Lawson Core Technology: Important Concepts and Terminology
The following table provides a brief introduction to the concepts and terminology related to user interfaces that are presented in this chapter.
| Concept / term | What it means |
|---|---|
| application product line | See "product line" in this table. |
| Broker/agent framework | Mechanism through which IOS processes calls for the Data, Drill, and Transaction services. All calls to the services are routed through the framework as are all calls back to the client. |
| Client (database) APIs | A set of APIs that provide a neutral processing environment for the RDBMSs that Lawson supports. See "Threadsafe API" in this table. |
| Data | The IOS service that handles read-only requests for data from any client. |
| data area | The portion of a product line that contains actual data, excluding metadata. |
| database driver | A Lawson program that supports communication between the Environment and an RDBMS. |
| dictionary | Data description of a product line. |
| Drill | The IOS service that supports Drill calls, that is, requests for data that follow drill rules (as defined in Lawson application code). |
| Environment metadata product line | See "product line" in this table. |
| GEN product line |
A repository of Lawson metadata for most Environment components, including those that support jobs and reports. This repository is stored in an RDBMS and is sometimes referred to as the "GEN database." |
| Internet Object Services (IOS) | A sub-set of Infor Lawson Core Technology that supports Lawson web-based applications, in particular, Lawson Portal. |
| product line | A Lawson term meaning a repository of metadata (data that describes data) and actual data that is required to run Lawson. |
| LOGAN product line |
A repository that contains Lawson Portal bookmark data and some Process Server components. This repository is stored in an RDBMS and is sometimes referred to as the "LOGAN database." |
| Multi-Database System (MDBS) | A Lawson umbrella term to describe the components that support the interaction between Lawson and a customer RDBMS. The database driver and client APIs are components of the MDS. |
| Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) | Lawson stores customer application data and Lawson metadata in a third-party, SQL-based database system. |
| servlet | A Java program that performs a task for IOS. (IOS is made up of a group of servlets and CGI programs.) |
| Threadsafe API | The main API of the Lawson MDBS. It provides access to the database messaging layer in such a way that multiple database client applications can run simultaneously without ill effect. |
| Transaction | The IOS service that supports batch and online transactions. |