Evolutility models are DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) descriptions of applications. These models contain all the metadata necessary to describe the backend (database tables and columns, validation...) and the UI (views, fields, validation...).
Cool things to do with Evolutility models:
-
Create a database - generate SQL for Postgres.
-
Automatically provide REST or GraphQL endpoints using Evolutility-Server-Node or Hasura.
-
Run a Web UI with Evolutility-UI-React or Evolutility-UI-jQuery.
The metamodel is the structure of the model (the model of models). I think about it as the vocabulary for making models.
Models describe objects with fields, Field groups, and collections (nested lists of objects).
For any object, all UI views (List, Cards, Edit, Charts...) share the same model. All Fields are present in the Edit and Browse views. Fields can be flagged as "inMany" to be included in List, Cards, and Charts views.
module.exports = {
id: "todo",
label: "To-Do List",
name: "task",
namePlural: "tasks",
icon: "todo.png",
titleField: "title",
table: "task",
fields: [
{
id: "title",
label: "Title",
type: "text",
width: 100,
required: true,
inMany: true,
inSearch: true,
column: "title",
maxLength: 255
},
{
id: "duedate",
type: "date",
label: "Due Date",
width: 38,
inMany: true,
column: "due_date"
},
...
]
}| Property | Meaning | UI | DB |
|---|---|---|---|
| id | Unique key to identify the entity (used as API parameter). | X | X |
| icon | Icon file name for the entity (example: "cube.png"). | X | |
| world | Application the object belongs to (e.g. "organizer"). | X | X |
| name | Object name (singular) (e.g.: "contact"). | X | |
| namePlural | Object name (plural) (e.g.: "contacts"). | X | |
| title | Application name (e.g.: "Addressbook"). | X | X |
| fields | Array of fields. | X | X |
| groups | Array of groups. If not provided a single group will be used. | X | |
| collections | Array of collections (displayed as Lists). | X | X |
| titleField | Id of the field which value is used as record title. titleField can also be a function. | X | X |
| titleFunction | Function to calculate the record title based it's data. Example: titleFunction = (d) => d.firstname + " " + d.lastname; | X | X |
| table | Driving database table name (there are secondary tables for fields of type "lov"). | X | |
| pKey | Name of the Primary key column (single column of type serial). Default to "id". In the data the key is always called "id". | X | |
| defaultViewMany | Default view for Many records (possible values: list, cards, charts). | X | |
| defaultViewOne | Default view for One record (possible values browse, edit). | X |
X: Indicate if the property is used in UI/DB models.
For the backend, fields are columns in a database table. For the frontend, fields are textboxes, checkboxes, datepickers... in Edit view, and they are columns in List view.
| Property | Meaning | UI | DB |
|---|---|---|---|
| id | Unique key for the field (can be the same as column but doesn't have to be). | X | X |
| type | Field type to show in the UI. Possible field types:
|
X | X |
| label | Field description (displayed with an asterisk for required fields). | X | |
| labelShort | Optional shorter version of the labels (used in List and Cards views). | X | |
| required | Determines if the field is required for saving. | X | X |
| readOnly | Field value cannot be changed. | X | X |
| defaultValue | Default field value for new records. | X | X |
| hideIfEmpty | Hide field when empty in Browse view. | X | |
| dependantField | ID of an optional dependant field. Used when selecting in one list changes the content of dependant list (among 2 fields of type "lov").records. | X | X |
| max, min | Maximum/Minimum value allowed (only applies to numeric fields). | X | X |
| maxLength, minLength | Maximum/Minimum length allowed (only applies to text fields). | X | X |
| regExp | Regular expression used to validate the field value. | X | X |
| inMany | Determines if the field is present (by default) in lists of records. | X | X |
| inSearch | Determine if the field is used in text searches. | X | |
| height | For fields of type "textmultiline", number of lines used in the field (in Browse and Edit views). | X | |
| width | Field width in Browse and Edit views (in percent of parent width). Default: 100% | X | |
| help | Optional help on the field. | X | |
