Author: Rubin Anto

Before going through this documentation, I am assuming that the user knows the basic ClaySys AppForms Configuration including rules and data sources.

A comprehensive configuration encompasses all the aspect of assembling the Forms, Controls, Rules and Data sources in the smart way. This will improve the performance and readability of the AppForm configuration.

This blog post will help you understand the best practises for ClaySys Appforms are not proposed to form an inflexible methods to follow, they are meant to serve as a guide for creating the application for a specific project.

The AppForm configuration can be divided as follows:

• Deciding the goal
• Finalizing the UI design
• Data Source design (The back end data where you save and process data)
• Deciding the number of form
• Deciding the controls in the form
• Structuring the rules
• Calling the right rule at right time

In AppForms the form is presented to the end user as the HTML, so basically the form is rendered as HTML in the client browser.

If you are not replicating the UI design of another form, keep the number of controls minimal to improve the rendering.

It is very important to decide navigation and number of form even before you start designing, so once you decided the navigation then you can take decision on the number of form you are going to use.

Hidden control

This is a kind of tricky stuff because mostly these hidden controls are used to keep the temporary values. Most of the time the designer will set the visibility of the control as hidden permanently and that control is used as “HIDDEN CONTROL”.

As the project move in agile mode the designer will keep adding the hidden controls just to maintain the temporary value or to control the form logically. When a new designer continue to work on this kind of form, they will be really worried to touch those controls so he will add new controls to it, the end result of this method will be a junk form.

Also if you use a hidden control whenever a value is changed in that control, the AppForms will search for rule for that particular control, this can be avoided.

As mentioned earlier, since this form is rendering as HTML, it will take time to render. But according to the end user there may be only few visible controls and the end user is really worried on the performance in that form .

 So how can we avoid this? 

There are few methods we can use :

• Managing through variable
• Managing through Session variables
• Reusing the controls
• Keeping only minimal data

“ Even if you wanted to use the hidden controls for managing the form logic then it is better to group the controls using SubForm control, So you can show and hide the controls by just disabling the sub form rather than hiding each controls “

Managing through variables

This is the smartest way to keep the temporary value and traffic the rules. The normal variables can be created from the rules. You have to note that the variables can be accessed only from rules, it cannot be accessed neither from the designer nor from data source.

If it is essential to pass the variable value to the data source then use only one hidden control and pass the variable value to the control. You can use the same hidden control to pass value to the different data source.

Please see the example below:

There are two data sources to save to two different lists, and based on the date of birth they need to save Age to the first data source and based on the Gender they need to save Mr/Miss to the second data source. In this case you have to use the rule to populate the Age from Date of birth and Salutation from Gender. Once you populated you can assign the Age to lblTemp and invoke the save action. Once that is completed you can use the rule to generate the Salutation and assign that to lblTemp and use the same save to the second DB.

Managing through Session variables

Those who have a small glimpse to the programming world they must know the session variable. It can store any data and scope of the session variable is through out the Tenant in the ClaySys, and the life time is till the  browser gets closed.

Who need session variables?

Let’s take an example, If I want to maintain a common value called ‘company name’ through out the forms, I can either pass the value between the forms using the controls or use session variable.

Next, if the user want to load form_2 from form_1, but also he want to pass a value from form_1 to form_2, the user can use the session variable to keep that variable.

*Please note the session variables can be used in Data sources.

Reusing the controls

Reusing the control is just what it mean by the title. For example, based on different value you need to perform some operation in the rule. So let try the same by using only two controls, One for the command(txtCommand) and the another one for the value (lblValue). And when you create the rule add the txtCommand as the trigger .

Standard naming practice

In any domain, naming conversion have a great benefit to reduce the effort to read and understand the configuration. It provides a better understanding to the third person who is reading this configuration even after a long time.

The best recommended practices are :

Control
The default name of a control name will be control type + number, leaving this as it is not a recommended process.
The recommenced naming standard is Control Type Short Name + Name +functionality

For example,
Text Box which managed with Name for the Employee info will be, txtEmpInfo.
ComboBox which load the state for Student info will be, cmbStateStudent.

Variable
The variable can be given with a prefix of Var
For Example,
The variable to keep the count will be varCount.

Also you have to note that whenever a variable name is created it should not conflict with the control name or the default rule function name.

