M18 Developer Center

# Overview

Version: 1.1 | Release Date: 07/12/2020

# Caution

  1. Not overwriting any M18's SQL procedure.
  2. Not modifying/removing existing M18 table's fields.
  3. All SQL field name/procedure name should prefix with app code .
  4. _ should not be used as table/field name.

# Things to know

  1. The M18 platform is only licensed to Multiable's customers and third-party certified developers. Developing an app requires an authorized M18 platform.

  2. If you have questions, please contact Multiable's implementation consultant or ask your question in our forum (opens new window).

# M18 Architecture

M18 platform is developed based on J2EE and is deployed using WildFly (Java EE Server). M18 uses JSF, a component based web framework, for front-end development and EJB, a server-side software component, for back-end development. It uses MySQL as database.

WildFly, which is written in Java and implements the Java EE, is an application server authored by Red Hat (Original by JBoss). Familiarity with the configuration and function of WildFly will enhance developing, tuning and debugging.

EJB is a server-side software component that encapsulates business logic of an application. You can imagine EJB as a group of modules which contains different parts of business logic. It serves as a standard to handle issues that happen repeatedly. In M18, EJB receive requests from JSF and search for data in MySQL database if necessary.

mssst

# M18 App Concept

M18 is a combination of a low-code rapid development platform and some built-in App features.

Third-party developers can extend these existing features or add new features by developing their own apps.

App is a group of specific functions which can be managed and maintained separately. Different Apps can be grouped together to form a Web Application.

applist

# App development tutorial

To develop the M18 App, you need a complete set of run-time M18 programs, including WildFly and databases and M18 packages.

If multiple developers are developing on an M18 instance at the same time, the database is usually shared, and WildFly is a copy for each developer.

Your development environment should be a separate set of software independent of the production environment. Usually a user test environment installed with the production environment.

You'd better set up a development environment before continuing to read other content, which will give you a better understanding of other content.

# About app.xml

Each App has an xml file called app.xml that describes various attribute information of the App.

For the path of the app.xml, please refer to our example on Github (opens new window)

Name Required Description
name Y Unique key; name of the App
version Y Format: d.d.d_*** d is a number; The version number can only be increased
description N Description of the App
mess Y MessCode used in UI
ear Y Name of the ear; Must be caw_ear currently
ejb Y Name of the EJB jar
appLogoName Y Logo name in UI
appLogoLib Y Logo location in UI
developer Y Name of the developer in UI
developerLogoName Y Logo of the developer in UI
developerLogoLib Y Location of the logo of the developer in UI
dependences N Describe the dependences of the App
*** Other attributes will be explained in other sessions

Example:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<app xmlns="http://www.multiable.com/app">
	<name>m18 test</name>
	<version>1.0</version>
	<description>test</description>
	<ear>caw_ear</ear>
	<ejb>core_ejb</ejb>

	<dependences>
		<dependence id="caw" version="1.0">
	</dependences>

</app>

# Glossary

Name Description
Module M18 Module is similar to domain model in Domain-driven design.
Menu A View entry of the Module, each Module can have multiple views with different layout and permission controls. End users can also define their own Menu and related View layout.
SqlEntity Sometimes abbreviated as Entity, one record of the Module, represented by an instance of SqlEntity.
SqlTable An instance of SqlTable that corresponds to a row of records in a database table.
Lookup Means search in M18, includes the conditions of the query, the columns displayed, the scope of the keyword query
Mess The abbreviation of Message, please refer to i18N Implementation

# M18 Module

The Module is a representation of meaningful real-world concepts pertinent to the domain that need to be modeled in software.

The concepts include the data involved in the business and rules the business uses in relation to that data.

