Aras Innovator Technology

Intro to AML

2007-02-05T20:14:00Z

In an earlier post, I alluded to AML (Adaptive Markup Language) as the "secret sauce" of Innovator. Most enterprise systems claim some level of XML support, but Innovator takes it a few steps further. XML, in the form of the AML dialect, is built in at the very core of Innovator. Exchanging AML with the Innovator server is literally the only way to perform any operation in Innovator. You may not always see it happening, but AML is behind every transaction you perform using the client, every piece...(read more)

Technobabble (aka Terminology)

2007-01-15T10:32:00Z

Innovator uses a number of terms that are either completely unique or just defined a little differently than in other systems. I'll attempt to define a few of them here, with more to come later: ItemType: An ItemType is a construct that defines the data structure and behavior of its instances ( items ), analogous to a class in the object-oriented world. Unlike a class , however, an ItemType is created using a simple user interface and stored in a database, making it much more dynamic and adaptable....(read more)

What’s so cool about Innovator?

2007-01-02T08:21:00Z

I’m often asked what makes Innovator such a great platform to work with, and I wish this were an easier question to answer. Innovator is so different from other products in the marketplace that I've always found it hard to come up with a concise answer. When you compare Innovator with other enterprise software applications and platforms, it stands out as uniquely flexible, open and easy to use. But why, you ask? I'll try my best to summarize, but forgive me if leave something out.

Innovator is:

Flexible and Extensible: From the beginning, Innovator has been about extensibility. It has a flexible data-modeling tool, a slew of built-in behaviors, a solid API and a rich event model. And since everything is open there's always a decent starting point, so you never have to start from scratch. You are free, and in fact encouraged, to extend just about anything.
Dynamic: Any changes you make are immediately reflected in the application. No recompiling, restarting services, or anything of the sort. The Innovator platform detects changes, adjusts accordingly and keeps right on going.
Self-Describing (and then some): There are a number of so-called "self-describing" systems out there, but Innovator takes it to a new level. Some systems will allow you to inspect the definition of an object/entity without having to dig into code. For example, you can find out that "Part" objects have a "Part Number" attribute or that "Purchase Order" entities may be in "Pending" or "Approved" states. Innovator takes it a few steps further, allowing you to also learn about behaviors (like whether revisions are tracked or what workflows are enabled), the details behind those behaviors (like the revision scheme and workflow steps), the details behind the details, and so on. In fact, you can get all the way down to the root class and inspect that if you wish. Better yet, Innovator allows you to accomplish this either through its standard browser-based UI (the same one end-users use), through the API, or using a simple SOAP message.
Open and Standards-Based: Innovator is an open platform by design. The entire application, including its data model and business logic, is exposed through a web service using open standards such as HTTP, XML and SOAP. There are no proprietary macro languages or protocols – the only things to learn are a simple XML dialect and a well-documented API. Even at the application level, packaged solutions are based on industry standards, such as PMI, CMII and APQP.
Addictive: After using Innovator for a while, building solutions with it becomes second nature. Get a few small solutions under your belt, and you'll find yourself looking for problems it can solve. Don't believe me? Only one way to find out…

Welcome to the World of Innovator

2006-10-09T17:19:00Z

Greetings, and welcome to the Aras Technology blog. Here is where you’ll find tips, tricks, musings and evangelism about the Aras Innovator enterprise application framework and technology – Innovator for short. We’ll strive to make the posts here frequent and informative, but in bite-size chunks so you don’t get bogged down for hours reading them. However, if you’re anything like us you’ll probably end up taking the new info and spending hours figuring out how to apply it to another problem. If you come up with something cool, we’d love to hear about it.

Who are we? Well, we’re the folks that define, develop, deploy and support Innovator. No marketing pukes or salespeople allowed – just the guys and gals that dig in deep on the technology. You’ll see postings from the product team, the support team and even from our Founder & President (who still gets into the code). A brief profile of each poster will be available, so you can get an idea of who’s who.

We can’t set all the themes or define the tone of this blog in the first post, but we’d like to reflect one central theme defining our company these days: openness. We will do our best to provide all the info we have – good or bad. In return, we’d like your honest opinions. If you think we’re wrong, go ahead and tell us (seriously, we’re not fragile). The goal here is to share what Innovator is and isn’t capable of, then start knocking off the “isn’ts” one by one.