What can be customized?
Both systems are divided into 3 sections, the menu
(including icons), the tree view and the
work space as shown on the image below.
You may customize all 3 sections. The tree
view and the menu are customized using the
3f Menu Maker. The workspace is
customized using your favorite development
tool.
You may also modify the database by adding custom objects
such as tables, views, triggers and stored
procedures. If you do so be careful to
read the section in the SDK relating to
the database. That section explains which
prefixes you must add to your custom
objects so as to prevent them from being
removed when the system main
program is updated. Finally you may also
customize existing, or add new skins if
you want the application to have a
different look and feel. You will find
more information about that in the SDK.
How Does it Work?
You can use any programming language you
like, the only condition is that the
language is capable of accessing a
Microsoft SQL server, access a regular COM
dll as well as reading session variables.
Examples of languages that can be used:
ASP.NET, C# and ASP. It does not matter if
the language you use is compiled or
interpreted.
The secret behind everything is that when
you develop a new page or report, the 3f
Project/3f
Software Planner acts like a container for
your new page or report. The only thing
you need to do in order to make the new
page or report available to users is to
create a new set of menu XML files. That
is done using the
3f Menu Maker (a part of the
SDK). You simply add the URL to the menu
maker and it then creates a new set of
menu xml files that link(s) to your custom
pages or reports.
When you click on a menu inside 3f
Project/3f
Software Planner the URL is called and the
page is loaded in the Work Space. The
actual accessing of the database,
presentation, handling of user rights,
validation etc. is done within the page or dll(s) you create.
This is the reason why you can use almost
any programming language you want to
customize 3f Project 2006 and 3f Software
Planner 2006
Location of New Pages
Due to the flexibility of the software you can pretty much place your
custom pages on any server you like. There
is nothing that prevents you from having
3f Project 2006/3f Software Planner 2006 installed in the
Vancouver, Canada and having your custom
pages and reports installed on a server in
Paris France. At least this is true from a
technical point of view. Whether you would
ever want to do that is another question.
3f Development Framework
The 3f Development Framework is a library,
an ASP file and a JS file that you must
install on the server where your Add-On is
installed and or developed. To make things
easy to manage, the framework is shared
between 3f Project 2006 and 3f Software
Planner 2006. The framework
has a few functions (documented in the
SDK) that you can use. These are functions
related to security and handling of the
the right mouse button. You can download
the 3f Development Framework installer
from the SDK
download section. For more information
on the framework go to the
framework
section.
Session Variables
There are some session variables
(documented in the SDK) that you may use.
Session variables are read only! Altering
the value of a session variable may have
dire consequences
and side effects!
Where do you Develop your Application?
Ideally you should have either 3f Project
2006 Server or 3f Software
Planner Server installation on your
development machine. If this is possible
then you can easily create a setup that
allows you to view your changes
instantaneously. You can also develop
straight off your production server. If
you do that, you must be very careful not
to make mistakes that interrupt your
users.
Note: 3f Project 2006 Server and 3f Software Planner
2006 Server can be installed
on Windows 2000 Professional and or
Windows XP Professional. However, you may run into problems with the IIS
due to antivirus programs, spy ware
programs etc. Some technical knowledge may
be required to get it to work on these
operating systems.
3f Menu Maker
This is the tool you use to crate new
menus for 3f Project 2006 Server and 3f Software Planner
2006 Server installations. To read more about the 3f
Menu Maker click here.