| chartType | Default charts type used for the field ("Bars", "Pie", or "Table"). The default value is "Bars". | X | |
| search | Include field in search. | X | X |
| noFilter | Exclude field from filters (only applies to fields of type integer, decimal, money, boolean, list of values which are "chartable"). | X | X |
| noCharts | Exclude field from charts (only applies to fields of type integer, decimal, money, boolean, list of values which are "chartable"). | X | X |
| noStats | Exclude field from stats. | X | X |
| column | Database column name for the field. | X | |
| pii | Flag for personally identifiable information. | X | |
| lovTable | Table to join to for field value (only for fields of "lov" type). | X | |
| lovColumn | Column name (in the lovTable) for field value (only for fields of "lov" type). | X | |
| lovIcon | LOV items have icons (only for fields of "lov" type). | X | X |
| deleteTrigger | Deleting records in the lovTable will trigger a cascade delete (this property is only used for creating the database). | X | |
| object | Model id for the object to link to (only for fields of "lov" type). | X | X |
| unique | Field value must be unique. | X | X |
UI: The field will only be present in the UI model. DB: The field will only be present in the DB model.
Field Groups are used to visually group fields on the page for browsing or editing.
Field Groups are only used in UI models and are optional. By default a single group holds all fields.
| Property | Meaning | UI | DB |
|---|---|---|---|
| id | Unique key for the group. It is optional. | X | |
| type | Type of group. Only "panel" is currently implemented ("tab" and "accordeon" will be added later). | X | |
| label | Group title as displayed to the user. | X | |
| fields | Array of field ids. | X | |
| width | Width (in % of the container total width). | X | |
| help | Optional help tooltip text. | X | |
| header | Text to be displayed at the top of the group (just below the group title). | X | |
| footer | Text to be displayed below the group. | X |
Multiple Master-Details can be specified with collections.
| Property | Meaning | UI | DB |
|---|---|---|---|
| id | Unique key for the collection. | X | X |
| title | Collection title. | X | |
| table | Table to query for the details list. | X | |
| column | Column in the details table to match against object's id. | X | |
| object | Model id for the object to link to. When specified, "column" and "table" can be omitted. | X | X |
| hideIfEmpty | Hide Collection when it is empty in Edit view (always hidden when empty in Browse view). | X | |
| order | Direction to order by "asc" or "desc". | X | |
| orderBy | SQL where clause, e.g. { orderBy="id" }. | X | |
| fields | Array of fields. Collections are not editable so their fields do not need as many properties as the main object's fields. | X | X |
| help | Optional help tooltip text. | X | |
| header | Text to be displayed at the top of the collection. | X | |
| footer | Text to be displayed below the collection. | X |
Models are description of objects and their properties/fields, field groups, and sometimes nested-collections.
With models of models, we can store models in the database (instead of JSON files) and have an app to build other apps.
- Test model with fields of all possible types.
Generate SQL script to create a Postgres DB with tables for all models.
In the command line type the following:
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Create SQL for sample database w/ demo tables
npm run db
Note: The database creation and population scripts are logged in the files "/dist/sql/evol-db-schema-{datetime}.sql" and "/dist/sql/evol-db-data-{datetime}.sql".
This project provides scripts to make UI-models for Evolutility-UI-React and DB-models for Evolutility-Server-Node from models.
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Generate DB and UI models
npm run models
## Generate UI models
npm run models_ui
## Generate DB models
npm run models_db
Generated models are saved in the directories "/dist/models-ui" and "/dist/models-db". The list of "full" models to generate from is specified in "/models/all_models.js".
Note: The full models can be used as they are by both UI and back-end (which ignore what they do not need in the models).
Copyright (c) 2024 Olivier Giulieri.
Evolutility-Models is released under the MIT license.