Wizard: User Guide

Introduction to ZOAPIIO Wizard

Application Wizard is a super-fast and convenient way to build fully functional custom business applications for your ZOAPIIO Instance. The wizard takes as input a JSON file. There is also a convenient graphical editor to create it in case you do not want to use a text editor.

The Wizard creates the underlying database and the server APIs to manage the data. comes bundled with a Visualization application that renders this Wizard generated application.

1. Describe your application, database entities/relationships, presentation, access controls, workflows, and dashboard widgets etc.
2. Optionally, add customization in terms of custom UI controls, server APIs, UI pages, handlers, and help files.
3. Let the wizard build and configure your entire application.
4. Deploy the generated application to your instance.
5. Launch the visualization app url, point it to the generated application and start using it right away.

Anatomy of the Wizard Config

Let us begin the tour with a minimal example - kind of the customary "Hello World". The example below is minimal to the extent that is necessary to demonstrate the core features.

• The minimal app has two entities (database tables) - AssetType and Asset.
• Asset is related to the AssetType. An asset can be of a type. In ZOAPIIO terms, this is referred to as a dependency (foreign key) relationship.
• The Asset has a child entity (one-to-many) - Servicelog, to record maintenance performed on the Asset. This is referred to as the parent-child relationship.
• A record in the child entity can only exist if the parent is created first.
• When a record in an entity is deleted, its children are automatically deleted.
• The dependency relationship works a little differently. Two entities can exist independently, and a foreign key reference is created in the dependent entity to the master.
• In our case, Asset is dependent on AssetType.
• In our example, we will add a custom logic that will automatically generate an Asset Code for the asset, when it is saved the first time.
• Our example also has a custom report page, where we will display all assets along with details of last service performed on it.
• We will also add a custom control to the asset to compute and show, next service due date.

In the listings below, hover over the Highlighted Text to see explanatory tips.

The Configuration

This is the master application configuration that by itself is sufficient for the entire server for visualization to be generated. It contains database, presentation, and behavioral attributes of the application. The visualization app has a fixed navigation structure and look & feel. The generated application plugs in the pages, data, and controls in the app.

