NBusiness Wiki & Documentation Rss Feed

Updated Wiki: Home

justinc — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:47:36 GMT

NBusiness: A Entity Domain Specific Language Tool
A .NET Entity DSL Provider, Templated Code Generator, Visual Studio Plugin and Business Object Framework

note: [This wiki is in the process of updating for v3 of NBusiness, some pages may not be accurate right now]

NBusiness is a Visual Studio Plugin that allows you to define entities and models in projects of various languages (i.e. C#, VB and Boo). Once defined these Entities and Models can be attached to Templates that will generate code in the language of the project. NBusiness can be used to generate middle tiers of applications as well as SQL for performing data access and even database tables.

NBusiness includes Templates for generating CSLA business objects and NBusiness business objects. Templates are easy to create and existing Templates are easy to customize.

Benefits of using NBusiness
NBusiness differentiates itself from other code generators with a few distinct points:

Your DSL is E# rather than XML.

Computers like to read XML but people like to read Code.
Source Control software doesn't like to merge XML but it does like to merge Code.

Your DSL is the source of truth NOT the database.
NBusiness supports business objects, not just data access.
Object oriented templates.

NBusiness also comes with some template generator tools for popular view engines such as NVelocity and Spark.

Visual Studio Integration (v2.0, screenshot)

More Information
To get more information about NBusiness please visit the other areas of our wiki pages:

Extending NBusiness

Extras

Gold Parser Grammar

justnbusiness - An NBusiness developer blog
Futures

Powered By NBusiness

feel free to use this logo on your site!

Developers Wanted!
We're looking for developers experienced with business object frameworks, code generation, ORM, compilers or unit testing. Furthermore we're seeking conversation on how best to define syntax for "Entity Languages" and the responsibilities of business objects. We are also looking for anyone experienced in Aspect Oriented Programming and Intentional Programming to help expand our minds and to help us incorporate those concepts as well as possible.

If you would like to join the NBusiness team or contact the project lead send an email to justncase80@gmail.com

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Models

justinc — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:15:21 GMT

Entity Models

Entity models allow you to specify which data and behviors of entities are to be used for a specific use case.
Models must always inherit from entities but may not declare any new fields.
Models may hide data and behaviors from the inhering entities and they may declare new behaviors.
Models or entities will be able to have templates. Templates will have a property specifying which if they may be applied to entities and / or models
Only readonly models may hide non-nullable fields.

Example:

family Business
{
    entity A
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field int bid;
        field string Data;
        field nullable int Type;
 
        relative B with B on bid=bid as parent;
    }
    entity B
    {
        field auto id int bid;
        field string Name;
    }
    
 
    family Usecase1
    {
        model M1 : A as EntityBase
        {
            inherit field Type;
            inherit relationship B;
 
            validate Data customrule;
        }
        model readonly M2 : A as EntityBase
        {
            inherit field int Type;
            inherit field B.Name;
        }
    }
}

Models have the following rules

Models must inherit all id fields.
Models must inherit all non-nullable fields.

All non-id fields on Models marked with readonly are treated as if they were nullable.

You may choose not to inherit nullable fields.
You may choose not to inherit relationships.
You may inherit fields from a relative.
You may choose not to inherit rules.

The reasons for the above rules are there because if you try to insert a model you will need to have values for every single non-nullable field in order to do the inserts. If you want a very limited subset only for display purposes then you can create a readonly model and since it doesn't need to be inserted or updated it will not need to inherit non-nullable fields.

Additionally relationships and rules are optionally inherited. You must specify to inherit them specifically. You may choose to inherit a field on a Model directly through a relationship, this will subsequently cause all data access code to directly join during fetch operations. There will be no relationship object to load it will be as if it is a field directly apart of the model.

In the above example you would have the following results:

A	M1	M2
id aid	inherits	inherits
Data	inherits	does not inherit
Type	inherits	inherits
B.Name	accessible through relationship	inherits

UPDATED WIKI: Partial Entities

justinc — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:52:15 GMT

Partial Entities

Mainly there for supporting code generation of entities. One part may be generated by a designer while the other part is written manually.

family Example
{
    entity partial A as EntityBase
    {
        field auto id int aid;
    }
 
    entity partial A
    {
        field string Data;
    }
}

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Attributes

justinc — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:49:51 GMT

Entity Attributes

Allow attributes to be added to various parts of an entity to suply extra meta-data to templates as needed.

family Business
{
    [DataTable("tblExample")]
    entity Example as EntityBase
    {
        [DataField("id")]
        field auto id int ExampleId;
 
        [DataField("colData")]
        field string Data;
    }
}

It will be possible to create custom attributes, simply add the correct using statements above.
Some default attributes will be created for extra database mapping information if desired.
Entity Attributes will have the ability to restrict what they are able to be placed on just like regular attributes.

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Models

justinc — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:46:55 GMT

Entity Models

Entity models allow you to specify which data and behviors of entities are to be used for a specific use case.
Models must always inherit from entities but may not declare any new fields.
Models may hide data and behaviors from the inhering entities and they may declare new behaviors.
Only models may posess templates.
Only readonly models may hide non-nullable fields.

