Tools in the ABAF toolbox.

The Abstract IT Business Application Framework (ABAF) comes with the following tools:

• Database importer
  This is a reverse engineering tool that lets you extract a database and translate it to table definitions in code. Using this tool will have you up and running with the framework in 15 minutes.
• Database manager
  This is the central tool to update your database. All necessary changes are applied to the database driven by the table definition model in your application.
• Schema visualizer
  A tool to show parts of your data model as an UML class diagram. It's important to note that this is the other way around compared to a traditional design and build process. Normally you would draw an UML model or an ERD model in a design tool. If the tool supports schema generation you can update the database and then start to make the necessary modifications to you application. In ABAF there is only one source: the table definition model in code. You will make the modifications only once and change the database using the database manager and visualize the data model using the schema visualizer.

This is an example UML schema for a small part of a dat model. On the top left there is info about the tables and fields, on the left below is an explanation what's kept in the selected table(s).

Because the model is kept in code you can also write to different output formats if you like.

Next time I'll tell more about the inner workings of the framework.