public interface ReifyOnSite
Reify is a cloud-based visual application
builder in which users
can build screens via drag-and-drop, create DataSources from sample data or using wizards,
and visually define standard event handlers and multi-step workflows.
Reify OnSite is a special version of Reify that can be installed on your own network, behind
your firewall, so that your data and intellectual property never leave your secure site.
Applications are deployed to your private cloud, also behind your firewall. The tool itself
can be configured for your specific requirements. DataSources that connect to internal
enterprise data services are supported, custom
components can be
added to the palette library, and the Reify design environment itself can even be customized
on a per-user basis.
Reify OnSite is licensed separately from Reify.com accounts, and separately from Smart GWT developer licenses, generally purchased as a either a fixed number of seats or unlimited within a group, site or company-wide. Contact us here to get started,
Installation
The OnSite package comes with an Embedded Tomcat server and pre-populated HSQL database that's ready to be run with no additional setup required. If desired, it can be deployed to a separate servlet engine or run against a different database engine.
Account Management
Reify Designer Accounts are managed via a plain SQLDataSource, named "isc_reifyUsers", which
you
can edit using the DataSources tab of the Admin
Console or
Developer Console. Within the DataSources tab,
click on the "isc_reifyUsers"
DataSource record to open a section for editing user records, and click "add record" to add
additional users. User records can be removed by clicking on the delete icon in the
rightmost column of each record.
As shipped, a single user account, "admin" (password "reify"), is provided. To grant superuser privileges to additional accounts, just enter "superuser" for the "roles" field in the record.
How Reify Stores your Designs and Data
Reify uses FileSource DataSources to store your
projects
(isc_hostedProjects DS), screens (isc_hostedScreens DS), and
DataSources (isc_hostedDataSources DS), rather than writing them to disk as files.
These DataSources are shared for all users of your organization, so project and screen names
must be unique.
Deployment
Reify OnSite runs your application in a dedicated sandbox (a separate database in HQL),
with its own copy of each of your project MockDataSources instantiated
as real SQL DataSources in the HSQL database. This process is called deployment.
DataSources that are not MockDataSources are just deployed "as is" and will behave
the same in all the different types of deployments.
During deployment, a unique database is created on the fly (one per deployment), named:
sbx_<deploymentType>_deployment_<deploymentId>_org_1
where the deployment type is one of "test", "staging", or "production". The following
DataSources are created in the deployment database during deployment, with records related
to the project being deployed copied from the common database, in the case of the FileSource
DataSources:
| DataSource Name | Contents | Is FileSource? |
| isc_hostedProjects | project definitions | Y |
| isc_hostedScreens | screen definitions | Y |
| isc_hostedDataSources | MockDataSource definitions | Y |
| isc_hostedSettings | project-specific settings | Y |
| isc_hostedUsers | users for deployment | N |
| isc_hostedRoles | user roles for deployment | N |
| isc_hostedSessions | tracks deployment sessions | N |
Your application's deployment URL will target the current host with a path like:
/<deploymentType>/reify/<deploymentName>/
where the deployment type is one of "app" (production), "test", or "staging", and the
deployment name is one you choose during deployment, defaulting to the project name. For
example, the complete URL might look like:
https://server1.bigco.com/staging/reify/vendor_evaluation/
for a staging deployment of BigCo's "vendor evaluation" project to server1.
Future releases will support deployment to both private and public clouds, and multi-organization, allowing you to customize the middle path segment.
Note that using the "Export" option under the "Project" button, you can combine any created
screen with a Smart GWT SDK, and thus deploy to any platform that supports Java servlets
and a database. For more details, refer to Reify for Developers.
Auditing
Audit DataSources are automatically created during deployment for each DataSource in your
deployment. You can open the Deployment
Management Console to
examine any DataSource in the deployment, view or edit users and roles, and analyze what
sessions have hit the deployment, as well as what changes they've made to your DataSources.
Custom Components
Reify OnSite allows adding custom components to the palette, including components built on
new classes and component schema. For an
overview of the files
required (e.g. globalDependencies.xml) and where to place them, see
"Adding Custom Components to Reify".
Custom Workflow Tasks
With Reify OnSite, custom workflow tasks and associated editors can be added to support
your special project needs. See ReifyAddWorkflowTask for
details.
Advanced Tasks
Reify has various advanced tasks to be used in workflows, where Send Email
and Send SMS are some of them.
Take a look at the ReifyMessaging to know more about them.
Default Skin for the initial project
Any skin, standard or custom, can be configured as the default skin for Reify and it will be applied to the initial, default project created the first time each user logs in. New projects created thereafter use the currently selected skin.
Call isc.Reify.setDefaultSkin(skinName [, skinURL]), typically from the
Runtime Customization detailed below, to set the default skin for this instance of
Reify. If the default skin is a custom skin it will not show up in the Project->Skin
menu automatically. See the Custom Skins section below for details on adding that selection.
When using the Runtime Customization to register the default skin, set the
load timing to afterVBCreate.
Custom Skins
Custom skins that are not hosted by the Skin Editor can be registered with Reify by calling
Reify.registerSkin(). The skin can then be
selected from Project->Skin->Custom
Skins menu. This skin registration is typically done via Runtime Customization detailed
below. An optional URL can be provided if the skin is not located in the standard location
(i.e. isomorphic/skins) or is served by a different server. Note that the URL must include
the skin name as its last component (ex. /mySkins/MyCustomSkin).
When using the Runtime Customization to register the custom skin, set the
load timing to afterVBCreate.
Runtime Customization
Reify OnSite provides a mechanism, the "isc_reifyCustomizations" DataSource,
whereby you can customize the project runtime environment with your own JavaScript
snippets. Note that direct access to this dataSource
requies the "superuser"
role.
To add customizations, use the DataSources tab
in the Admin or
Developer Console. Select "isc_reifyCustomizations" in the DataSource List, and then
click "Add Record" at the bottom of the new section that appears to start editing a new
record. The following fields should be populated:
/foo.js) and absolute (e.g.
http://mysite.com/cool/custom.js) URLs are supported.Resolving Errors
Errors encountered by Reify OnSite, which may raise a dialog with a countdown timer
reloading the page, are logged to the "isc_hostedErrorReports" DataSource in the HSQL database
reifyNoSandbox. Records here are detailed, containing the click stream of
events leading up to the crash, as well as the stack trace. To help resolve any errors,
VPN-based remote support can be purchased from Isomorphic.
Switching Database Engines
To switch Reify OnSite to use another database engine, such as MySQL, you can use the
"Database Configuration" tab of the Admin Console
to change the default
database, and then the "Import DataSources" tab to populate the required tables. You'll
need to import the following DataSource definitions to populate the reify
database::
Switching Servlet Engines
To switch to another servlet engine, such as Jetty, you just need to remove the
bin/ and embeddedTomcat/ subdirectories from the
WEB-INF/ directory inside the zip, and then repackage it as a war with
WEB-INF/ underneath the root by running something such as:
cd reifyOnSite && jar -cvf reifyOnSite.war *
in the directory where you originally expanded the Reify OnSite package. This will produce
a standard Java war file that can be deployed to any servlet engine / application server
that supports at least J2SE.