OfficeSync Client Platform
| The OfficeSync Client Platform exposes information from Line of Business applications to the local client applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, or even custom client applications. The client application platform handles all the logic required to accept information changes on the local client and synchronize them to the OfficeSync Server Platform. In addition, the client platform maintains the offline data store and provides secure access to the encrypted data store. |
The Client Platform consists of the following components:
Data Access Layer
This core piece of the Client Platform wraps the access to the offline database. All database transactions occur through this layer.
Metadata Object Layer
This layer is responsible for using the configuration metadata to wrap access to the stored information in the offline database. This layer reads the configuration metadata and uses that information to access the correct line of business information. The layer contains all the configuration settings for items such as exposed types, exposed fields, whether the fields are read-only or read/write, field data types, and a host of other configuration settings.
Application Programming Interfaces
This is the most robust layer of the Client Platform. This layer provides specific functionality on top of the metadata object layer, exposing a set of base classes where all the programmable interfaces are exposed. These base classes include the Widget Base classes used to create specific widget items; the base Business Logic class which can be extended to enforce more sophisticated business logic; the Polling Pipelines which control synchronization logic; and a number of other extensibility mechanisms.
Common User Interface Elements
A number of basic UI items are built into the OfficeSync Client Platform. These include grid controls which are used to expose lists of information and input forms which are driven by the exposed metadata. Other items included are an Outlook Add-In which is used to expose the Line of Business information into the Microsoft Outlook interface.
Synchronization Engine
The synchronization engine is the built in application component which controls the flow of information to and from the OfficeSync Server Platform. This engine handles all the logic for tracking changes, pulling updates, and removing stale or expired items from the local data store. The engine uses the pipeline components and the web service interfaces to move the information back and forth to the server platform. Both the pipeline components and the web service interfaces are exposed through the API layer and can be customized as necessary.