For example, Customers, Sales Orders, Employees, Warehouses, Departments

M18 use xml file named module.xml to describe Module, please refer to module.xml for detail.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<module name="virDept" mess="virDept" extend="false" mainTable="virdept" useChangenote="true"  genCode_Type="VO" recType="" useAccess="true" useAttach="true" useApv="true">
	<table name="virdept" key="code" initRow="1" hpk="" fKey="" hfName="" hfKey="" order=""/>
	<table name="virdeptpic" key="id" initRow="0" hpk="hId" fKey="picTypeId;userId;startDate" hfName="" hfKey="" order="" cpnType="table"/>
    <table name="virdeptmember" key="id" initRow="0" hpk="hId" fKey="" hfName="" hfKey="" order="" cpnType="table"/>
		
	<checker class="com.multiable.core.ejb.checker.VirDeptChecker"/>
</module>

# M18 Menu

M18 use xml file named navmenu.xml to describe Menu, please refer to navmenu.xml for detail.

<folder code="language" messCode="core.lang">
	<menu code="langSetting" messCode="langSetting" src="view/module/langSetting" mType="SETTING">
		<function name="Save" />
	</menu>
			
	<menu code="udfMess" messCode="udfMess" src="view/module/udfMess">
		<function name="Save" />
		<function name="DataImport;DataExport" />
	</menu>
			
	<menu code="i18nFieldSetting" messCode="i18nFieldSetting" src="view/module/i18nFieldSetting" module="i18nFieldSetting" mType="SETTING">
		<function name="Save" />
	</menu>
</folder>

# M18 SqlTable

Based on the extensible feature of M18, SqlTable is created to be a common data carrier for data storage.

SqlTable consists of table name (not necessarily equal to the table name in database), column information as wall as data.

M18 use xml file named datadict.xml to describe SqlTable, please refer to datadict.xml for detail.

<table name="useremailsender" mess="emailSender" pk="id">
		<inherit name="id_irev" />
	
		<column name="hId" type="int_unsigned" mess="user" defValue="0" defPattern="user" />
		<column name="mailUser" type="varchar" mess="core.mailUser" length="100" defPattern="char100" />
		<column name="mailPwd" type="varchar" mess="core.mailPwd" length="2000" defPattern="char2000" skipLookup="true" dataExport="false"/>
		<column name="mailAccount" type="varchar" mess="core.mailAccount" length="100" defPattern="char100" />
</table>

Note:

1. Please ensure the data in SqlTable can be transfered to JSON as the system will use JSON format in operation.

2. M18 does not recommend storing a SqlTable or other non-primitive type data into SqlTable.

# M18 SqlEntity

SqlEntity is a common data carrier to save, read, update or delete the modules defined in module.xml.

SqlEntity consists of the current module name and a group of SqlTables.

Note:

1. A `mainTable` must exist in SqlEntity and M18 will consider the `id` in the `mainTable` to be `id` of the SqlEntity.

SqlTable's common operation

Retrieve Data from Database

SqlTable data = CawDs.getSqlResult("select * from test where code like 'B%';");

Create New Table

SqlTable data = new SqlTable();
data.setName("test");
data.addField(new SqlTableField("info", String.class));
data.addField(new SqlTableField("check", Boolean.class));
// or
SqlTable data_new = data.genEmptyTable();

Add Row and Assign Value

int row = data.addRow();
data.setString(row,"info","test");

Table Loop

for(int row : data){
	String info = data.getString(row,"info");
}

Append Tables

SqlTableLib.append(src, inc);

Create Table Indices

Integer[] indexs = SqlTableLib.getIndex(sortFields, data);

Note:

1. Please refer to the classes `SqlTable` and `SqlTableLib` for most of the SqlTable's operation.

# M18 Lookup

Each Module's Menu will have a Lookup by default, and the end user can also define their own Lookup.

lookup1

When you reference the data of another module in one module, the query used is also defined by Lookup.

lookup2

The implementation of Lookup is defined by stInfo.xml and stSearch.xml.

CheckMsg

Almost all error messages in M18 use the class CheckMsg.

CheckMsg mainly consists of:

  • info_desc: Message displayed in user interface. Should not contain any mess code.

  • trace: Information about where this CheckMsg is created.

  • MsgLocator is used to define which field(s) causes the error.

Note: Please refer to CheckMsgLib for displaying messages in M18.