Basicdemo.js

{
   "_comment": [
      "1. Basic Demo App to explain core features."
   ],
   "application": {
      "name": "Basicdemo",
      "title": "Basic Demo App",
      "themes": [
         {
            "name": "default"
            ,"type": "dark"
            ,"title": "Default (Dark)"
         },{
            "name": "theme-a"
            ,"type": "light"
            ,"title": "Alternate (Light)"
         }
      ],
      "userroles": ["super", "management", "operator"],
      "defaultrole": "super",
      "entities": [
         {
            "name": "setting", "label": "Settings"
	    ,"menu": "Setting"
	    ,"properties": [
            ]
	    ,"data": "setting"
	    ,"menuicon": "cogs"
            ,"icon": "cog"
            ,"tip": "Organization Settings"
            ,"access": { "full": ["management", "super"] }
            ,"classification": { "open": "WWR-R-" }
         },{
            "name": "assettype", "label": "Asset Type"
            ,"menu": "Assets"
            ,"properties": [
               {
                  "name": "Category"
                  ,"label": "Asset Category"
                  ,"type": "easyselect:Asset,Resource,Inventory,Consumable,Spare"
                  ,"validation": "required", "cached": true
               },{
                  "name": "Description"
                  ,"label": "Comments"
                  ,"type": "string"
                  ,"validation": ""}
            ]
            ,"menuicon": "toolbox"
            ,"icon": "chevron-circle-right"
            ,"tip": "Asset type definition"
            ,"access": { "full": ["management", "super"] }
            ,"classification": { "open": "WWRR--" }
	    ,"dependents": [
               {
		  "name": "asset"
		  ,"property": "AssetTypeId"
               }
            ]
         },{
            "name": "assetsubtype", "label": "Asset Sub-type"
            ,"menu": "Assets"
            ,"properties": [
               {
                  "name": "Category"
                  ,"label": "Asset Category"
                  ,"type": "select:Asset,Resource,Inventory,Consumable,Spare"
                  ,"validation": "required", "cached": true
               },{"name": "AssetTypeId,AssetTypeName"
                  ,"label": "Asset Type"
                  ,"type": "entity:assettype"
                  ,"validation": "required"
                  ,"cached": true
		  ,"filter": "Category"
               },{
                  "name": "Description"
                  ,"label": "Comments"
                  ,"type": "string"
                  ,"validation": ""}
            ]
            ,"icon": "chevron-circle-down"
            ,"tip": "Asset sub-type definition"
            ,"access": { "full": ["management", "super"] }
            ,"classification": { "open": "WWRR--" }
            ,"dependents": [
               {
                  "name": "asset"
                  ,"property": "AssetSubtypeId"}
            ]
         },{
            "name": "asset", "label": "Asset"
            ,"menu": "Assets"
            ,"properties": [
               {"name": "Category"
                  ,"label": "Asset Category"
                  ,"type": "select:Asset,Resource,Inventory,Consumable,Spare"
                  ,"validation": "required", "cached": true
	       },{"name": "AssetTypeId,AssetTypeName"
                  ,"label": "Asset Type"
		  ,"type": "entity:assettype"
                  ,"validation": "required", "cached": true
		  ,"filter": "Category"
               },{"name": "AssetSubtypeId,AssetSubtypeName"
                  ,"label": "Asset Sub-type"
                  ,"type": "entity:assetsubtype"
                  ,"validation": "required"
		  ,"filter": "assettype"
               },{"name": "Ownership"
                  ,"label": "Ownership"
                  ,"type": "easyselect:Owned,Rented"
                  ,"validation": "required"
               },{"name": "SerialNo,AssetCode"
                  ,"label": "Serial Number"
                  ,"labels": ",Code"
		  ,"type": "multiple"
		  ,"types": "string,string"
                  ,"validation": ""
               },{"name": "POName,POFile"
                  ,"label": "Purchase Order"
		  ,"type": "file"
                  ,"validation": ""
               },{"name": "ServiceDue"
                  ,"label": "Service Due"
		  ,"type": "custom:BDServiceDue"
                  ,"validation": ""
               },{"name": "Description"
                  ,"label": "Description"
                  ,"type": "text"
                  ,"validation": ""
               }
            ]
            ,"icon": "tools"
            ,"tip": "An Asset"
            ,"access": { "full": ["management", "super"] }
	    ,"RESTaccess": true
            ,"classification": { "open": "WWRR--" }
	    ,"handler": { "aftersave": "ROUTINE.AfterAssetSave" }
	    ,"children": [
               {
                  "name": "servicelog"
                  ,"label": "Service Log"
		  ,"properties": [
                     {"name": "DateServiced"
                        ,"label": "Date of Service"
                        ,"type": "date"
                        ,"default": "today"
                        ,"validation": "required"
                     },{"name": "Description"
                        ,"label": "Service Comments"
                        ,"type": "string"
                        ,"validation": ""
                     }
                  ]
               }
            ]
         },{
            "name": "report", "label": "Asset Report"
	    ,"data": "report"
            ,"menu": "Assets"
	    ,"properties": [
               {"name": "AssetTypeId,AssetTypeName"
                  ,"label": "Asset Type"
                  ,"type": "entity:assettype"
                  ,"validation": "required"
               }
            ]
            ,"icon": "boxes"
            ,"tip": "The asset report"
	    ,"editor": "BDAssetReport"
            ,"access": { "full": ["management", "super"] }
            ,"classification": { "open": "------" }
         },{
            "name": "user", "label": "Users"
            ,"menu": "User"
            ,"properties": [
            ]
	    ,"data": "user"
            ,"menuicon": "user-ninja"
            ,"icon": "user"
	    ,"bootuser": "Username=admin,Password=nopassword,Name=Administrator"
            ,"access": { "full": ["management", "super"] }
            ,"classification": { "open": "WWWWRR" }
         },{
            "name": "usergroup", "label": "Teams"
            ,"menu": "User"
            ,"properties": [
            ]
	    ,"data": "usergroup", "icon": "users"
            ,"access": { "full": ["management", "super"] }
            ,"classification": { "open": "WWWWRR" }
         },{
            "name": "b2cuser", "label": "Customer"
            ,"menu": "User"
            ,"properties": [
            ]
	    ,"data": "b2cuser"
            ,"icon": "user-circle"
            ,"access": { "full": ["management", "super"] }
            ,"classification": { "open": "WWWWRR" }
            ,"handler": {
               "beforeregister": "ROUTINE.BeforeRegister"
               ,"afterregister": "ROUTINE.AfterRegister"
            }
         }
      ],
      "customization": {
         "scripts": [
            {
               "name": "misc"
               ,"file": "Basicdemo_misc.js"
            }
         ],
         "helpfiles": [
            {
               "name": "basic"
               ,"title": "Essential User Guide"
               ,"file": "Basicdemo_help.html"
            }
         ],
         "handlers": [
            {
               "name": "custhandler"
               ,"file": "Basicdemo_custom.webc"
            }
         ]
      }
   }
}
	

Server-Side Customization

Basicdemo_custom.js

<PRMLCONFIG CONFIG="RRML">
<ROUTINE NAME="AfterAssetSave">
  <BIZ-RULE OPCODE="Comment" P1="Generate the AssetCode if blank."/>
  <BIZ-RULE OPCODE="Return" CONDITION="/_IN/AssetCode > """/>
  <BIZ-RULE OPCODE="Compute" P1="/_IN/AssetCode = /_IN@__GenerateAssetCode"/>
</ROUTINE>

<METHOD NAME="GenerateAssetCode">
private String GenerateAssetCode(Node in, Node out) {
	String type=get(in, "AssetTypeName");
	String serial=get(in, "SerialNo");
	while (type.length()<2) type+="X";
	return type.substring(0,2)+serial;
}
</METHOD>
</PRMLCONFIG>
	