Rule
The recommended process for the rule is, it should not conflict with the control name or the default rule function name. Whenever you are giving a sub rule it can be managed in a little more smart way, like

The Child name should be like Parent Rulename_1 and the second level child should be Parent Rule name_2 , like the example below:

Using the right control

While configuring it is advised to use the right control for the right purpose, for example it is not advised to use the Dynamic grid control for the purpose of Search control. The main purpose of dynamic grid is not just to display data but perform the data manipulation operations, also it has composite column feature and lot more, so when you use the dynamic grid instead of search it has to do lot of process before pulling the data to the view .

Sync and Asynchronous operations

Basically the sync and Async operation plays while the time of data Source related command like Execute command and FillData command.

What is Synchronous operation ?

When the user choose the synchronous operation for the execution then it will block the next operation till the synchronous execution is complete, It is advised when you use the execute command as the last action.
OR if there is only one or two execution. Basically synchronous operation is advised to the basic forms.

What is Asynchronous operation ?

Asynchronous operation take the advantage of parallel processing, like the Async execution will not block the next operation.

The user can use two methods to manage this, use the Execute completed and Fill Data completed trigger. Please refer the Execute Complete trigger and Fill Data complete trigger from the ClaySys AppForms documentation.
The second option is set the execution result to a control while configuring the data source and add that control as trigger to a rule, so when the execution is completed the result will set in to the control and the control will trigger its rule.

Rules in the AppForms are the brain when the user wants to control the flow of his execution. So please note the better practice as below:

For example
txtName.value=”anto.Rubin” (good practice)
lblName.Value=anto.Rubin (This will still work but not advised)

According to the architecture of rule engine, when you give a value the rule engine will check is that a control name/Variable/operation, only if that is not a control or variable it will rerun the name. But if we enclose double quotes then it will not check for the same and it will directly return as value .

It is advised to not give same control for different rules, but you can call the required rule using RunRule() function.

There is an option in the designer to check is there any syntax issue in the rules. If you leave as it is, the remaining rule will still work but that error part will be executed as rejected by the rules engine each time.

This is a big no no in the rules. This is like adding the control as trigger and setting value to the same control from the same rule. Also there are lot of recursions where the user use for the purpose of looping, and in that case the user must proof the looping logic with and entering condition. see the example below:

In the above example the varIcount will control the execution of the LoopRule.

Introduction

Dynamic Grid is an advanced grid which allows the user to Display/Create/Update data from database.
Another creative future of the dynamic grid is that the user can configure a control for a cell and it can be created dynamically based on certain user defined rules.
This Dynamic grid can be bind to SQL Tables and the SQL stored procedures as well.

Dynamic Grid Configuration

Dynamic Grid’s wizard can be configured from Columns property of Dynamic grid.

• First Step of the wizard is used to select SQL Table or Stored Procedure

• In the next steps Columns can be defined, Columns can be of type:

1.  Label
2.  Textbox
3.  DateTimePicker
4.  Combo box
5. Checkbox
6.  Hyperlink
7.  Radio Button
8. Composite Column.

The Controls property of column can be configured in the property window by clicking the button at right side.
For e.g. If the control selected is Combo Box then we can set the properties for Combo Box there itself.

If selected column is Composite Column, then the display rules can be created by clicking the Property button at the right side. So a popup will appear as like follows:

• From the first dropdown we have to select the source Column from where the data should be compared .
•  Condition is the drop down from where we can set the logical comparison operator.
•  And in the value column we can set the target value to be compared .
• The control type is the last column where the user can set the target control type if is pass the defined criteria. And here itself we can define the properties of that particular control like the text /color/Data Source etc.
•  Then Click the + Button to add this rule to the rules collection.

In the given example,

• If the country is Norway then the city Column has to be Textbox control.

• If the country is India then the city column has to be ComboBox control and here for this combobox we defined some Sql data source properties with values of Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin from database.

• If the country is USA then the city column has to be ComboBox control with values of New York, Washington, Florida which is set from the properties of the combo box.

2.1- Configuring with SQL Tables

After creating the columns,

• On first step, select the datasource

• On Second step, Select the Table

• On the third steps Command are defined.

Map the columns of the grid to corresponding table fields.