Example:

family Business
{
    entity A
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field string Data;
        field nullable int Type;
    }
 
    family Usecase1
    {
        model B : A as EntityBase
        {
            hide field Type;
            
            validate Data customrule;
        }
        model readonly C : A as EntityInfo
        {
            hide field Data;
        }
    }
}

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Models

justinc — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:01:50 GMT

Entity Models

Entity models allow you to specify which data and behviors of entities are to be used for a specific use case.
Models must always inherit from entities but may not declare any new fields.
Models may hide data and behaviors from the inhering entities and they may declare new behaviors.
Only models may posess templates.
Only readonly models may hide non-nullable fields.

Example:

family Business
{
    entity A
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field string Data;
        field nullable int Type;
    }
 
    family Usecase1
    {
        model B : A as EntityBase
        {
            hide field Type;
            
            validate Data customrule;
        }
        model readonly C : A as EntityInfo
        {
            hide field Data;
        }
    }
}

UPDATED WIKI: Partial Entities

justinc — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:26:59 GMT

Partial Entities

Mainly there for supporting code generation of entities. One part may be generated by a designer while the other part is written manually.

family Example
{
    entity partial A as EntityBase
    {
        field auto id int aid;
    }
 
    entity partial A
    {
        field string Data;
    }
}

UPDATED WIKI: Partial Entities

justinc — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:26:25 GMT

Partial Entities

Mainly there for supporting code generation of entities.

family Example
{
    entity partial A as EntityBase
    {
        field auto id int aid;
    }
 
    entity partial A
    {
        field string Data;
    }
}

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Models

justinc — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:19:49 GMT

Entity Models

Entity models allow you to specify which data and behviors of entities are to be used for a specific use case.
Models must always inherit from entities but may not declare any new fields.
Models may hide data and behaviors from the inhering entities and they may declare new behaviors.
Only models may posess templates.
Only readonly models may hide non-nullable fields.

Example:

family Business
{
    entity A
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field string Data;
        field nullable int Type;
    }
 
    family Usecase1
    {
        model B : A as EntityBase
        {
            hide field Type;
            
            validate Data customrule;
        }
        model readonly C : A as EntityInfo
        {
            hide field Data;
        }
    }
}

See Also: Entity Inheritance

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Models

justinc — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:16:55 GMT

Entity Models

Entity models allow you to specify which data and behviors of entities are to be used for a specific use case.
Models must always inherit from entities but may not declare any new fields.
Models may hide data and behaviors from the inhering entities and they may declare new behaviors.
Only models may posess templates.
Only readonly models may hide non-nullable fields.

Example:

family Business
{
    entity A
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field string Data;
        field nullable int Type;
    }
 
    family Usecase1
    {
        model B : A as EntityBase
        {
            hide field Type;
            
            validate Data customrule;
        }
        model readonly C : A as EntityBase
        {
            hide field Data;
        }
    }
}

See Also: Entity Inheritance

UPDATED WIKI: Home

justinc — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:49:48 GMT

NBusiness: An Entity Oriented Programming Library
A .net Entity Language Provider, E# compiler and business object framework

NBusiness features an Entity Definition Language known as E# (E Sharp). E is for Entity and # is a reference to C#, from which its syntax is based.

The Entity Definition Language (EDL) focuses not on objects, or business objects, but instead on 'Entities'. An Entity may actually be made up of many objects however the exact implementation of those objects is not a concern of Entity Definition Languages. EDL focuses instead on higher level concepts such as Relationships between Entities, Business Rules and Responsibilities of Entities. EDL must specify data field information for Entities, however data access is not a concern of EDL.

NBusiness includes some default templates and a light weight Business Object framework for providing the default functionality of the E# compiler.

In Plain English
So what the heck does all of this mean? Well, essentially NBusiness is just another code generator specializing in creating data access layers. There are plenty of other projects with a similar goal (Code Smith, Codus, SubSonic, etc.) but NBusiness differentiates itself with a few distinct points.

Your meta-data is E# rather than XML.
Your meta-data is the source of truth NOT the database.
NBusiness supports business objects, not just data access.
Object oriented templates.
Visual Studio Integration (v2.0, screenshot)

More Information
To get more information about NBusiness please visit the other areas of our wiki pages:

Extending NBusiness

Extras

Gold Parser Grammar

justnbusiness - An NBusiness developer blog
Futures

Powered By NBusiness

UPDATED WIKI: Home

justinc — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:35:13 GMT

Your meta-data is E# rather than XML.
Your meta-data is the source of truth NOT the database.
NBusiness supports business objects, not just data access.
Object oriented templates.
Visual Studio Integration (v2.0, screenshot)

More Information
To get more information about NBusiness please visit the other areas of our wiki pages:

Extending NBusiness

Extras

Gold Parser Grammar

justnbusiness - An NBusiness developer blog
Futures

Powered By NBusiness

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Attributes

justinc — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:34:46 GMT

Entity Attributes

Allow attributes to be added to various parts of an entity to suply extra meta-data to templates as needed.

family Business
{
    [DataTable("tblExample")]
    entity Example as EntityBase
    {
        [DataField("id")]
        field auto id int ExampleId;
 
        [DataField("colData")]
        field string Data;
    }
}

It will be possible to create custom attributes, simply add the correct using statements above.
Some default attributes will be created for extra database mapping information if desired.
Entity Attributes will have the ability to restrict what they are able to be placed on just like regular attributes.

