Building applications and context libraries

ODABA supports different ways for implementing application and business rules. Usually, Business rules are implemented in so-called context classes, which are associated with data types or properties and other database resources (see Database context programming).

ODABA applications might be implemented as OSI (script), C++, JAVA or C# applications (support for other programming languages as Python or PHP is planned).

One may also mix different implementation languages. Typically, OSI is mixed with C++ or C# implementations. In order to provide prototypes quickly, OSI is used. Later on, several functions might reimplemented in order to improve the performance.

In order to build an OSI application or defining OSI business rules, one simply provides the script file or implements OSI functions in the resource data base using the ODE ClassEditor. Similar, one may provide OSI functions that implement business rules including event handlers for data events.

When OSI scripts are provided not within the resource database, but as external file, this might become difficult to handle. Hence, one may define a number of OSI script files, place them in a folder and refers to this folder by the OSI_Library option in the data source definition. OSI files (files with extension .osi) stored in this folder are automatically loaded when opening the database dictionary. Thus, one may also store OSI files in the folder overloading implementations stored in the resource database.

Building C++ applications or context libraries requires several header files and libraries. Header files are provided in the include directory in the ODABA installation folder. In order to refer to ODABA API functions, .../include/odaba.h has to be included, which includes necessary interface class header files.

In order to link an ODABA application, you need the opa library (opa.dll under Windows and libopa.so under Linux), which dynamically links the application to the opa library. Under Windows, link libraries are provided in the lib folder in the odaba installation directory.

At run-time, you also the service library sos (sos.dll or libsos.so) is required.

In order to build C# applications or context libraries the odaba-net.dll and the dotnet-connector.dll, which have been installed in the ODABA installation folder (only for binary installation). After assigning the libraries to the application, ODABA interface functions become available.

Those libraries are required at run-time, also, together with the sos and opa library stored at the same location. .NET is supported for MS Visual Studio 10 (or higher) and requires additional run-time libraries from this compiler version.