1. Introduction
Visual BSF ™ (VBSF) is an all Java object-relational framework that enables programmers to easily create fully scalable business classes that are persistent to relational databases. Scalable business object classes can be deployed in local (client-server) or distributed (3-tier) configurations with no modifications to source code. VBSF is made up of two components: a GUI based mapping tool and a supporting core library that provides the runtime services of the persistence layer. The mapping tool allows you to visually map business classes to database tables and columns, and to specify object relationships. It can also be used to define server side custom SQL, validity checks, and customized database configurations.
The mapping tool can jump start application development by reading the structure of existing Java classes, or of existing database tables, and generate a default mapping strategy. This default mapping strategy can then be visually modified for further customization. If there are no existing classes and/or tables, a mapping strategy can be defined from scratch. From a mapping strategy, the tool can generate template based Java source code for business classes and/or a DDL script for a target database. Because all source code generated is based on a template, Java business classes source code can be generated in any required format (e.g. as Java Beans so they can be visually manipulated and connected to GUI controls in IDEs).
The mapping strategy is saved to a schema file that is used by the supporting core library at runtime. The core library provides the necessary API to allow your business objects to be persisted and queried in the database. This guide provides an introduction to object-relational mapping strategies and explains how to use the visual mapping tool to define mapping strategies for your applications. For detailed information on the persistence layer API see the Programmer's Guide and the API Reference.
The following type conventions are used throughout this guide:
| Type Conventions | |
|---|---|
| Type | Used for |
| Courier font in dark blue | Java code, Java class & attribute names, and directory & file names. |
| Bold | Mapping tool menu item, panel, & field names, and special VBSF types. |
| Italic | Database table & column names, and to emphasize text. |