Client-Side Customization

Basicdemo_misc.js

// Asset Report
function BDAssetReport (divid, params, form) {
	this.divid=divid;
	this.form=form;
	this.params=params;
	this.data=null;
	//
	this.voptsrq=this.form.getProperty('voptsrq', 'env');
	this.vdatarq=this.form.getProperty('vdatarq', 'env');
	this.assettypeid=params.AssetTypeId;
	// Fetch the data from the server.
	this.getData();
}
// Class methods to implement the report.
BDAssetReport.prototype.getData = function() {
	var qry='vapp/getdata/asset+servicelog/_';
	var reqobj={}, req={}; reqobj['asset']={};
	reqobj['asset']['AssetTypeId'] = this.assettypeid;
	req[this.vdatarq]=reqobj;
	req[this.voptsrq]=[
		{'name': 'LIMIT', 'value': 100000}
	];
	this.form.getProperty([qry, req], 'query', [this.renderReport, this]);
}
BDAssetReport.prototype.renderReport = function(data) {
	this.data=data;
	var assets=data.asset||[];
	var servicelog=data.servicelog||[];
	var tabledata=[];
	var columns=[
		{'title': 'Asset Name'},
		{'title': 'Asset Type'},
		{'title': 'Ownership'},
		{'title': 'Last Service'}
	];
	for (var i in assets) {
		var d=assets[i];
		var assetid=d.Id;
		var lastservice='';
		for (var j in servicelog) {
			if (servicelog[j].ParentId == d.Id && servicelog[j].DateServiced > lastservice)
				lastservice=servicelog[j].DateServiced;
		}
		var item=[d.Name, d.AssetTypeName, d.Ownership, lastservice];
		tabledata.push(item);
	}
	var html='';
	html+='<div id="'+this.divid+'_g" style="width: 100%"></div>';
	html+='<table id="'+this.divid+'_dt" class="display compact"></table>';
	$('#'+this.divid).html(html);

	var buttons=[ 'copy', 'excel', 'pdf', 'csv', 'print' ];
	$('#'+this.divid+'_dt').DataTable({
		dom: 'Bfrtip'
		,buttons: buttons
        	,data: tabledata
        	,columns: columns
		,order: []
	});
}

// JS Class for custom Control Property - ServiceDue.
function BDServiceDue (div, names, form) {
	this.div=div;
	this.form=form;
	this.vdatarq=this.form.getProperty('vdatarq', 'env');
	this.assetid=form.getProperty('Id');
	this.render();
	this.updateValue();
}
BDServiceDue.prototype.updateValue = function() {
	// If this is an attached asset, get its availability from the host asset.
	var qry='vapp/getdata/servicelog/'+this.assetid;
	var reqobj={}, req={};
	req[this.vdatarq]=reqobj;
	var that=this;
	this.form.getProperty([qry, req], 'query', function(data) {
		var slogs=data.servicelog||[];
		var lastservice='';
		for (var i in slogs) {
			if (lastservice < slogs[i].DateServiced) lastservice=slogs[i].DateServiced;
		}
		var html='';
		html+='<span>'+lastservice+'</span>';
		$(this.div).html(html);
	});
}
BDServiceDue.prototype.render = function() {
	var html='';
	html+='<table width=100%></table>';
	$(this.div).html(html);
}
BDServiceDue.prototype.get = function(valonly) {
	if (valonly) return '';
	return [''];		// Not saved, only displayed.
}
BDServiceDue.prototype.handleFormChange = function(name) {
}
	

User Help File

Basicdemo_help.html

<!-- Single page help file. -->
<style>
body { font-family: Helvetica; color: #555; font-size: 16px; }
.content { padding: 2px 315px 0 7px; }
.title { font-size: 25px; font-family: Helvetica; color: #18335e; }
h1 { font-size: 22px; color: #222; font-family: Arial; }
h2 { font-size: 18px; color: #333; font-family: Helvetica; }
h3 { font-size: 17px; color: #555; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: underline; }
</style>

<div class="content">
<p class="title">Basic Demo App: User Guide.</p>

<h1>Introduction to Basic Demo</h1>

<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean hendrerit eros convallis,
consectetur dui vel, vestibulum velit. Vivamus eget odio ex. Proin ut nulla nunc. Sed felis mi, porttitor
et dolor id, aliquam blandit felis. Cras vulputate non massa sed sollicitudin. Aliquam rutrum augue in
nulla dictum, in rhoncus est tristique. Donec at purus et risus lobortis mollis nec eget arcu. Sed tempus
velit at porttitor convallis. Quisque aliquam, turpis in auctor tincidunt, leo massa ornare nibh, nec
tempus dolor ex id sapien. Aenean mollis sapien vel magna ultrices pellentesque. Aenean eu nisl dapibus,
sodales enim sed, efficitur nisl.</p>

</div>
	

Running the Wizard

Create a folder on your desktop, where you will save the configuration files. When you save something from the WebIDE designer, it will always be saved in your Downloads folder. You will need to manually move it to your project folder. Login to the Designer and follow the Menu File > New Project > App Wizard. The Wizard page will appear.

1. If you have a Wizard configuration file saved from an earlier run, or you manually created the configuration, choose the file and click on "Load from File".
2. The JSON code will be displayed in the box below for reference only - you are not required to edit it directly.
3. To edit the configuration, click on "Visual Editor" to open the visual editor. However, you may find that using a text editor to edit the configuration is more convenient.
4. Navigate the intuitive Visual Editor and create your application definition.
5. Always locally save the configuration JSON, because it cannot be retrieved from the server. To save the JSON file locally, use "Save to File" button.
6. How much of visual editing and manual editing you want to use if up to your preferences.
7. Once ready, click on the "Continue" button. The wizard input will be validated and if all is well, you will go to the next page, where you can select the "customization" files that are a part of your application. Click "Continue".
8. The application will be generated.
9. Deploy the generated application to your instance.

Running your Application

The visualization app is available as a part of your instance. You can launch it on your generated application using the URL-

You can create multiple Wizard applications and use them as independent applications.

1. It is advised that you use the bootuser feature to automatically create the first user in the database.
2. If you have created the boot user, login using the credentials and start using the application.
3. If you have not used the boot user, then at the time of application launch, it will give you an opportunity to create the first user from the app itself.
4. Create user accounts for other users who will be using the app.

You are all set. This completes our "Getting Started" part of the guide.

In the following sections we will go through more details and nuances that almost all real-world applications require - such as workflow control, access control, documents & attachments, dashboards etc.