UPDATED WIKI: Home

justinc — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:30:16 GMT

Your meta-data is E# rather than XML.
Your meta-data is the source of truth NOT the database.
NBusiness supports business objects, not just data access.
Object oriented templates.
Visual Studio Integration (v2.0, screenshot)

More Information
To get more information about NBusiness please visit the other areas of our wiki pages:

Extending NBusiness

Extras

Gold Parser Grammar

justnbusiness - An NBusiness developer blog
Futures

Powered By NBusiness

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Models

justinc — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:04:15 GMT

Entity Models

Entity models allow you to specify which data and behviors of entities are to be used for a specific use case. Models must always inherit from entities but may not declare any new fields. Models may hide data and behaviors from the inhering entities and they may declare new behaviors.

Example:

family Business
{
    entity A as EntityBase
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field string Data;
        field nullable int Type;
    }
 
    family Usecase1
    {
        model B : A as EntityBase
        {
            hide field Type;
            
            validate Data customrule;
        }
    }
}

See Also: Entity Inheritance

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Models

justinc — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:03:55 GMT

Entity Models

Entity models allow an architect to specify which data and behviors of entities are to be used for a specific use case. Models must always inherit from entities but may not declare any new fields. Models may hide data and behaviors from the inhering entities and they may declare new behaviors.

Example:

family Business
{
    entity A as EntityBase
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field string Data;
        field nullable int Type;
    }
 
    family Usecase1
    {
        model B : A as EntityBase
        {
            hide field Type;
            
            validate Data customrule;
        }
    }
}

See Also: Entity Inheritance

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Inheritance

justinc — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:02:40 GMT

Entity Inheritance

Inheritance is the way to express 1:1 relationships and provide data and behavior sharing between entities.

Here is an example of how entity inheritance might work:

family Business
{
    entity A as EntityBase
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field nullable string Data;
        field datetime Date;
    }
 
    entity B : A on aid=bid as EntityBase
    {
        field id bid;
        field string BData;
    }
    
    entity C : A on aid=cid as EntityBase
    {
        field id cid;
        hide field Data;
        field string CData;
    }
}

A Members	B Members	C Members
aid	bid	cid
Data	Data	Date
Date	Date	CData
	BData

Restrictions

The hide keyword would only be valid on entities that inherit from other entities and can only be applied to nullable fields or relationships that rely on nullable fields.
The classes generated for B & C would not litterally inherit from A but the stored procedures generated would use Joins between the B & C tables to join with A to retrieve the non-hidden data based on the key's specified in the inheritance specifier.
It is not possible to inherit from multiple entities but it is possible to chain inheritance over N entities deep (Meaning D could inherit from C or B).
You must use a using, or full family name of an entity for sideways or deeper inheritance.

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Models

justinc — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 03:56:44 GMT

Entity Models

family Business
{
    entity A as EntityBase
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field string Data;
        field nullable int Type;
    }
 
    family Usecase1
    {
        model B : A as EntityBase
        {
            hide field Type;
            
            validate Data customrule;
        }
    }
}

UPDATED WIKI: Home

justinc — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 03:47:41 GMT

Your meta-data is E# rather than XML.
Your meta-data is the source of truth NOT the database.
NBusiness supports business objects, not just data access.
Object oriented templates.
Visual Studio Integration (v2.0, screenshot)

More Information
To get more information about NBusiness please visit the other areas of our wiki pages:

Extending NBusiness

Extras

Gold Parser Grammar

justnbusiness - An NBusiness developer blog
Futures

Powered By NBusiness

UPDATED WIKI: Entity Inheritance

justinc — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:52:36 GMT

Entity Inheritance

Inheritance is the way to express 1:1 relationships between relational models.

Here is an example of how entity inheritance might work:

family Business
{
    entity A as EntityBase
    {
        field auto id int aid;
        field nullable string Data;
        field datetime Date;
    }
 
    family Usecase1
    {
        entity B : A on aid=bid as EntityBase
        {
            field id bid;
            field string BData;
        }
    }
    family Usecase2
    {
        entity C : A on aid=cid as EntityBase
        {
            field id cid;
            hide field Data;
            field string CData;
        }
    }
}

In this case A would have the members:

aid
Data
Date

B would have the members:

bid
Data
Date
BData

C would have the members:

cid
Date
CData

Restrictions

The hide keyword would only be valid on entities that inherit from other entities and can only be applied to nullable fields or relationships that rely on nullable fields.
The classes generated for B & C would not litterally inherit from A but the stored procedures generated would use Joins between the B & C tables to join with A to retrieve the non-hidden data based on the key's specified in the inheritance specifier.
It is not possible to inherit from multiple entities but it is possible to chain inheritance over N entities deep (Meaning D could inherit from C or B).
You must use a using, or full family name of an entity for sideways or deeper inheritance.