SoftiCAR Platform

The SoftiCAR Platform is a lightweight, Java-based library to create interactive business web applications.

1 Main Features

• Domain-oriented development of business applications
  • Business objects and queries defined using SoftiCAR Query and Modeling Language (SQML)
  • Configurable and dynamically generated management pages (CRUD) for business objects
  • Custom workflows for business objects (work in progress)
• Lightweight web applications based on a server-side document object model (DOM)
  • All business logic defined in Java and running on server
  • Interactive web pages using asynchronous Javascript (AJAX)

2 Example Web Application

See the SoftiCAR Platform Example Project, for an exemplary web application that is based upon the SoftiCAR Platform.

3 Building and Development

To build and develop the code in this repository, an Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal) based workstation is recommended, with the following software installed:

1. AdoptOpenJDK 15 with HotSpot JVM, with java in the PATH
2. Eclipse IDE for Java Developers, e.g. 2020-09 (4.17)
3. SQML Eclipse Plugin

In Eclipse, the code shall be imported via File / Import / Gradle / Existing Gradle Project.

For prototyping purposes, an integrated Jetty Server and an integrated ephemeral H2-Database can be used:

• To start such a server, create a Java class like this:

  public class DevelopmentServlet extends HotDeploymentWebServiceServlet {
  
      public DevelopmentServlet() {
  
          database.applyFixture(() -> {
              TestFixtureRegistry registry = new TestFixtureRegistry(new CoreModuleTestFixture());
              registry.registerIfMissing(WorkflowModuleTestFixture::new);
              return registry;
          });
      }
  
      public static void main(String[] args) {
  
          new HotDeploymentWebServiceServer(DevelopmentServlet.class)//
                  .setRequestString("service?id=" + EmfSourceCodeReferencePoints.getUuidOrThrow(PageService.class))
                  .setPort(8000).startAndJoin();
      }
  }

• When executed, it will print something like this:

  Server started at http://localhost:8000
  Full URL:
  http://localhost:8000/portal/service?id=95cf1a1b-c12e-4594-9d20-783988fe32b9
  

• Open a web browser and enter the URL.
• To log in, use one of the default users: admin.user, normal.user or view.user. The password is test for each of those.

4 Releases and Versioning

Releases of this repository follow the Semantic Versioning principle.

     1.2.3
    /  |  \
major  |  patch
     minor

1. If there was an API break since the previous release, the major version is incremented: 1.2.3 -> 2.0.0 -- API breaks include:
   • Incompatible changes to existing Java code which is part of the API; most notably: changes to (or removal of) public/protected classes/fields/methods/signatures
   • Changes in the behavior of existing Java code (except fixes of defective behavior)
   • Any change to a database table
   • Fundamental changes to the behavior or style of the UI
2. If there was no API break but a new feature was added, the minor version is incremented: 1.2.3 -> 1.3.0
3. If there was no API break and no new feature was added, the patch version is incremented: 1.2.3 -> 1.2.4
   • e.g. when only defects were fixed

5 Contributing

Please read the contribution guidelines for this repository and keep our code of conduct in mind.

6 Notes to Contributors

6.1 Optimize All SVG Images

To convert all SVGs in a directory tree to an uncluttered and optimized format, use scour (sudo apt install scour):

find . -type f -name "*.svg" | xargs -d $'\n' sh -c 'for file do\
  scour -i "$file" -o "$file"-opt --strip-xml-prolog --remove-metadata --enable-id-stripping --enable-comment-stripping;\
  mv -v -- "$file"-opt "$file";\
done' _