Regenerating the Application

You can safely regenerate the Wizard application, after making changes to the configuration.

1. If you have made any changes to the entity declarations, the tables would be regenerated without loss of data".
2. If you have not made any change to the entity declarations or server handlers, and only making change to a supporting customization file, then you should not regenerate the application.
3. Before clicking on "Continue", change "Update Artifacts Only" to Yes. The designer will only update the artifacts, without regenerating the entire application.

The Generated Application

Let us look at the generated application. You do not need to know most of these things, but you might require familiarity with the APIs that drive the visualization app. For instance,

1. You may use these APIs while building customization in your app. You will notice that in our example app above, we used one of these APIs (getdata) to fetch data from the server.
2. You may want other applications to integrate with your app using these APIs.

While calling the API from a custom front-end component (report, or control), the access rights of the logged-in user are used. For inbound integration with another application, explicit authentication must be performed before calling the services. See Integrating other Applications.

The Request/Response Object

Reproduced below are some snippets from the data schema - The hierarchical data structures that the APIs use to communicate. The REQUEST node is the abstraction of the HTTP request - GET as well as POST - for the service APIs. What you see below is not the full structure - you will notice the elements with DATATYPE names like "TYP:..." - this refers to a detailed reusable structure declared elsewhere.

  <REQUEST>
    <HTTP-HEADER NAME="Authorization"/>
    <HTTP-HEADER NAME="User-Agent"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_voptsRQ" DUPLICATES="true">
      <TAG NAME="name" DATATYPE="STRING" ISKEY="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="value" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
    </TAG>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vechoRQ">
      <TAG NAME="ContentType" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="FileName" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="B64Data" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
    </TAG>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vanyRS">
      <TAG NAME="*ANY" DATATYPE="" DESCRIPTION="No Structure"/>
    </TAG>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vautoRQ">
      <TAG NAME="ColumnName" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="EntityName" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="ValuePrefix" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
    </TAG>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vloginRQ" DATATYPE="TYP:VAPP_vloginType"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vdataRQ" DATATYPE="TYP:VAPP_vdataType"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vwidgetRQ" DATATYPE="TYP:VAPP_vwidgetType"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vpushRQ" DATATYPE="TYP:VAPP_vpushType"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vprocletRQ" DATATYPE="TYP:VAPP_vprocletType"/>
  </REQUEST>
	

This is the Response message structures used by the APIs. Again, this is not the complete structure.

  <TAG NAME="Response">
    <TAG NAME="Status" DATATYPE="STRING" DUPLICATES="true"/>
    <TAG NAME="TimeStamp" DATATYPE="DATETIME"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vdataRS" DATATYPE="TYP:VAPP_vdataType"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vprocletRS" DATATYPE="TYP:VAPP_vprocletType"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vwidgetRS" DATATYPE="TYP:VAPP_vwidgetType"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vfileRS" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vechoRS" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vautoRS">
      <TAG NAME="result" DATATYPE="STRING" DESCRIPTION="Result Values" DUPLICATES="true">
        <TAG NAME="Value" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Count" DATATYPE="NUMBER"/>
      </TAG>
    </TAG>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vloginRS" DATATYPE="EXT:Basicdemo_userType">
      <TAG NAME="B2C" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_b2cuserType"/>
    </TAG>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vconfigRS">
      <TAG NAME="config" DUPLICATES="true">
        <TAG NAME="Name" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="RecType" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Type" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Data" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      </TAG>
    </TAG>
  </TAG>
	

Reproduced below is a section of the TYPES node. The declarations under TYPES represent the definition only - not the actual data. These structures are referenced in the schema using the TYP:... notation.

  <TYPES>
    <TAG NAME="VAPP_vdataType">
      <TAG NAME="Dashboards" DUPLICATES="true">
        <TAG NAME="Id" DATATYPE="NUMBER"/>
        <TAG NAME="Name" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Type" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Owner" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="OwnerGroup" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Classification" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Access" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Data" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Description" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      </TAG>
      <TAG NAME="Polygons" DUPLICATES="true">
        <TAG NAME="Id" DATATYPE="NUMBER"/>
        <TAG NAME="Name" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Owner" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="OwnerGroup" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Classification" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Access" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Data" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="Description" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      </TAG>
      <TAG NAME="MessageSummary" DUPLICATES="true">
        <TAG NAME="Username" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
        <TAG NAME="UnreadCount" DATATYPE="NUMBER"/>
      </TAG>
      <TAG NAME="setting" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_settingType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="assettype" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_assettypeType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="asset" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_assetType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="servicelog" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_servicelogType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="report" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_reportType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="user" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_userType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="usergroup" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_usergroupType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="b2cuser" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_b2cuserType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="userdevice" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_userdeviceType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="pushmessage" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_pushmessageType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="message" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_messageType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="workflow" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_workflowType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="notification" DATATYPE="TYP:VAPP_vnotificationType"/>
    </TAG>
    <TAG NAME="Basicdemo_assetType">
      <TAG NAME="Id" DATATYPE="NUMBER" ISKEY="true"/>
      <TAG NAME="ParentId" DATATYPE="NUMBER"/>
      <TAG NAME="Name" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="Owner" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="OwnerGroup" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="Classification" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="Access" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="Deleted" DATATYPE="NUMBER"/>
      <TAG NAME="UpdatedBy" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="UpdatedAt" DATATYPE="DATETIME"/>
      <TAG NAME="AssetTypeId" DATATYPE="NUMBER"/>
      <TAG NAME="AssetTypeName" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="Ownership" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="SerialNo" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="AssetCode" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="POName" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="POFile" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="ServiceDue" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="Description" DATATYPE="STRING"/>
      <TAG NAME="workflow" DATATYPE="TYP:Basicdemo_workflowType" DUPLICATES="true"/>
    </TAG>
  </TYPES>
	

Service APIs

The two most important services used in customization and integration are the services that allow you to query and update the entity data - getdata and setdata. gethistory, and dumpfile are also useful and deal with fetching data.

getdata

This service API allows you to retrieve data using a non-trivial query structure.

1. You can query data for a single entity (parent or child) or an entity along with one or more of its child entities.
2. You can provide detailed filters for each of the entities in the query.
3. There is a separate options object that can be passed to control what data and how much data should be retrieved.
4. You can optionally fetch workflow information (history/status) with each entity.

The API is accessed at the following url

Filter criteria and options are sent to the query as POST data in JSON format. An example of getdata query is-

POST http:.../wc/Basicdemo/vapp/getdata/asset+servicelog/_
{
	"vdataRQ": {
		"asset": {
			"SerialNo": "ABC%"
		},
		"servicelog": {
			"DateServiced": "2022-12-01,2022-12-31"
		},
	},
	"voptsRQ": [
		{ "name": "FETCH", "value": "SUMMARY" },
		{ "name": "LIMIT", "value": 500 }
	]
}
	

Following are the rules for specifying the filter selection-

1. If the Id value is present in the URL (Path parameter 3), then filter selection is not applied - only the record with the given Id will be returned.
2. If one or more child entities are a part of the query, filter can be specified for each entity separately - as in example above.
3. When fetching parent-child entity records together, the parent selection is run first, and the child selection is only applied to the child entities of the matching parents.

List of options-

setdata

This service API allows you to add or update entity data.

1. The record level permissions are checked before allowing the update. See Access Control.
2. The Meta properties - Id, ParentId, UpdatedBy, and UpdatedAt cannot be updated.
3. The Meta properties - Owner, OwnerGroup, Classification, and Access can be updated if your current access credentials allow you to update Privileged properties of the entity record. Caution is advised when updating these properties, because they will affect the access rights to the updated record and your own account may lose access to the record.
4. When updating a record, only the values present in the data are updated. This allows you to update only specified properties.
5. Multiple entity records of different entity types can be updated in the same API call.
6. If Id is present and is non-zero, it implies an update. If the entity record with that Id is not present, the update fails. After update, the updated record is returned.
7. If Id is not present or is zero, it implies an add. The data is added, and the newly created record is returned.

The API is accessed at the following url

The path components are same as that for getdata. This API does not have any path parameters.

The data to be added/updated is sent to the query as POST data in JSON format. An example of setdata query is-

POST http:.../wc/Basicdemo/vapp/setdata
{
	"vdataRQ": {
		"asset": {
			"Id": 19,
			"SerialNo": "ABC0123"
		}
	}
}
	

When creating a new entity record of a child entity, you must specify the ParentId property, unless you are also creating the parent entity in the same API call.

gethistory

This service API allows you to retrieve history of changes to an entity record.

1. The generated app automatically maintains the history of changes to all records.
2. To retrieve the history, you must know the Id of the entity record. You can get it by querying the database using getdata.

The API is accessed at the following url

The query can be called using GET or POST without any post data.

dumpfile

This service API allows you to retrieve just the contents of a 'file' property from an entity record. This is used to retrieve the contents of a file property as viewable raw binary output. The value of 'file' properties returned by getdata are in a Base64 encoded form. This API gets the raw decoded file.

The API is accessed at the following url

1. The {Property Name} path parameter must refer to a file property. File properties have multiple names - use the first name from the list.
2. If the file (attachment) property refers to an image, additional path parameter 4 can be set as "thumbnail", to retrieve a thumbnail version of the image.

The query can be called using GET or POST without any post data.

Integrating other Applications

The Wizard generated application is Web-API driven. This makes it very easy for an external application to get comprehensive access to its database. The APIs detailed above can be called by any external application.

Authentication

The external application must, of course, first authenticate itself before calling the APIs. Popular OAuth2 protocol is used for authenticating external applications. If you are unfamiliar with this protocol, please refer to public resources about OAuth.

1. The authentication is performed against the Users created in the visualization app. The same userid and password are used that are used for app login.
2. Every API call must carry an Authorization header so that the system can establish the identity of the originator of the call.
3. There are two types of authorization headers - Basic and Bearer.
4. In Basic authorization type, the Username and Password information is coded into a single string and sent. ZOAPIIO authentication API (below) must be called using the Basic authorization.
5. If authentication is successful, the call will return a bearer token. The bearer token must be passed as the identity proof with every other ZOAPIIO API call.

The Authentication API is-

The API is called using GET or POST. Basic OAuth authorization header (with username and password) must be sent with this call. No other information needs to be passed. If successfully authenticated, the following response will be returned.

{
	"SESSIONID": "",
	"SESSIONOWNER": "",
	"INSTANCEID": "39d539e8-000001",
	"RESPONSE": {
		"Status": [
			"OK",
			"{The OAuth Token String...}"
		]
	}
}
	

The application must parse this response and extract the OAuth Token. This token should be passed as Authorization header with subsequent calls.

REST interface to your data

REST must be explicitly enabled in the master configuration file for entities that require REST access. This is done by setting the "RESTaccess" property of the entity to true. Then the entity data can be accessed using REST over the following API-

For details about REST, please refer to public resources.

