07/Aug/2006
The Jazz Framework is a set of tools, components and services developed by Contigo to enable us to quickly and easily produce sophisticated, robust applications. It allows us to focus on writing the important code that delivers real business functionality rather than spending time writing repetitive data access or 'plumbing' code. The main components of the Jazz Framework are:
- JazzCore – a common set of services used by all applications;
- JazzBuilder – our code generation tool;
- JazzUI – a common set of user-interface components;
JazzCore
JazzCore is a library of common components and services used by all Contigo applications. It is continually evolving as new components and services are developed or required. The main parts of JazzCore are:
- Data access relational mapping layer;
- Application logging;
- Application security;
- Application configuration;
- User profiles and preferences;
- Application monitoring;
- XML utilities;
- Validation facilities;
- Data auditing;
- Message queuing;
- SOA integration services;
JazzCore includes a best of breed object relational (OR) mapping layer to provide sophisticated data access. This OR layer is database agnostic allowing us to switch an application from a Sql Server to an Oracle database backend by changing a configuration file setting. Much of JazzCore extends functionality provided in the .NET 2.0 framework such as security and personalisation to make it enterprise-class.
JazzBuilder
JazzBuilder is our code generation tool. It generates JazzCore compatible code, initially based on a database design. Code generation is the single most productive addition to the development process and many such tools now exist. Using our own code generation tool ensures we are not forced to adopt a particular third party standard and allows us complete control over the generated code.
The code generator has the following facilities:
- Generates SQL Server and Oracle CRUD stored procedures;
- Generates database agnostic data access code;
- Generates web service integration layer;
- Generates basic aspx user interface layer;
- Generates NUnit test stubs for all methods;
- Generates database creation, update and data population scripts;
- Generates database migration scripts (Oracle to SQL Server and vice versa);
JazzUI
JazzUI is a library that provides a set of user interface components. These are primarily ASP.NET server controls but there are additional components for handling look and feel, theming, localisation and other UI related features. Many of the components incorporate Atlas Ajax technology to ensure the user interface is as useable and interactive as possible.
The components have built-in localisation, validation and are data and context aware. The main advantage in building our own components is to allow extremely functional web pages to be created with the minimum of code and mark-up. A lot of the additional functionality you would normally need to add to a web page, such as validation, formatting, data population, Ajax interactivity etc. is wrapped up in the server controls. This keeps the amount of code and mark-up required small making development faster and ongoing maintenance simpler.
The main components in JazzUI are:
- Data aware visual components for entering dates, numbers, text etc;
- Sophisticated controls for manipulating colours, graphs and images;
- In built localisation;
- Configurable Dashboard/web part functionality;
- Theme maintenance;
- Reporting Services integration;
Summary
The use of our Jazz Framework technology significantly improves the speed of development and quality of our applications. It benefits our customers in terms of reduced cost and time of development and provides a guarantee of the quality of an application as it is built on a robust, proven framework.
For more information on the Jazz Framework and the technology infrastructure used by Contigo and how it can help your business, email info@contigo.co.uk or contact us.