Select

Insert

Update

On the Next Click Map the Primary Column and Click Finish to complete the Configuration wizard.

SQL Commands Execution

Database Commands and called by rules.
Eg: ExecuteCommand(DynamicGridDataSource27.Select)
ExecuteCommand(DynamicGridDataSource27.Insert)
ExecuteCommand(DynamicGridDataSource27.Update)

For adding new row press TAB at the last cell, then a new blank row will be generated at the bottom and internally that row’s mode will new.
When Insert command is called, all rows newly inserted will be saved to database and internally that entire new rows mode will be changed to update.
When Update command is called, then all existing data will updated based on the condition given.

Composite Column Rendering in CRM

When India Selected as country

When USA is selected

If Country Is Norway

•  To hide default column heading uncheck ShowHeader Property of the Grid.

2-2 Stored Procedure Configuration

In this only one stored procedure can be bind to grid so the user have to manage the logic of select ,Insert, Update from the store procedure .

After creating the Columns,

• First select the Data Source

• Select Stored Procedure

• Set the parameters

The left side is the input parameters for the stored procedure and right side denotes the return values from the stored procedure.
Then click finish to complete the configuration wizard.

Stored Procedure can be executed using rule ExecuteCommand(DynamicGridDataSource.SP)

• Unique Properties of Dynamic Grid

3.1 Allow Paging:

By default this field is “unchecked” and as a result dynamic grid will be appeared without paging. Page numbers will be added if this field is in true condition. A sample Dynamic Grid with paging is shown below:

    Figure 21

3.2 Page Size:
This is the number of results per page. 10 is the default value and it can be modified.

3.3 Show Header:
This field value determines whether the columns headers in a grid need to be displayed or not. If this property is in unchecked condition, column headers won’t be showed in the grid as shown below. Please compare Figure 21 and Figure 22.
In figure 2-2 grid appears without column headers.

  Figure 23

3.4 Export to Excel:
By make this property as true, we can export the data in the dynamic grid into an excel sheet. If this field is true an excel icon will be available at the bottom of the grid.

3.5 Fill Data Trigger:

Fill Data Trigger helps to call the dynamic grid in three different ways. Following are the options:

On each row: If this is the Fill Data Trigger; then the corresponding rule will be executed, on fill each row of the dynamic grid. This trigger is useful to get the corresponding row index of the grid.

On each cell: If this is the Fill Data Trigger; then the corresponding rule will be executed, on fill each cell of the dynamic grid. This trigger is useful to get the corresponding column index of the grid.

On complete: The rule will be triggered, once the grid is completely filled in.

Rules for Dynamic Grid

• To get the value of a cell.(function)

GridGetValue(Grid Name, Row Index, Col Index)

• To Set the value to a cell(function)

GridSetValue(Grid Name, Row Index, Col Index, Value)

• Current Row Index: (property)

GridName.RowIndex

Grid can be added as trigger for a rule, so that it will execute for every row change. You will get the corresponding row index from property GridName.RowIndex

Sample Grid Rule

Second and Third Columns are saved to variable VarName and VarCountry . It is appended to another variable VarRuleCol. This value is set to Column with index 6.

OutPut

Column Grouping Property of Radiobutton in Dynamic Grid Control

This property helps to select the Radiobutton value either column or row wise without using rules.

5.1 Radiobutton grouping in a row

• Drag a dynamic grid control into the workspace.

• Add columns to the Dynamic Grid using “Columns” property.

• While configuring the columns, make sure that you are adding Radiobutton columns.

• Click on the icon,  in the “Properties” column of the control RadioButton1.

• Property window opens.

• Two new fields “Radio Group” and “Column Grouping” are being added.

• Enter a group name in the “Radio Group” field. I entered “DGGrid1”.

• Close the property window.

-Open the Property window of the control RadioButton2.

• In the “Radio Group “property field give the same group name. (Here it is “DGGrid1”).

• Complete the dynamic grid configuration.

• Now check the dynamic grid either in “Preview” or “CRM” page. In each row of the grid, only one of the Radio buttons can be selected at a time.

CRM View

Radio button grouping in a grid

• To select only one of the radio button options in a grid, “Column Grouping” property is being used.
• To implement this feature, make the “Column Grouping” check box value as “true” in both the Radio button property window.
• As we have done before, the value in “Radio Group” field should be same for both the Radiobutton controls. Only then the application considers the controls as items in a single group.