Access Control

The wizard application supports access control at two levels-

1. Access to entity pages.
2. Access to entity data.

Page Access

The page access is controlled through the user role mechanism. This allows you to configure the app such that each user type (role) sees a different UI. The access property of the entity in the wizard configuration controls this - a sample is given below. There are three access types-

1. full: The user has full access to the page.
2. readonly: The update operations are disabled and the user cannot make changes to or delete the entity records.
3. demo: This is a special access type, which works like 'full' access except that the Save operation does not actually update the database.

"access": {
	"full": ["operator", "manager"],
	"readonly": ["audit"],
	"demo": ["demo"]
}
	

1. If 'access' specification is omitted, all users are granted full access.
2. If 'access' specification is present, at least one role should be given full access. Otherwise, all users are granted full access.
3. readonly, and demo access specification is only consulted if at least one user role has full access.

Data Access

Access to entity data is controlled using an access tag associated with each entity record. Each entity record has a Owner (user) and a Group Owner (usergroup). For the purpose of record level access, each user attempting to access it is considered to be of one of the following categories:

1. Owner
2. Owner Group Member
3. Group Manager
4. Other

Data inside an entity record is itself divided into two access categories.

1. Ordinary data items
2. Privileged data items

• All entity properties defined in the wizard configuration are ordinary by default.
• Entity properties can be flagged as privileged by setting 'privileged' setting to true.
• Wizard generated fields "Access", and "Classification", which control access to the entity record, are privileged data items.

The record level access is controlled as follows:

1. A unit of access is a single character, one of (-, R, W, or D), representing none, read, write and delete access. Delete access implies Write access and Write access implies Read access.
2. For each category of user above, there is a two-character code - one for regular properties and another for privileged properties. So WR indicates write access to general properties but only read access to privileged properties.
3. The access to a record is controlled by an eight-character code - two characters for each of the user categories above in that order. So, the access control code would look something like 'DD WR WW R-'

Classification is a simpler way of defining the access code. In the wizard configuration, you define short names for access controls that you would like to use. E.g., you could say "open" represents "WWWWWWWW" (unrestricted), and "private" represents "WW------" (fully restricted). You can have other such access classes representing other intermediate settings, depending upon your requirements to control access. At the time of creating a record, the user can pick a classification, thus setting its access level.

The "Access" column in the entity table stores the access code and the "Classification" column stores the codified access tag. Usually, only one of them is present, but if Access is present, it overrides the Classification value.

Managing Attachments

File data is defined in the Wizard configuration as a regular entity property to be saved in a multitude of configurations.

1. In database as a column (optionally compressed)
2. In a local file on disk
3. In an AWS S3 bucket

How the attachments are handled and saved is controlled through the name, type, and validation attributes of the entity property.

1. The type attribute must be set to 'file'.
2. The file type is a complex property and requires multiple names (comma separated).
3. Minimum two (maximum three) names should be there - one for the file name and the other for the file data.
4. If the name attribute contains two names, the file data is stored in the table itself.
5. If there is a third name, then that is assumed to be a pointer (see format below) to an external storage where the data will be stored. Presently, local file and AWS S3 are supported - in future, support for other destinations may be added.
6. When using external storage, Wizard app uses a default mechanism for storing the data as files on disk. The default mechanism can be overridden to change the folder structure or to store it on AWS S3. When overriding the default mechanism, you must use the 'beforesave' handler mechanism of customization and provide a custom target pointer.
7. In validation (comma separated list), using 'image' implies that the attachment is an image.
8. In validation, flagging 'document' implies that the attachment is a document. (PDF, DOCX, HTML or TXT). See 'Special Handling' for documents below.

'file' Location Pointer

The structure of the file location pointer is-

{Storage ID} can be 'local' or the name of a storage target configured for your ZOAPIIO instance. Using a storage location other that local, requires pre-configuration on the server. If you plan to use custom storage destinations in your app, please contact your administrator to create an AWS S3 (or any other supported type) on the server. Access to external targets require credential configuration, which is a system administrator task.

'local' implies local file storage and does not require any pre-configuration on the server.

{File Path} looks like a regular file path - it must start with a '/', although it will be created under a folder on your Instance. It can contain names with characters that are acceptable as filename characters on Linux OS. It can contain '/' (slash) as path separators and finally you can include a placeholder string '${Id}' which is always substituted with the Id of the entity record.

When using external storage, no action is needed from your end if you want the files to be stored on disk as default folder structure. The default mechanism is sufficient for most cases. However, if you want to override it, you can do so through the 'beforesave' event handler for the entity.

'document' Special Handling

If a file type entity property is flagged as document (via validation attribute), the wizard automatically extracts the raw text from the document (PDF, HTML, TXT, or DOCX) and adds it as an additional column in the table. This new column name is created by appending 'Text' to the first name in the names list.

The raw text is also fully indexed, allowing you to search for entities using words appearing inside the documents. The text in this 'Text' column can be retrieved and used using the APIs like a normal entity property.

Filtering & Cascading

The visualization app will allow you to create, query and edit data. The form is automatically generated from the configuration you have provided. The form content and behavior can be tailored to some extent. For example, you can have conditional properties - let us say there is a selection field with 'Others' as an option. If this is selected, you may want to capture additional details. This can be implemented using the 'condition' attribute (See Reference Guide in the end).

