Introduction to Visualization Server

This User’s Manual documents Server, a large-scale object engine combining business objects with real-time business event notification to implement multi-tier client/server applications.

This manual is divided as follows:

• In Part I, Modeling Services, you will learn how to use the API of the modeling classes to build the object model of your Server application.

  • Basic Features, explains Server objects and relations. It also describes smart pointers, reference counting and Server dictionaries.

  • Relations, presents all the types of relations that you can establish between Server objects. It explains how to define these relations and how to invert them.

  • Entry and Derived Data Members, describes the two kinds of special data members that Server lets you declare in the classes of your application: entry data members and derived data members.

  • Context-Sensitive Features, covers the cut function, which was designed to maintain the referential integrity of an object structure automatically and transparently.

  • Dynamic Modeling Services, tells you how to describe a reactive object model dynamically instead of coding it using the Server modeling classes.

  • Script Integration, explains how you can use Script on the Server side of your Server application.

• In Part II, Dynamic View Services, you will learn what view services are, how notification works, how to make your Server model accessible at runtime, and how to implement a representation model and specify the dynamic-view types to interact with components.

  • View and Notification Services presents the basic concepts and mechanisms on which view services rely.

  • Defining Runtime Access to the Server Model, describes how to declare the Server model classes, functions, attributes, and relations to the dynamic-view interpreter for runtime access.

  • Implementing a Representation Model, explains how to implement a Tree representation model and a Table representation model.

  • Specifying Dynamic View Types, describes how to specify dynamic view types and gives you information about references, hyper-references, collectors, representation attributes, and conditions you can set for propagation and on representations.

  • Implementing a Dynamic View Server and its Components, explains how to implement the view servers and components making up a linked or distributed Server application.

  • Semantics of Dynamic View Type Specifications describes the semantics for specifying dynamic view types.

• In Part III, Server/Views Integration, you will learn about the specific mapping that allows you to define dynamic views to represent your server object model as a set of Views data sources.

  • Overview of the Server/Views Integration, outlines both the design and the dynamics of the Server/Views integration.

  • In Server/Views Mapping, you will learn more about the mapping mechanism, including the Server- and Views data sources, the Server/Views representation model, multiple-row-type tables.

  • The Views Component, gives you general information about the swcomp demonstration and briefly outlines how to design your own Views component.

• Part IV, Server Studio, gives you reference information about Server Studio, the GUI-builder tool for the Server/Views mapping.

  • Server Studio Advanced Features, helps you go beyond the basics with your Studio environment.

  • Server Data Source Inspector Reference, provides a systematic description of the SDS inspector user interface.

• Part V, Java Data Sources, includes the following chapters:

  • Overview of Java Data Sources, introduces you to the mechanism of the predefined Server/Java^TM mapping.

  • API of the Server/Java Mapping, describes the corresponding Java packages and classes.

  • Working with the Server/Java Mapping, presents the mechanism of the mapping that associates Server with Java data sources, as well as the corresponding API.

  • Java Data Source Adapters, explains how to use the adapters that enable each Server/java data source to be represented graphically.

• Part VI, Appendices, covers various complementary subjects.

  • Portable Thread Library, explains how to create and synchronize threads using the classes from the portable thread library.

  • Using Server on Windows, describes the features that are specific to Server on Windows® platforms.

  • Floating Reference Cycles, explains how to avoid floating reference cycles.

  • Internationalization in Server, explains what you should do to develop an Server-based internationalized application.

  • The MvTCP Communication Layer, gives you basic information about the default communication layer.

  • Environment Variables, explains environment variables to manage specific features, such as debugging, tracing, and configuring.

  • Compiler Options for Multithreaded Applications covers the compiler or compiler/linker options that must be used to build a multithreaded application. Failure to use these options will result in undefined behavior at runtime.

  • Grammar of Dynamic View Type Specifications, explains the grammar of dynamic view type specifications.

• Glossary: Most of the terms used in this manual are defined in a glossary at the end of this manual.