Technology Overview

pointdragon™ is powered by a revolutionary new way of defining computer applications that fundamentally changes the development process and the execution environment. This patented invention, the Object Process Graph (OPG) pat. 7,316,001, represents a radical break from traditional software development and execution technologies.

The Object Process Graph pat. 7,316,001, is a general purpose executable graph that incorporates every aspect of an application, including process, user interface, and database. No text-based programming language, tool, or database is required to define any part of an application, no matter how large or complex. A complete high-level visual programming environment is used to define an OPG pat. 7,316,001. No code is ever generated - the graph is the code. OPGs interface with traditional programming languages and databases through industry standard protocols.

The OPG is a dynamic graph structure that allows developers to construct and modify program logic, database functionality, and user interfaces in real-time while a program is running. Developers are able to demonstrate evolving OPG applications as requirements are gathered. As a result, they are able to produce applications with the right functionality in a fraction of the time required by traditional development.

The OPG is an implementation of a composite layered graph. It is composed of a set of directed graphs and a set of trees. Each node within the graph belongs to both a directed graph and a tree. The directed graph to which each node belongs defines its relationships with other nodes within the graph. The tree to which a node belongs defines the composition hierarchy to which it belongs. A node may belong to multiple directed graphs as well as multiple composition hierarchies.

Using pointdragon™, OPG applications are defined with the following components: Classes, Methods, Data Action Maps, Tables, Data Groups, Fields/Columns, Actions, and Action Conditions. These components are represented by icons on the pointdragon™ editor's palette. A brief description of each component follows:

• Classes - are complete process elements within an application that contain both data and program logic.
• Methods - are program logic compositions within a class.
• Data Action Maps - are data structures within a class that define data elements and their associated transformation actions.
• Tables - define top level tabular data in the database and tabular data as components of Data Action Maps and Data Groups.
• Data Groups - are components of Data Action Maps, Tables and Data Groups.
• Fields/Columns - are components of Data Action Maps, Tables, and Data Groups that hold predefined data objects.
• Actions - define a dynamic relationship between two components.
• Action Conditions - define conditions for executing Actions.

pointdragon™ provides novel security and administration features that provide complete access control over every aspect of an application, every screen, every screen entry field, and every database field. Data within an application can be owned by an individual user or group, with read/write access restricted to specified users or groups. Moreover, all these features are part of the OPG itself so that the same tools used to define application specific OPGs are also used to create sophisticated multilayer security systems as well - all without traditional programming.

pointdragon provides a novel WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor that allows one to completely define all user interfaces. No manual integration or interfacing between the UI (user interface) being designed and the program logic and data model is necessary. While the application is running you can rearrange and change the UI to meet system requirements. This level of integration is possible because the WYSIWYG interface editor directly updates the OPG, which contains all the process, data and display information needed to run the complete application.

pointdragon also includes an integrated automated testing system that allows a developer/user to test any changes made to an application. No manual integration or interfacing between the Automated Tester and the program logic, data model or user interface is necessary. After making changes to an application with pointdragon, clicking on a link will run the application to test the changes. This level of integration is possible because the Automated Tester is completely integrated with the application's OPG.

pointdragon provides a comprehensive audit and data change control system. pointdragon can log every change to any data within an application, as well as track and record access to any part of an application's interface, and is able to do so at any level of granularity. pointdragon is also able to turn audit logging on or off for any specific data item. pointdragon's audit and security features facilitate compliance with government regulations such as 21 CFR Part 11.

Drawing on the unique capabilities of the Object Process Graph, pointdragon provides complete control over an application during run time, allowing IT staff to quickly understand and correct any problems or errors that may occur while the application is running in production. Utilizing the concept of long-lived transactions to unify many short-lived transactions, pointdragon can manage, through rollbacks, deletions, recovery, and other process oriented manipulations the work being performed within the system by a given user over an extended period.

pointdragon includes a complete RDBMS interface that can be used to provide access to and persist application data to the databases of legacy applications implemented with traditional technology. RDBMS schemas are generated and updated by pointdragon automatically, no developer editing is required. In addition, OPG database tables can be generated automatically from RDBMS schemas by clicking a button.

Adding and deleting data in an RDBMS from an OPG is transparent, i.e. an application developer does not have to do anything special to access RDBMS data.

pointdragon can provide web services and access web services provided by applications implemented as OPGs or with traditional technologies. The pointdragon web service interface is based on the SOAP 1.2 standard.

The core technology of pointdragon is implemented entirely in Java and Java related technologies such as Struts and AJAX. Therefore, any operating system that supports Java can be used to run OPG based pointdragon. This includes Unix, Linux, Windows XP and the Macintosh OS and OS X. pointdragon can be deployed on any J2EE application server.