Another situation that occurs sometimes, is when a group of fields are related to each other and the selection cascades through them. For instance, in our example - for an Asset Category, there are Asset types, and for each Asset type, there are Asset Sub-types.

When entering/searching Asset details, Category, then Asset Type, and then Asset Sub-type will cascade. Meaning, when the Category is picked, the list of Asset Types will be shortened, and when the Asset Type is picked, the sub-type list is shortened.

This cascading can be achieved using the 'filter' attribute in entity property definition.

1. The value of the filter can be a property name (like Category in our example) or an entity name (like assettype in our example).
2. When using filtering on a selection field, use 'select:..' data type instead of 'easyselect:..' type.
3. The name of the property should be same in both entities participating in cascading.
4. See the example at the top of this guide.

Workflow

entity records are workflow enabled. You need to declare the workflow definition with the entity. See Reference Guide at the end for details.

Widgets and Dashboards

Data visualization (or dashboards), is a primary use case of the applications. It allows you to combine inputs from multiple sources (Web-APIs) and visualize them in a variety of widgets. The dashboards are created by the users of the application, but you must define the type and nature of the widgets that your application will have.

See Reference Guide for details.

Customization

Invariably, you would want the wizard generated application to have application specific business processing incorporated. You can provide custom code to modify the server as well as front-end application functionality.

Customization is meant for advanced users and requires knowledge of programming - primarily JavaScript. If you are not an experienced programmer yourself, you can perhaps approach a colleague to help you or get help from one of the several freelancing public services.

Each of the customization modules below require you to provide the program in a separate file from your local desktop. When you initiate the application generation, you will be prompted for all the files referenced here.

Helpfiles

You can add HTML help files to your application for the users.

The helpfile should be prepared in a standard format that is used by . The help should be a single file (although you can have multiple help files in your application), the styles should be declared in the same file. It is difficult to use images in the help file because you will have to use "data:" URL, which tend to become large strings, even for small images.

1. There should be no html, or body tag, these are automatically inserted.
2. There should be no JavaScript, the script to generate the TOC is automatically inserted.
3. The opening div should have the class=content set.
4. Use h1 and h2 tags to define headings, these elements are used to create TOC.

The helpfile template is-

<style>
    <!-- Your styles -->
</style>

<div class="content">
    <!-- Help (HTML) content -->
    <H1>Heading</H1>
    <H2>Sub-Heading</H2>
    <p>Help Content</p>
</div>
	

Scripts

The scripts are used to provide custom logic for-

1. Custom UI controls: You may want to have a custom editing control for some properties. With the property, you should specify the name of the JavaScript class, and provide the code here.
2. Reports: For 'report' entity types, you need to provide a JavaScript class that will render the report.
3. Custompages: For custom pages, you need to provide a JavaScript class that will render the page.
4. Child data editing: For custom implementation of child data editing, you need to provide a JavaScript class that handle the editing.

application UI uses jQuery JavaScript library, and You should use the same to manage the user page.

Interacting with UI/Server

Your JavaScript program can interact with the page (and server) by calling the following methods on the 'form' object, which is received in the constructor.

Custom UI Controls

You must provide a JavaScript class with the following structure-

// The class declaration (constructor).
function {ClassName} (div, names, form) {
	// 'div' is the jQuery handle for the div element, in which the control should be rendered.
	// 'names' is the value you specified for the control (it can be multiple names separated by comma).
	// 'form' is the object reference to the UI page. You use it to interact with the UI (See above).
}
// This method declaration should be present. It is called by the form, whenever an input field on the page
// changes. The control can update itself in response to changes to other elements.
{ClassName}.prototype.handleFormChange = function(name) {
	// 'name' is the name of the field (Entity property) that has changed.
	// Update the control, if required.
}
// This method declaration should be present. It is called by the form to obtain the control's value before
// the save operation. You should return the value of the Entity property.
{ClassName}.prototype.get = function(valonly) {
	// 'valonly' is a boolean - if true, only return if the current input is valid. Return '' if OK,
	// or return the error message to be shown to the user.
	// If 'valonly' is false, return the value of the control. The return value should be an array
	// containing as many values as there are input fields in the control (names) and should be the
	// same datatype as declared in the Entity Property.
}
	

Reports

For report rendering, you must provide a JavaScript class in the following structure-

// The class declaration (constructor).
function {ClassName} (divid, params, form) {
	// 'divid' is the id of the div element, in which the report should be rendered.
	// 'params' is an object containing the current selection when the report is invoked (The report entity).
	// 'form' is the object reference to the UI page. You use it to interact with the UI (See above).
}
	

Custom pages

You must provide a JavaScript class with the following structure-

// The class declaration (constructor).
function {ClassName} (form, divid, param) {
	// 'form' is the object reference to the UI page. You use it to interact with the UI (See above).
	// 'divid' is the id of the div element, in which the report should be rendered.
	// 'param' is the parameter passed in the URL, while invoking the custompage. Generally when sending
	//	the URL to external user, you will include these parameters in the URL.
}
	

Child data editor

The data in child entities may, sometimes, be related in a way that cannot be expressed by a generic Add/Edit/Delete list interface. ZOAPIIO allows you to provide a custom editor for editing the data in the child entity. Provide a JavaScript class with the following structure and specify its name in the 'editor' attribute of the 'children' node along with the window size. E.g. {ClassName}:1000x400.

function {ClassName} (form, div, data, owner) {
	// 'form' is the object reference to the UI page. You use it to interact with the UI (See above).
	// 'div' is either the Id or the jQuery reference to the editor window.
	// 'data' is the current records in the child entity.
	// 'owner' is the handle to an object, where the edited data should be returned.
	//
	// This class should implement the full UI for the editor including the "Save" and "Cancel" buttons.
	//
	this.div=div;
	this.data=data;
	this.owner=owner;
	// Convert the div reference from Id to jQuery handle.
	if (typeof div=='string') this.div=$('#'+div);

	...
	...
	// When editing is over and the user does Save.
	this.owner.editorCallback(this.data);
}
	

Handlers

The handler programs are server components, which can be added to your application at generation time. You should write these components using the Web-IDE, save them on your desktop and provide it here. This is in XML format and can also be manually edited by experienced users.

