Re: Opening-up database interface.
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 16:20:30 +0000
Message-ID: <176629418wnr_at_scroll.demon.co.uk>
In article: <m0r8VcR-000BiMC_at_jabber> chris_at_perihelion.co.uk (chris) writes:
>
> We have developed an application, for the British health service, which
> is designed to handle the administration of patients through hospitals
> (both inpatients and outpatients).
>
> We have a need to integrate with many 3rd party applications and would,
> naturally, prefer to do this through a standard publishable interface.
>
> My question is this :-
>
> What form should this interface take?
>
> Some options I have thought of are :-
>
> 1) Considering that the GUI (Access) uses the database through ODBC by
> making use of a set of stored procedures and views - should I simply
> publish those procedures and views and leave it at that?
>
> 2) I could create a server process on the server machine with which 3rd
> parties could communicate and publish the protocol for talking to
> that server process. The protocol could even be a standard one if
> such a thing existed for the all of the scope of the applicarion. (I
> am aware of HL7 (doesn't handle outpatients) and some initiatives in
> the NHS Information Management Group (won't be delivered for at least
> a year).)
>
> 3) I could create API libraries to be linked into the 3rd party
> applications. The implementation of these libraries would have some
> platform specific code but otherwise could (probably) be made largely
> platform independent.
>
> 4) I could make our front end code be DDE aware (Yuk!).
>
> I would appreciate any feedback that others have had in this sort of
> opening-up process (including other options that I have not thought of).
>
> Chris Selwyn
> Senior Consultant
> Perihelion Software
> email: chris_at_perihelion.co.uk
> tel: +44 749 344203
>
>
Chris,
(2) is a too much work for little benefit, in my opinion. You would still need to publich the protocol !
(4) will take ages - surely 3rd party developers can handle an API!
So, it is between (1) and (3). (1) is a must anyway - but in (3) you would still have to incorporate (1) as it is complementary to (3). It really is a question of whether the 3rd parties need only access the database or whether you want them to access your application's internals as well (eg any stats graphs etc you are providing). If you go for the API remember to provide them with a testbed otherwise you will be supporting the API forever.
John Malathronas | My opinions are my own, so I change them daily. + -----------------------| |john_at_scroll.demon.co.uk| "Only fools learn from their own mistakes " +
-----------------------|---------------------------------------------------Received on Sat Nov 26 1994 - 17:20:30 CET