Today, I want to show you the new Template Wizard in Data Abstract for Delphi.
Notice the VCL Application icon under the Data Abstract project type. This will launch the new Template Wizard. The template wizard includes a number of new options that were previously not available.
The first project type creates a Client for Relativity server. If you are not familiar with Relativity server, it is a pre-built, reusable server recently introduced with Data Abstract. It serves as your middle-tier, making data publishing easy, so you can focus on your client application development.
If you have an existing custom Data Abstract server, you will want to choose the second option to create a new client. This is great when you want to add a new, different client to your existing architecture, if you are connecting to a server created by someone else, or with a different edition of Data Abstract.
Both of these two options obtain the schema information from the middle-tier instead of the database.
The third option is similar to the old wizard. It will create a new custom server and client at the same time. You just have to specify a connection to a database and the schema will be built based on that database, and then your client and server are built based on that schema.
This last option is an interesting twist on a Data Abstract application. Instead of having a separate middle-tier, it creates a single monolithic client that contains the schema and database connectivity. This effectively creates a Client/Server application, but lets you take advantage of the powerful and familiar features of Data Abstract, including schemas.
Let me show you how to create a client for Relativity server. If your Relativity server is running on your local network, the wizard can discover it via ZeroConf. If your server is not on the local network, just specify the Relativity URL. If you are using AES encryption, you also have to specify the password.
Now select the domain. Each domain is an individual Data Abstract server instance within the single Relativity server. If the domain you want is not already defined, you can click the Start Admin Tool to launch the Data Abstract Administration tool and define the domains and schemas you want.
You also need to provide the username and password necessary for connecting to the domain, because all the schema information is obtained via the connection to the Relativity server. This is great if you are connecting to a server that is hosted elsewhere and you wouldn’t otherwise have access to the database. The default Relativity data username & password is Data & Relativity.
Once you connect to the domain, the wizard enumerates the schemas and tables. Any tables selected will have strongly typed Data Tables created in the client application.
You can change your Data Streamer for Data Transfer. It is recommended that you stick with the Bin2DataStreamer though.
Finally, give your project a name and optionally specify a different location for the project.
When the wizard finishes, the project will open in Delphi ready for you to finish your application. The operation of the other wizards is pretty similar. I encourage you to download the latest update of Data Abstract for Delphi and try them out.
If you would like to see the Relativity client completed, check out the full video on the Data Abstract channel in RemObjects TV or watch it on YouTube.
