Rapide Extension Libraries provide direct access to Java libraries from Gen action diagram code. This allows developers to access a wide variety of standard utilities and libraries using action diagram statements as an alternative to using external action blocks.
Some examples of Extension Libraries have been implemented are:
- PDF Creation using Adobe PDFBox
- Barcode (Quick Response codes) using Google zxing
- JasperReports - running a JasperReport direct from an action diagram.
As requirements arise for supporting additional libraries, these can be accommodated as either extensions to the standard product or site specific custom implementations.
The advantages of Extension Libraries are:
- You can code the functions using action diagram code rather than external
action blocks.
- The Rapide methods can simplify access to the underlying Java library,
for example by creating a higher level abstraction of the low level
functions in the Java library.
- If you want to change the underlying library, the Rapide layer isolates the code from the physical implementation, and would support switching to a new library or implementations on other languages, for example C.
The action diagram code to create a JasperReport is shown above. Click on the image for a full sized view.