What is Oberon?

OBERON is a collaborative Platform based on a business object modeling framework.

Is Oberon an application?

NO, it is a tool to develop desktop or web applications; it provides a flexible layer between the business environment and the data/document repository.

Which kind of applications I can develop with Oberon?

Any kind of application that requires a database and implements a client-server architecture.

Why I should use Oberon instead of direct accessing the database?

The platform provides powerful tools for managing Business Objects and related information flows; with Oberon, business processes are modeled dynamically and provided with controls that allow real-time modifications operating at the speed of business requirement changes.

What are the differences between Oberon and other object/relational mapping tools like Hibernate?

Oberon doesn't need the object/relational mapping; this mean that you don't have to design the database schema and subsequently define a mapping between this schema and natural object-oriented idioms. You have to create only the application schema including object classes, link types between objects, object's lifecycles, application users, etc.
OBERON doesn't implement a simple object/relational mapping but it implements a Business Object Architecture.

What is a Business Object Architecture?

A Business Object Architecture consists of Models, Entities and Processes:
- the Model is a system of Business Objects, such as Financial, Production Management, etc.
- Entity is a person, place, thing or a concept;
- Process represents an activity, such as purchasing, approval or production.

What is a Business Object?

In business modeling, a Business Object describes a concept of the real-world that must be modeled (entities, processes, events).
Business objects may have methods, rules, states as ways to describe the actions that can be performed with them.

What platforms will Oberon run on?

Oberon is written entirely in Sun's Java language; it runs on different platforms capable of running Java: Windows, Linux, IBM AIX, HP UX and more.

What are the Oberon requirements?

- Java Development Kit (JDK) version 1.5 or higher
- Transactional database like MySQL 5.1 or Oracle 9 [or higher versions]

In order to use Oberon for developing web applications, you need also a Java Application Server like Apache Tomcat or Oracle/Bea WebLogic or IBM WebSphere

How I can install Oberon?

First of all you have to download the latest release of the Oberon platform (you need a free registration to get this file). This zip file includes some batch files in the main folder (.bat for windows and .sh for unix SO) and two sub-folders:
- etc: contains setting files (with samples)
- lib: contains library jar files; the platform library is "oberon.jar" while other are third party libraries

Extract the zip file into a local folder and follow the installation instructions to prepare the database and set the configuration parameters.
Run the startdesign script to open the Enterprise Context Design client and launch the installation process (it will create all Oberon database tables).

How I have to configure Oberon to connect the database?

The access to Oberon database can be realized in three ways:
- using a desktop client directly linked to the database
- using a desktop client linked to an Oberon RMI server
- using a browser with a HTTP(s)/SOAP connection to an application server.
In this case, the application server can access to Oberon directly or throw the Oberon RMI server.

The desktop client (or web client), the Oberon RMI server, the Application Server and the database may be physically located on different machines.
See configuration instructions for more details.

What is the "Enterprise Context Design" client?

It is used to perform administration activities related to the configuration and maintenance of database object spaces and file system locations and to define/modify the Business model (to model the object classes used in a business application, along with their fields, process rules, and users associated with those objects).

What is the "Domain Object Manipulation" client?

It is used to create/edit specific object instances, to manage their lifecycle status, their connections and attached files. It is a general desktop application used by the system administrator to perform generic object manipulations.

How I can use Oberon to develop Desktop applications?

The "Enterprise Context Design" and the "Domain Object Manipulation" clients are examples of desktop applications based on Oberon platform to access the database. You can develop your own client written in java language using the eclipse SWT graphical library including into the classpath the "oberon.jar" package and other required third party libraries (JDBC connector, Apache CXF webservice tools, etc. ).
Oberon provides SDK classes to access the database and perform business object manipulations (like create new object instances, edit objects, change the object status and so on) or perform administrative manipulations (like define or edit object classes, link types, users, etc).

How I can use Oberon to develop Web applications?

Create a new webapp inside your Java Application Server and copy into the WEB-INF/lib folder the "oberon.jar" package and other required third party libraries (JDBC connector, Apache CXF webservice tools, etc. ).
Oberon provides the JRClient class to access the database and perform all business object manipulations including the generation of web-forms and application menus.
Users can access and communicate via a standard Web browser, deliver information proactively, and collaborate securely and globally.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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