Web Application Generator

Code On Time web application generator creates modern web apps straight from your database with lightning speed. In a matter of minutes, your data can be available on the web with sophisticated search, manipulation, and reporting capabilities that would otherwise take many months to build.

Your web applications can be deployed to a dedicated or shared server. You can choose to deploy your app to Windows Azure Cloud or package the app for deployment to popular web content management systems SharePoint or DotNetNuke.

The value of organized data is proven every day by companies such as Google and Facebook. These giants of software industry have managed to turn mundane information into goldmines.

Many businesses own vast datasets of valuable information trapped in spreadsheets or on-premise databases. Exposing this data to potential consumers means web application development, which always comes with tremendous costs. Application deployment also involves hard-to-predict expenses.

Code On Time makes it possible to build an app on top of SQL Azure database and have it deployed to Microsoft’s state-of-the-art computing cloud Windows Azure. In about fifteen minutes, you can have all your data displayed in an advanced web application running in a multi-server configuration protected by firewall, enhanced with load balancing, and on-demand performance. Scale your application up and down, turn it on and off. None of it requires maintenance personnel or special knowledge. The pay-as-you-go model allows precise cost control.

If you are a resident expert in configuring network servers and databases, or have such an expert on board, then Code On Time will accelerate web application development for your team.

All generated web applications include an advanced application framework with complete source code. The framework makes it possible to have light-weight web applications with high-end user interface with a little or no effort. The framework also allows elegant extension of customized apps with business rules that can take full advantage of vast Microsoft.NET API and custom components.

Code On Time is perfect for database administrators who need to control data under their management. Instant production of web applications on top of your databases without modifying the database structure makes our product a perfect companion for daily data management tasks.

Code On Time works great for project managers and application architects as a way to visualize the project database without writing a single line of code. You can use the generated apps as makeshift data management tools that will help populate your data, making it easy to spot any inconsistencies or undue complexity. The apps will even run on your laptop with a local database and do not require actual deployment to a server. The high quality user interface of  generated web applications can complement custom projects and allow your team to concentrate on essential custom code.

A normalized database allows for efficient and economical data storage and retrieval. Business applications require displaying denormalized information to the users. The structure of the database is hidden from the user. End users can only relate to the business entities that they are accustomed to in the real world.

For example, consider the Order Details table in the Northwind sample database. The diagram below shows the normalized database schema. Normalization increases the performance and decrease the footprint of database records. On the other hand, this means that related data is stored in multiple tables, increasing the complexity of data presentation.

Code On Time automatically performs denormalization. It inserts several reference fields from master tables into each business object presented to the user. For example, in the “Reference Information" category on the Order Details screen, it includes Order Customer Company Name, Order Employee Last Name, and etc. These fields are not explicitly available in the Order Details table according to the database diagram.

The application generator detected direct and indirect foreign key relationships between Order Details and the rest of the tables in the above diagram, and has included reference fields from the linked master tables up to 3 levels. Only one master field is borrowed for inclusion into Order Details for each relationship. Usually, these fields are found either as 1) aliases for foreign key lookups of direct outgoing master relationships, such as Product Name or 2) read-only fields placed in the Reference Information category, such Order Ship Via Company Name.

Suppose we need to add the parent Employee’s FirstName and HomePhone to the Order Details forms.

Start the web application generator, click on the project name, and choose the Business Logic Layer option.

Switch to the Denormalization Field Map section, and enter the following field map:

dbo.Orders => dbo.Employees
FirstName
HomePhone

Press Finish to save your changes.

Click on the Refresh button. Select the Orders controller to ensure that it will reflect the new denormalization field map, and press Refresh.

Finally, press the Generate button.

When the website comes up, navigate to the Orders page. You will see that the fields have been added to the Reference Information category of this screen. Now you can find out the first name of the employee made the order and call them without having to look them up. All other pages that use the Orders data controller will also reflect these changes.

However, if you check the Order Details screen, the new reference fields are not there. You need to Refresh every relevant data controller in order for them to include the fields referenced in the Denormalization Field Map.

Click on the project name again, and press Refresh. Select the OrderDetails controller, and press Refresh.

When the website comes up again, you can see that the new reference fields FirstName and HomePhone have been added under Reference Information on the Order Details page.