CRM View

ClaySys AppForms Enterprise 1.5

In the modern world most of the large scale deployment requires multi tier deployment to ensure high availability of applications. ClaySys AppForms Enterprise can be installed on a multi tier environment. Lets consider that the the deployment requirement is as following:

• The applications need to be developed following a Multitier architecture
• Each tier should be physically separated for security.
• The business logic tier is the only one that can connect to the data tier.
• The presentation tier only connects to the business logic tier.
• The presentation tier may not directly connect to the data tier.
• The presentation tier is located in a DMZ, other tiers are heavily secured.

The communication between different tires of the application should work like the example provided below:

Proposed Design

The service proxy requirement can be done using the feature in IIS7 called Application Request Routing. The details of this feature are explained below.

Application Request Routing

IIS Application Request Routing (ARR) 2.0 or above enables Web server administrators, hosting providers, and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to increase Web application scalability and reliability through rule-based routing, client and host name affinity, load balancing of HTTP server requests, and distributed disk caching. With ARR, administrators can optimize resource utilization for application servers to reduce management costs for Web server farms and shared hosting environments.

http://www.iis.net/download/ApplicationRequestRouting

The following steps can be used to install and configure IIS Application Request Routing:

Preparing the server(s)

1. Make sure you have IIS 7 or above installed
2. Download the Application Request Routing extension from :
   86. X86 :- http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/D/F/4DFDA851-515F-474E-BA7A-5802B3C95101/ARRv2_setup_x86.EXE
   87. X64 :- http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/4/1/3415F3F9-5698-44FE-A072-D4AF09728390/ARRv2_setup_x64.EXE
3. Install the extension
4. Finally we’ll configure the Application Request Routing.

In IIS Manager, click your server and go to Application Request Routing Cache:

Important note: If you work with multiple servers (and that’s what you’ll do in a real environment), you need to do this on your presentation tier (the ASP.NET website containing the Silverlight application).

5. On the right select Server Proxy Settings and check the box Enable proxy.

Creating the site for the presentation tier (and reverse proxy)

In the presentation website, i.e. the website hosting the asp.net application, open the application pool go to Advanced Settings and change the Idle-Time out to 0 minutes.
And finally go to Recycle, and clear the Regular time intervals (in minutes) checkbox.

Configuring IIS Application Request Routing and IIS Rewrite

1. Open the web.config of the PresentationSite (running on the presentation tier).
2. Now add the following to the configuration file:

<system.serviceModel>
<serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled=true
multipleSiteBindingsEnabled=true />
</system.serviceModel>
<system.webServer>
<validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration=false />
<rewrite>
<rules>
<rule name=Reverse Proxy to Business Logic Tier stopProcessing=true>
<match url=^services/(.*) />
<action type=Rewrite url=http://logictier/{R:1} />
</rule>
</rules>
</rewrite>
</system.webServer>

This will make sure all requests to the path services are forwarded to our logictier server (containing the business logic tier).

3. Now, visit the page: http://presentationtier/services/Manage.svc

And there you have it. Even though we’re visiting a page on the server presentationtier it’s showing us content from the logictier server.
This means our Silverlight application no longer needs to talk to the logictier server. And thus, we don’t need to expose our logictier server to the internet or put it in a DMZ.

Note 1: The clientaccesspolicy.xml file we placed in the LogicSite is no longer required.
Note 2: The system.serviceModel part in the config is very important. If it’s missing you’ll get the following error:

In your browser:

Server Error in ‘/’ Application.
The resource cannot be found.

In EventViewer:

WebHost failed to process a request.
Sender Information: System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult/27111447
Exception: System.Web.HttpException (0x80004005): The service ‘/services/Manage.svc’ does not exist. —> System.ServiceModel.EndpointNotFoundException: The service ‘/services/Manage.svc’ does not exist.

The final result in our ClaySys AppForms Application

1. Check the web.config if it still contains the URL Rewrite configuration.
2. Change the appsetting for the service url to the presentation layer (http://presentationtier/services)

And we’re done…

If you want you can start Fiddler and you’ll see that our ClaySys AppForms application is only accessing our presentationtier server: