| Vendidi Database Manager |
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Vendidi Database Manager is a web application able to interacte with a SQL database, allowing you to create the database structure for web applications or standard applications for Windows. Regarding web applications, you can use Vendidi Database Manager also for inserting and maintaining data.
Using Vendidi Database Manager for structuring a database
The data structure of a Vendidi database is dynamic... In fact, as you prefer in according to your needs, you can expand the number of fields, assigning them any format, with no limit. Creating a new field (or property type) is a very simple task. You are demanded only to point and click the type of property and to insert a name as id.
Then, you can customize every property type inserting default values (for instance, in a property field, setting up the max length for characters). Moreover, you can control a default value also for multi-language properties, inserting different values for each language.
How to organize data fields
After you created all the property types you need, you can organize them inside specific templates, to provide the next step: data insertion for categories, products and parties.
You can choose between three types of templates:
• CategoryTemplate, to organize property types for setting up category layouts.
• CategoryProduct, to organize property types for setting up product layouts.
• CategoryParty, to organize property types for adding
information to the party layouts.
The page for defining a template (for Category, Product and Party), shows two select boxes: one with the list of all property types you created previously, the other empty, destined to contain properties you indicate for building the template. Just pointing and clicking, you can create as many templates you want, using the desired data fields.
Subsequently, you can manage the properties, you have inserted in a template, inside the Catalog
or the Party option as input fields...
Each is different, according to the format type (for instance, you can see a boolean property as a checkbox).
Moreover, you can also organize property types disposition to make data insertion and
management easier. In fact, any user,
visualizing a product template, should be happiest if the product name is listed at the first position instead, randomly, at the fourth or the last. In the Template option you can use the buttons Move up/Move down to solve that problem.
Catalog structure
Data, inside a Vendidi application, is organized through catalogs, categories and products. Each catalog can contain an unlimited number of categories. Each category can contain, at the same time, an unlimited number of products and sub-categories. Moreover, the same category can be contained in other categories, with no limit. Then, the same product can belong to more categories.
Vendidi allows to create two types of catalogs: Base and Custom. A Base catalog demands that its organization must be created by inserting categories and products. Instead, a Custom catalog is created dynamically, deriving data from any existing Base catalog.
In order to create a Custom catalog, Vendidi Database Manager allows the use of rules to set categories, products and prices. Catalogs can be assembled together to define specific navigation paths, through Catalog Set option.
Parties, Roles, Tasks...
Vendidi identifies users as parties, divided between persons and organizations. Vendidi allows to manage parties as you want. In addition to default detailed address information, you are able to customize parties, in according to your needs,inserting additional properties with no limit (through templates).
Parties can be assigned to specific roletypes. Roletypes are organized in hierarchical mode. Moreover, well defined responsibilities can be associated to the roletypes. Each roletype can inherit all responsibilities assigned to roletypes under it.
Therefore, any party associated to a specific roletype can inherit the related responsibiliies. Responsibility can expand or restrict what a party can do inside an application.
Using and configuring these options (Parties, Roletypes and Responsibilities) inside a web application, you can customize navigation paths in according to the user visiting the site.
Other features
Among other features provided from Vendidi Database Manager for structuring a database, you can find language, currency, continent, country and region setting.
Each language can be defined in according to a specific culture. For instance, you can set the English language related to United Kingdom or United States. That allows to provide the best accuracy for performing culture-specific operations, such as casing, formatting dates and numbers and comparing strings.
Through the language code, not modifiable, you can always check the language and the related culture, even if you modify the name of the language. The language code is based on the RFC 1766 standard. The name is a combination of a two-letter lowercase culture code associated with a language and a two-letter uppercase subculture code associated with a country or region.
Data management
Generally, regarding a web application, after you have implemented the database structure and the web dynamic pages, you can start to use it, after having created an interface to insert and manage data.
Regarding Vendidi, this is to be considered an eventuality and not a necessity. In fact, Database Manager besides having options which are essential to build a data structure, offers the possibility for managing any type of information (text, document and image) related to a web application.
It's important to underline that data insertion in Vendidi Database Manager has a multi-user feature (optimistic locking mode), also available in Vendidi Class Library. Remember that the database you have chosen can affect the application performance (MSDE can slow the performance of the system with more than five concurrent users).
All data can be inserted directly in any of the languages chosen for publication. So, for instance, in connection to a certain product, you are able to insert name, description (and any other information related to multilingual properties), not only in the English language (that is expected, for sure!), but also in languages such as Arabic or Japanese, that require the use of Unicode character set (an operating system that allows to use and view Arabic and Japanese fonts is required).
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| Using Templates, you will be able to organize all created properties to manage categories, products and parties. |
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| Sample template for product insertion with package definition option. |
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| MultipleChoice property allows you to insert text with unlimited range of values. |
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| Include/Exclude rules allow you to create catalog, categories and products to create dynamically any custom catalog you need. |
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| Two types of catalogs, Base and Custom, allow to insert and organize categories and products. |
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