select current_user

Andrea Minetti andrea@wavein.ch

Why box framework?

Problem: how can we quickly create web applications to interact with our DB?

Originally developed to allow environmental researchers with basic database skills to manage their own research data

Reads the information schema and, with no additional user interaction, provides all necessary basic functionality

Principles

• No application code needed
• Take advantage of PostgreSQL Features
• Entire state defined in the database

Books

The Art of PostgreSQL - Dimitri Fontaine

Concepts

• Box user == DB user
• Form/Sub-form concept (One-to-many relationship)
• Metadata (Auto-generated for db tables/views, UI Builder for forms)

UI

• Prebuilt widgets
• GIS support (with SwissTopo Integration)

Std HTML input

Tablechild widget

EditableTable widget

File widget

Map widget

Features

• REST API
• XLS, CSV, SHP data export
• Customizable HTML and PDF reports (charts, plots, ... take advantage of javascript ecosystem)
• Multi-language support
• SMTP support
• Public forms

Implementation

Simple 3 tier architecture

Presentation Layer: scala.js

Application Layer: scala

Data Layer: PostgreSQL

Implementation

On installation, a new box schema is created in the db with all configuration required by the system

Requirements

• PostrgreSQL 13+
• Java 8+
• sbt (scala build tool https://www.scala-sbt.org/download.html)

Bootstrap

						
							$ sbt new minettiandrea/box.g8
							$ cd project-name
							$ sbt installBox
							$ sbt generateModel
							$ sbt run
						
					

DEMO