to Application Roles
  • Dynamically modify their behavior

• As a User (Agent) at runtime:
  • Use Forms to view/enter data for a record

Defining Fields for an Object

• Mandatory label
• Displayed on the form
• Display Type (Field data type)
• Required or not
  • Field Name (internal)
  • Auto-filled
  • Must begin with an alphabetic character
  • Can contain alphabetical and numeric characters, and underscores
  • Cannot be a reserved word (ex. BLOB, BINARY)
  • Must be unique within the Object

Lookup Fields

• A Lookup is a field that points to a record of another Object
• A Lookup field defines a Many-to-One relationship
• Example: Many OrderItems point to a single Order:

• Notes:
  • There could be a Products Object, as well (depending on the design)
  • When you specify an Object Relationship in the application wizards, the Lookup field is created for you
  • You can also create the Lookup fields yourself
• Important terms: Lookup, target, related records, Object Relationship

Lookup Fields and Object Relationships

Object Relationships can be configured:

• in the application wizard
• by adding child Objects to an Object
• by adding Lookup fields

Types of Object Relationships

• One-to-Many
  • Many related records can point to one target record
• One-to-One
  • There can be one and only one related record for each target record
  • Uncommon:
    • Define a one-to-many relationship
    • Use program logic to restrict record creation
• Many-to-Many
  • Example: Cases and Contributors
  • One Case has many Contributors, one Contributor works on many Cases
  • Internally, they are managed using junction Objects
  • A few good things about the platform are:
    • The platform makes them almost entirely invisible
    • When looking at a Case, you see all related Contributors
    • When looking at a Contributor, you see all related Cases

Additional Concepts Related to Lookups

• Rollup Summary Fields
  • Can combine information from multiple records of a related Object
  • Get a record Count, Sum, Average, Max, or Min value from those records (see ch. 4)
• Record Locators
  • A Lookup field contains a pointer to a record (generally a record#)
    • Record Locators tell which fields to display to identify a record when:

      a) Performing a Lookup

      b) Displaying the record

      c) Searching

    • Example: When selecting a User, you see First Name + Last Name
• Lookup-derived Fields
  • Lookup-derived fields are copies of fields contained in a target record a Lookup points to
    • Example: OrderItems contains a Lookup to a Products table
    • The Products table might include inventory information and where to order more
    • Product name could be copied into the OrderItem record for easy reference
• External Lookup Fields
  • When the record is accessed, External Lookup fields invoke a Web Service to perform:
    • a Lookup to retrieve one target-record from an external server AND/OR
    • a search that returns multiple target records from an external server. User can select one record from a pop-up

Types of Application Objects

• An Application is composed of System Objects and Custom Objects
  • Some System Objects allow only limited customization:
    • User: Add fields and Business Rules
    • Team: Add Business Rules
• Other System Objects are very customizable:
  • Cases and Tasks: Modify labels, add fields, add rules and processes
• Some System Objects are not customizable:
  • UI case “banner” and sidebar-options are pre-defined (not customizable)
  • Articles, Attachments, History: not customizable
• Custom Objects (those that you create) are very customizable:
  • No UI banners, sidebar options are not defined
  • All other options are available:
    • Add fields
    • Modify forms (the UI for displaying the data)

Exercise

In this exercise, you will generate three webMethods AgileApps Cloud applications in three different ways:

• From an Excel spreadsheet.
• From an existing sample Application
• Using the New Application Wizard.

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