In the previous article, we discussed the technical requirements of the enterprise-level low-code development platform for the system architecture. Today, based on the architecture, we pay attention to the important value that openness brings to enterprise-level application development, and learn in detail how low-code development platforms can integrate various software and hardware and Internet services to open up data islands and promote synergy. Enterprise digital transformation and upgrading.
What is an enterprise application development platform?
Enterprise-level applications are a category of enterprise software applications, known as the "Pearl" in the field of software development. Typical enterprise-level applications can usually be divided into three categories, namely, application systems that support the core business of the enterprise (such as MES in the manufacturing industry, TMS in the transportation industry), large-scale integrated systems covering the entire enterprise process, and industry-based Personalized modules developed by software customization. These enterprise-level applications support the development of the core business of the enterprise and lay a solid foundation for the advancement of enterprise digitalization.
These characteristics determine the tools that can develop enterprise-level applications, which will inevitably meet the development of Internet applications, but not vice versa. This means that in choosing an enterprise-level application low-code development platform, in addition to productivity, you also need to focus on key indicators such as the technical architecture, openness, and security controllability of the tool itself.
This article will focus on openness, taking the movable type enterprise-level low-code development platform as an example, from multi-source data integration to various layer programming interfaces, a comprehensive introduction to low-code development tools that can support enterprise-level application development, and the development of such tools Open design.
The sword refers to "data islands", supporting multi-source data integration
As an important part and basic capability of system integration, multi-source data integration is regarded by more developers and corporate IT decision-makers as a necessary function of low-code development platform products. Up to now, a small number of advanced low-code development platform vendors have opened up data access capabilities and support to connect to other business systems through external databases. However, taking full account of the diversity of business systems, it is far from enough to open only the database level. In order to support multi-source data integration, movable type grid provides three solutions for different application scenarios.
- On the basis of providing a built-in database, Movable Type supports multiple mainstream databases such as MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle. Developers can use external databases for system construction just like using built-in databases. Whether it is data integration with third-party system databases or directly using professional-level databases to build high-performance enterprise-level applications, there are no technical barriers.
- The movable type grid provides a JSON data source solution, which consists of HTTP request invocation and JSON data analysis and processing functions. With this solution, developers can call web service interfaces provided by cloud services such as industry software, AI services, and IoT (Internet of Things) services without coding, send requests, and display data to end users for subsequent operations.
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For third-party software that only provides Excel/CSV file export, the movable type has a built-in Excel file import function out of the box, which can parse Excel files and CSV files, and extract the data into the data table according to the set import strategy Or on the page.
Unlimited expansion, programming interface from front to back
The needs of enterprise customers and the software technology itself are in rapid development. How to avoid the development platform from becoming a limiting factor for system development has become a difficult problem for enterprise-level low-code development platforms. Based on 40 years of technical accumulation in the field of professional controls, the solution of movable type grid is to provide developers with a comprehensive programming interface.
The programming interface and help document of movable type grid can help developers to accurately modify the processing logic of each layer through coding, avoid the worries of professional developers, and provide a solid technical foundation for system integration. The technologies, languages and typical usage scenarios supported by the programming interface are as follows.
Compliance deployment, support privatization deployment and cloud deployment
In order to fully meet the deployment method requirements of different application scenarios, compliance requirements and IT technical background in the enterprise-level application development process, the deployment method of the movable-type enterprise-level low-code development platform is very flexible and fully supports privatization and cloud deployment. For core business applications with a large user scale and high concurrency, the movable type grid can also support load balancing at the deployment level, which doubles the system's processing capacity.
From a practical point of view, the deployment methods of movable type grid servers mainly include the following three modes. No matter which mode is selected, developers and system administrators have complete control over applications and data.
- Cloud host: The cloud host mode is the recommended deployment method of movable type, especially suitable for enterprise-level applications with limited budget or Internet-based application scenarios (such as mobile office, etc.). Developers lease a cloud host (such as ECS) from cloud service providers such as Alibaba Cloud, and then deploy the server on the cloud host to provide services to end users and achieve the effect of "private cloud".
- Intranet penetration: If you need to frequently interact with data from other systems in the intranet, or if the application scenario is based on the intranet and supplemented by the Internet, developers can deploy the server in the intranet and pass NAT, reverse proxy and other networks Technology maps it to the external network. In this way, end users can also access the server through the Internet.
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Pure intranet: For financial or military enterprises that require high security and controllability, developers can deploy servers in the intranet of the enterprise, and end users can access it through the LAN, completely disconnecting from the Internet.
In addition to flexible deployment methods, the movable type server is based on .NET Core (an open source application development framework) technology and supports cross-platform. Developers can choose the Windows or Linux version according to their own technical background and corporate IT resources. After rigorous testing, the list of operating systems supported by movable type grid (V6.0 Update 1) is as follows.
- Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 Update / 10
- Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1／2012／2012 R2 Update／2016／2019
- CentOS 7
- Ubuntu 1604 / 1804
- RedHat 7
- Win the bid for Kirin V7
System integration ability is more valued is the industry development trend
In the "Top Ten Development Trends of China's Low-Code Development Platforms in 2020" released by the China Software Industry Association, "opening up data islands, the integration of low-code and business systems is more valued" was judged as an inevitable trend in the development of low-code development platforms , And the openness of the platform is the foundation that supports its system integration capabilities. Therefore, the industry believes that a high degree of openness is one of the necessary conditions for low-code development technology to support enterprise-level application development. As a leader in the domestic low-code technology trend, Movable Type Integrates 40 years of technical accumulation in the field of professional development controls in Grape City, supports multi-source data integration, provides a full range of programming interfaces, and can help developers quickly deliver business systems and hardware equipment , Enterprise-level applications with deep integration of software services.
If you want to learn about the movable type grid enterprise-level low-code development platform and its application cases, please search for "movable type grid" in Baidu, visit the official website, view more content, and download and try it for free.