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Documentation reporting development on JBoss server
Business Case
Prior to starting this project with SoloSoft, the customer had an application that facilitated the online creation and management of various reports. Reports are very specific to the industry in which company is operating.
The application could be deployed on JBoss 3.2.3 application server and used MySQL database server. The application strength is its ability to track a large number of custom reports through a pre-defined workflow.
Adding configurable Workflow, Roles and Locations features
The hard-coded workflow was substituted with configurable workflow via implementing XML documents and loader class for those files.
The report workflow, roles and locations can be customized by creating XML files per customer's specifics.
Three different code branches were merged into one main 'Company' application.
Security infrastructure implementation. The data transmission was unsecured. The SSL feature was added to the application and now uses RSA/AES algorithms with SSL/TLS communication.
Added JBoss v. 4.x.x. support. Additional configuration files were added to the application so now it can be deployed on newer versions of the JBoss application server.
Management reports creation and integration. Previous versions of the application lacked the ability to provide analytical information about reports. SoloSoft development team added 'Management reports' feature. These reports are based on Crystal Reports technology and the application extended to include Crystal Reports libraries and Web interface to work with analytical information.
DB mapping creation and integration. The information that is entered into reports had to be stored in the database tables with specific schema according to third-party DB standard. SoloSoft implemented several mappings using existing Java code, added new classes and updated existing ones so all information could be mapped correctly.
SoloSoft created customer specific configuration, integrated different form templates into application. Customer specific configuration was created in CVS.
Project Benefits
Current version of the Company reporting system has the following advantages:
Configurable report workflow, roles and locations
One main 'company' application with customer specific directories
SSL/TLS support with AES 128- or 256-bit encryption
JBoss 4 support
Management reports for overall report analysis
Advanced DB mapping support
Several customer configurations
Minor fixes and library updates
Continuous application development brings additional advantages improving JBoss v.4.x.x support, DB mapping support. Customized customer configuration integration is the integral part of the current solution.
Tools and Technologies
The following technologies, applications development tools and frameworks were used during application development:
EJB
XML (JDOM libraries)
Struts
Velocity
XDoclet
Ant
JBoss
MySQL
Crystal Reports XI Developer, Crystal Reports 4 Eclipse
Eclipse (with JBoss IDE plugins)
JUnit
Jakarta Cactus
Apache Commons libraries
BFO PDF libraries
AccuSoft libraries