4GL Rapid Application Development means higher quality, reduced complexity, lower cost and easy maintenance. Applications can be developed entirely with Blacksmith, or Blacksmith can be used in conjunction with other development environments and with desktop environments, such as mixing 4GL capabilities with Microsoft Visual Basic.

The ONware Difference

Blacksmith is 4GL development with a difference. Blacksmith in conjunction with ONware separates the business rule components from the operating system, the user interface and the database. ONware applications may be developed on one platform and deployed on many. ONware is unique in its ability to provide concurrent support for multiple and disparate database types, character terminals and graphical workstations all from a single application source, a big plus when it comes to maintenance.

Blacksmith delivers uncommon application development power, automating the routine aspects of changing your green screens to Windows or Mac screens, facilitating business object reuse, and enforcing business rules at the database (global dictionary) level. And for the power-programmer, subroutine exits are provided to give you absolute control where required. With ONware, application distribution, data and application integrity, data replication, transaction logging and data recovery are all simplified, which frees the developer to focus on solving your business problems.

Rapid Application Development

The Blacksmith rapid application development approach is to organize and automate the routine, time-consuming aspects of application development.

Blacksmith delivers a strong foundation for rapid and controlled application development. Whether designing from scratch or modernizing the dated look and functionality of your character based “green screens”, Blacksmith gives you complete control.

While most business rules can be handled with no programming; Blacksmith gives the developer complete control, to incorporate legacy business logic and add custom procedural code. Custom developed functions can be stored at the object (dictionary) level for convenient and consistent reuse throughout the application.

Blacksmith includes a global object repository (data dictionary extension), visual tools for rapid screen creation, multiple industry standard (Windows) application integration alternatives, and data model and location flexibility to support local and distributed databases.

Blacksmith provides concurrent support for relational databases such as Oracle, DB2 and SQL Server as well as PICK styles such as UniVerse, UniData and PI/open.

GUI Visual Development

Blacksmith’s GUI approach will be familiar to Windows developers. It also provides a comfortable transition for programmers more familiar with a character-based development. It is equally suited for GUI client and character-based terminal development.

Blacksmith provides a wizard form, WYSIWYG, drag and drop facility to place and arrange objects onto application screens. With the click of a mouse, drill-down to the lowest level business rules and any customized code you desire. Screen objects are defined in the global object repository, simplifying screen design and ensuring consistency. Rapid iterative prototyping is easy with the ability to create objects, on-the-fly.

Windows, Macintosh, and Character Terminals Support

Blacksmith clients are benefiting from the ability to develop with GUI tools and deliver to their Widows and Macintosh clients as well as those continuing to use character-based terminals. This is a common need for organizations that support dumb terminal users such as those out in the warehouse or manufacturing unit as well as front and back office users.

Developers can even toggle between graphical and character views during the development process to see the immediate effect of changes to a screen design in GUI mode or character based display. A single source base means easy maintenance; no changes to the application regardless of how it is deployed. The user interface is determined at the point of deployment vs. the point of development.

Global Data Dictionary Provides Object Reuse and Referential Integrity Rules

The Blacksmith global data dictionary is the cornerstone of programmer productivity, application integrity, standardization, and business object reuse. The Blacksmith global dictionary stores business rules at a high level so that they are enforced consistently across all applications. Business rule objects are independent of the specific programs in which they are employed and therefore, behave the same in every application you place them.

Many other business objects and functions, such as default value, pattern matching, and referential integrity, are stored in the global data dictionary, allowing easy reuse of functions within and across application systems. Application integrity is enforced, development productivity is fast, and maintenance costs are reduced throughout the application development life cycle.

Referential integrity can be enforced automatically by simply selecting options such as enforce referential integrity, allow cascade, delete foreign key, delete foreign record—no more widows and orphans.

Automatic Lookup functionality based on powerful Search Engine technology

Blacksmith adds value with a powerful search engine which provides query on foreign key relationships, virtual data objects and complex ANDs ORS and NOTs. Whether your need is for lookup on the sound of the name of an employee’s dependent, the size and location of a company or the description of a product. Blacksmith indexing and lookup features will give you access to your data like you have never had before. Primary and secondary lookup parameters allows for instantaneous retrieval of MultiValued and normalized data as well as giving the programmer the ability to write customized retrieval logic.

Database Type, Structure and Location Independence

Blacksmith allows development of applications without regard to the ultimate physical database type, structure, or location. This reduces application development concerns; and it protects future options for database platforms and network topology. The logical model is maintained in the Blacksmith parameter tables. If the database model is changed from a MultiValue model like UniVerse to a first normal form (1NF) model, like Oracle, Blacksmith performs the required data re-mapping or translation so that application programs do not have to be changed. If the database is relocated to a different network node or server, network directories are updated, and no change is required to the applications.