Major Technical Features

The following section lists major technical features of the Aware IM software. The more detailed explanation of the key concepts and features as well as the technical architecture of the system is provided in Conceptual Framework, Other Features and Technical Architecture.

• Aware IM is written 100% in the Java programming language and is therefore independent of the operating system used.
• Aware IM works with any servlets/JSP container such as Tomcat or Weblogic.
• Aware IM is a multi-user system, which allows any number of concurrent users both in the Operation and Configuration modes.
• Aware IM runs over Internet/intranet and requires HTML 5.0 compatible Internet browser as a user interface agent in the Operation Mode. No software download or installation is required on the client side.
• Aware IM works on a single computer but is scalable across multiple clustered computers.
• Aware IM uses JDBC to communicate with an SQL-compliant database management software and is therefore independent of the specific database used.
• Aware IM allows users to configure fully functional systems quickly without having to know the details of the database technology. Specifically:
  • Database tables are created automatically based on definitions of business objects and their attributes.
  • Database tables are altered automatically if definitions of business objects and/or their attributes change.
  • Relationships between database tables are created and maintained automatically based on definitions of relationships between business objects (this is much simpler than the standard approach of linking database tables).
  • Database transactions are maintained automatically.
  • Database SQL queries are automatically constructed from definitions of Aware IM queries. These definitions are at a higher level of abstraction than SQL and include, in particular, links between objects, which are automatically converted into database table joins.
• Aware IM employs non-procedural rule-based approach to data processing (business logic) instead of scripting or programming. At the heart of this approach is Rete algorithm-based rule engine.
• Aware IM supports long operations that can span hours, days and months. The state of a long running operation is saved in the database and is restored whenever the reply is received.
• Aware IM automatically generates forms based on the definitions of business objects and adjusts the forms when the definitions of objects change.
• Aware IM automatically generates web services based on the definitions of Aware IM services. Web services may be called by any external software system.
• Aware IM offers a rich set of API that allow programmers to plug in custom extensions written in the Java and Javascript programming languages in those circumstances when a certain feature of the target system cannot be implemented using the built-in capabilities.