LZadmin

Web Data Admin Tool Generator

LZadmin is a program which generates a complete web based, forms driven database administration application. Data entry forms and search result display lists are created based on information derived from the database itself. A working application is generated based on code templates in LZadmin, so no programming is required. A user provided configuration file allows definition of customization and deployment options.

LZadmin also provides a simple and easy to learn Data Definition Language for those who need to create a database from scratch or want to enhance an existing schema. This can be as simple as writing a dashed list of field names and types.

The main features of LZadmin include:

• The generated client Graphical User Interface (GUI) provides the necessary create, read, update and delete (CRUD) functions.
• Easy and flexible forms based object finder methods are also generated.
• Search result lists are sortable numerically or alphabetically.
• The GUI is an OpenLaszlo client which runs in a web browser under a Flash plugin. This technology provides a rich and smooth user experience more akin to a desktop application than a typical browser based application.
• Multiple forms or lists can be open simultaeously for different data classes allowing easy cross reference.
• LZadmin generates a middleware Data Acess API accesible through standard Web Services.
• LZadmin middleware runs under Ruby On Rails which provides the Web Service and Database Access layers.
• An easy to learn YAML based Data Definition Language may be used instead of SQL to create the initial database schema.

Here are links to diagrams of the Code Generation Process and Deployment Architecture.

User Guide

For more information on the product and how to configure LZadmin to generate your Admin Application, please refer to the User Guide.

LZadmin Release Status

Development of LZadmin has been deprecated in favor of development efforts on the FrontRail product. The main reason for this is that use of SOAP Web Services significantly complicated both the code base and the deployment of the product. Much of the code base and design, however, has been instrumental in the development of the new product.

Although there are many benefits to the Adaptive approach to GUI component creation taken by FrontRail, there are some benefits to a static code generation approach taken by LZadmin, especially when the database schema is very stable. The most obvious benefit is that the compile time code generation approach can reduce the intial load time for the running application.

Genacode plans to introduce a FrontRail variant in the future which uses the RemoteObjects protocol, but also uses template based code generation for faster startup.

If significant demand for LZadmin becomes aparent we may continue support on an individual customer basis. If you would like more information about LZadmin please contact us and let us know of your interest and needs.