You can include ROUTINE, METHOD, VARIABLES, DATABASE-QUERY and other TAG declarations in the file. See the Web-IDE documentation for details. The format is-

<PRMLCONFIG CONFIG="RRML">
<VARIABLES>
	<TAG ...>
</VARIABLES>
<DATABASE-QUERY .....>
	<TAG ...>
	<QUERY-PARAMETER ..>
</DATABASE-QUERY>
<ROUTINE NAME="RoutineName">
	<BIZ-RULE ...>
</ROUTINE>
<METHOD NAME="MethodName">
private String MethodName(Node in, Node out) {
	// Java code..
	return SomeStringVal;
}
</METHOD>
</PRMLCONFIG>
	

Custompages

The application generated by the Wizard is meant to be a business application and will be used within your organization. It is not meant to be an end-user web application. For an end-user web or mobile application - see Apps. You can also, of course, build a completely custom web or mobile application and integrate it with the server.

Custompage is used to create a page in your application, which can be exposed to an external user to accept some input. The simple use case for this is where you want your customer or supplier to provide some solicited input or feedback. When using the custompage, the rest of the UI is ineffective and only the custompage is displayed.

Properties

server provides you abstraction for Application properties. These properties are stored on the server in a database table and your programs can define and access them. You can update the Application property table directly using the DB Assistant tool. However, the Wizard allows you to populate these properties conveniently at generation time. The properties you define here are accessible to your custom server APIs as Properties abstraction. See the Web-API documentation for details.

Screen Shots

Reference Guide

Summary

application

themes

entities

access

'access' attribute controls page level access to the entity. It has no effect on data access. Access Control for details.

classification

Classification allows you to define readable names that map to an access code, which itself control entity data access. The user it not restricted to using these names, they can specify their own access control code. This is for convenience only. Depending upon the sensitive attached to the data in the entity, you may define classifications like "open", "restricted", "private" etc. and the user can simply pick one value instead of entering detailed access rights for each placeholder in the code. Access Control for details.

For example { "open": "WWWWWWRR", "private": "WWR-R-R-" }.

handler

The wizard would generate APIs to access the entity data. Handlers allow you to specify custom processing for major access control points. The handler program stubs are in programming language. The program stubs should be provided as an external file - see Customization.

The values for the handlers are provided as "METHOD.<name>" or "ROUTINE.<name>", naming the method or routine to execute at that control point.

properties

A property declared for an entity can be a simple property or a complex property, determined by its type. This means that the property may result in the generation of one or more columns in the table. Each property on the UI is rendered on a single row. For instance, type 'country' is a complex property and results in two table columns - Country code, and Country name.

Where a complex property is involved, you must provide more than one names for property - the number of names must match the count that the property type expects. The names are input as comma separated values - E.g. CountryCode,CountryName. Furthermore, you can create a complex property (multiple columns but rendered on the same UI row), by using the type 'multiple'. This is used to group related properties to simplify the look of the UI page. It is advised to have not more than three properties in a group for clean rendering.

children

properties

The specification for properties for child entities is same as that of root entities, with some constraints.

1. Data type 'multiple' cannot be used.
2. Property 'data' is not applicable.
3. Property 'condition' has no effect. I.e. conditional rendering is not provided.

dependents

Another relationship between entities that can be represented in the Wizard is one-to-many relationship. This is different from parent-child because a child entity has only one parent. To represent a dependent entity, define that entity normally and then add a record here.

workflow

Workflow is a list of steps that should be performed on the records of an entity.

steps

scripts

helpfiles

handlers

custompages

properties

widgets

visualization app supports a rich collection of widgets compiled from an analysis of several real-life dashboards. The widgets can be textual or graphical, or sometimes even a combination. The following widget types are supported-

selection

query

The data for the widget is sourced from a database query (SQL), which you must provide. Database programming skills are required. If you are not skilled in writing SQL queries, take the help of a colleague.

1. You can reference the entities as tables in the query by prefixing them with '@'. E.g., "Select column from @myentity"" implies selection from the table corresponding to the "myentity". The SQL can reference multiple entities using SQL JOIN them in the same way.
2. You can reference the values of the widget selection filters by prefixing the name with '#'. E.g., #PROP refers to the value of selection with name PROP.
3. When using the filter selection values do not use the comparison operator - it is automatically added depending upon the type of the selection value. So instead of "Where ColX = #PROP", say "Where ColX #PROP". The Wizard with use either '=' or 'In' SQL operator depending upon whether the value is a string or a list.

result

Here you describe the data contained in the query output.

options

Additional options can be passed to control the rendering out the widget.

dashboards

This defines canned dashboards in the application - this is an advanced subject and you can come back to it after you have tried creating some dashboards from the visualization app UI.

widgets

The widgets in the canned dashboard.

Screen shots

The wizard designer

The generated application