miniERP can be used as a 3-tier application, which means that the
user interface (screens), application logic (program) and the database
can be run on seperate computers.
For economics it can also be run as an 2-tier, with the application
logic and the database on the same computer
1) User interface.
In order to get the User Interface working on all popular platforms
(Windows,Linux,Mac) I use the Xwidglets toolkit as a cross platform
user interface. You can find more information about the Xwidglet
toolkit at xwidglets.secretgate.com.
In short it uses XML files for screen and User Interface definitions
and uses JAVA and JavaScript.
2) Application logic.
Can be any language. The Xwidglet toolkit uses standaard GET and
POST request which can be handled by any webserver. Currently I
am using a mix off perl and C for the application logic.
3) Database.
For the current time I am using my own miniDB, which is nothing more
than an Btree database with a simple interface. Perhaps later I will
move the interface to the Berkeley DB.
In my opinion you don't need a heavy relational database for doing
some business application as entering sales orders.
Current requirements:
- Client computer.
JAVA environment
Xwidglet application (2,5 Mb)
- Server.
Linux server (can be any 386 or better computer)
Webserver (currently using Boa, 55 Kb)
Perl installed.
miniDB database software (35 Kb)
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