What is the technology behind DBIZ & what are the advantages?

Firstly, DBIZ is composed of many technologies chosen for their flexibility, ease of use and specialty. Each technology has a very specific role that it does better than any other. Extending DBIZ is a breeze and a dream for IT departments who want to integrate and manage centrally.

Easily Extended

Javascript

Javascript is "the" scripting language of the internet and much easier to work with than many other programming languages. Javascript books are by the hundreds and Javascript has a short learning curve - students get results in no time.

DBIZ uses Javascript in its client side code and a small proportion of code is embedded in the web page using the <script language=javascript></script> tag in the body, but most of the javascript code is placed in .js files which make managing code much easier. These file are referenced using the <script language="javascript" src="FileName.js"></script> tag in the head section of the XHTML page.

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ASP.NET

The DBIZ WebForms, which can be recognised by the .ASPX extension, are generated by a Web Application in IIS (Internet Information Services). These web Pages are basically plain XHTML that use XML to retrieve data from the DBIZ XML Web Service. The simplicity of those Web Pages make them a breeze to modify.

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XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation)

XSTL allows the XML output by the DBIZ XML Web Services to be processed and transformed which is then displayed in the Web Pages. XSLT is specifically designed to process XML data and has the ability to "transform" XML data into numerous other formats: XML to XML, XML to XHTML, XML to tab sparated values, XML to PDF etc... Developers can "intercept" the flow of data between the Web Service and the Web Pages and modify the data to be displayed to the user. It is a powerful architecture allowing great results with little effort.

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XPATH

As DBIZ uses MSXML to carry out it's AJAX operations, DBIZ sometimes uses XPATH (with selectSingleNode and selectNodes) to query the XML strings as opposed to XSLT. XPATH is used when only one or two values need to be retrieved from the XML.

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CSS (Casading Style Sheets)

DBIZ uses CSS for colour schemes and some visual aspects such as margin size, border effects, fonts effects, URL Link effects, background image and text alignment.

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A little more involved (but still accessible)

Transact SQL (Microsoft SQL Server 2005)

The "backend" or "database" is written in Transact SQL using Stored Procedures and Views extensively. As the Middle Tier does NOT use dynamic SQL (also known as LINQ Queries) developers can easily modify the Transact SQL code in the Stored Procedures and Views.

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ASP.NET Web Service

The DBIZ XML Web Service is the "Middle Tier" that communicates with the database, it is the linch pin between the Web Pages and the Database. It requires developers to use Visual Studio and requires developers to have a knowledge of C#.

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Silverlight 4.0

This DBiz eCommerce or "Shopping Cart" is now entirely written in Silverlight. Silverlight 4.0 is the latest release from Microsoft and makes true Line Of Business Web Applications a reality. Silverlight is compatible with a wide range of Web browsers and operating systems, including the Mac; therefore, whether your clients are using Windows or Mac they are able to purchase from you using secure and cutting edge technology.

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