1. Low-code development
As current IT technology hotspots, microservices, platformization, and cloud computing mainly emphasize sharing and reuse, and they promote rapid software delivery and deployment.
But the real pain point is that even if most software adopts micro-service technology or platform ideas, it is difficult to quickly meet the changes in business needs through software sharing and reuse. Most of the needs still need to be re-developed, resulting in software delivery time long.
This kind of development not only has a large workload and low technical content, but also has a high degree of personalization and low sharing. When doing this kind of development, it is nothing more than adding a few fields in a certain table, and then adding relevant input attributes in the interface, adjusting background service logic, process flow control and other minor improvements. The software itself has not changed much.
Therefore, rapid configuration and release of software through low-code development platforms has become a hot spot in the current software industry. At the same time, as the domestic entrepreneurial environment is getting better and better, the number of small and medium-sized enterprises has been rising steadily in recent years, and they have an eye-catching position in the market.
Although there are a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, due to the lack of certain funds and technical support, if the traditional application development model is used to develop applications, it will be difficult to afford both technology and capital chain. At this time, the low-code development model can be developed without high cost and professional technology, which lowers the threshold for developers, so it has become a favorite of small and medium-sized enterprises.
2. What is low code?
(1) Low code is the product of the gradual optimization and evolution of traditional software development.
As a new application development model and tool, the low-code development platform has the characteristics of model-driven, open integration, visual guidance, and automated development. It is beneficial for enterprises to efficiently and flexibly support unknown scenarios, ensure the convenience and high efficiency of enterprise IT asset reuse, and enhance the enterprise's core competitiveness and business value.
(2) Low-code development platform (LCDP) itself is also a kind of software, which provides a development environment for developers to create application software.
For programmers, the nature of the low-code development platform is almost the same as IDEA, VS and other code IDEs (integrated development environments), and they are all productivity tools for developers.
Different from traditional code IDEs, the low-code development platform provides a higher-dimensional and easy-to-use visual IDE. In most cases, developers do not need to use traditional handwritten codes for programming, but complete development work in more efficient ways such as graphical drag and drop, parameter configuration, etc.
(3) The low-code development platform can realize the rapid delivery of business applications.
That is to say, not only can "develop" applications like traditional development platforms, but the focus of low-code development platforms is to develop applications "faster". More importantly, this speed is subversive: According to Forrester's 2016 survey, most companies reported that the low-code platform helped them improve development efficiency by 5-10 times. And we have reason to believe that as low-code technologies, products, and industries continue to mature, this multiple can continue to rise.
(4) The low-code development platform can reduce the development cost of business applications .
On the one hand, low-code development requires less investment in the entire software life cycle process (less code writing, environment setup and deployment costs are simpler); on the other hand, low-code development also significantly reduces the developer's Using the threshold, non-professional developers can quickly get on the job after simple IT basic training, which can not only fully mobilize and utilize the existing human resources of the enterprise, but also greatly reduce the dependence on expensive professional developer resources.
The goal of the low-code development platform is to quickly configure graphically, and realize business functions without writing code as much as possible or writing a very small amount of code.
3. How to achieve low-code development?
Now that low-code development has gradually become a trend in the future, and many people are trying to use low-code platforms, how is it built and deployed? Let me teach you here.
Experience platform: JNPF development platform
Experience version: JNPF3.4.7 (Vue3)
Application entry: https://www.jnpfsoft.com/?zhihu
JNPF is a low-code application construction platform developed by Yinmai Information. Through the visual drag and drop method, it takes only 2 hours to complete the development of an application in the traditional mode in 2 weeks. To build applications with it, you only need to focus on the business itself. Data storage, operating environment, server, network security, etc., the platform handles everything for you.
Through the following 5 major functions: [Form], [Process Form], [Report], [Custom Page], [External Link] , we can efficiently build the application we need.
01. Zero code development + code generator
- Zero-code development: equipped with a large number of reusable controls, through the operation interface elements, drag and drop controls to automatically generate visual applications;
- Low-code development: Based on Mybatis-plus-generator, a set of code generators is customized. By configuring the annotations of database fields, codes such as WEB front-end (vue), mobile terminal (vue), and back-end can be generated online, greatly reducing development difficulty;
02. Business process
JNPF's approval flow provides visual settings, setting approval nodes, setting conditions in nodes, and then giving control permissions to nodes (which approval actions this node can only perform, and which data can only be seen), so according to this visualization The approval flow design scheme is abstract, and the scope of application is very high.
It includes two parts, the process form and the process engine. The visual design of the process form is highly configurable. It adopts a structured form template design and a centralized analysis mode design. Adapt to the needs of various scenarios in China's national conditions, configuration WYSIWYG, low code, high configuration.
03. Report design
No need to develop any code, users only need to configure a series of parameters on the interface to realize the configuration of various types of reports, online rendering of report content, report export, printing and other functions;
04. Mainstream databases and operating systems
High degree of localization adaptation, support for connecting multiple data sources, applications can quickly complete data integration with third-party systems, currently supported databases include: SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and compatible with domestic databases Dameng, Renda Jincang wait.
At the same time, in the face of changes in the needs of various applications, JNPF provides a wealth of API interfaces to quickly realize the docking with commonly used third-party software such as DingTalk and Enterprise WeChat.
Four. Summary
Data model designers, process designers, and page designers are the core of low-code platforms. If you understand the MVC layered architecture of software design, you can easily understand the core product functions of low-code platforms and different product ideas. Of course, different low-code platforms have more powerful functions with their own characteristics. Interested readers can do further research.