Database Application

Development
2nd December, 2010
 Lecture Preview
• Database Application Development
• Service-oriented Architecture
• Web-Services
A quick look (Client-Server Architecture)
• Advancement in technology over the last
decade has brought new concepts and
architectures in database applications.
• No matter how we blend it up, the basic
architecture remains same. Entity A needs a
service and asks for it where Entity B provides
it.
• Its mostly about ‘location’. i.e. what should be
at server and what should be at client?
 Architecture optimization
• We use the most suitable architecture to our
application. How to decide that?
• Is it location?
• What?
• It is the speed + response time with which
data can be moved from one location to
another.
 Client/Server Architecture
• Definition
• To handle client queries the service provider
(Server) needs some kind of a management
system to look after concurrency, integrity,
security and other features.
• In case of databases this system is DBMS
(Database Management System).
 Client/Server Architecture
• Various C/S’s can be distinguished on the basis
of distribution of “Application Logic
Components” across clients and servers.
• These are,
– Presentation Component
– Processing Component
– Storage Component
 Application Partitioning
• Its critical to the performance of the system
that how we place each of these components.
• There are two, three and n-tier architectures,
in each architecture,
– the storage component always resides at server
– The presentation component always resides at
client
 Fat / Thin
• If we place processing component on client
then it is a ‘fat’ client.
• If we place processing component on server
then it is a ‘thin’ client.
• And, if we partition it on both server and
client then, it is a ‘distributed’ client.
Fat / Thin
 3/n-tier Architecture
• Here some processing can be placed at client,
but usually in a typical web environment a client
is only a thin client. (what do we use here for
presentation component?)
• What kind of a architecture is used in an online
banking system? and why ?

• How do databases are manipulated on each of

these architecture?
 Databases in 2-tier Architecture
• In this architecture, a client workstation is
responsible for managing the user interface,
including presentation logic, data processing
logic, and a business rules logic.

• A database server is responsible for database

storage, access and processing.
 Implementation
• Most 2-tier applications are written in
languages like VB, C# or Java.
• These applications are connected to database
through special software called ‘Database-
Oriented Middleware’. (It is an abstraction).
• The process of Middleware connecting an
application to a database consists of two
parts, (Middleware acts as a glue)
Implementation
 Implementation
– An API(application programming interface)
– A database driver (to connect to a specific
database e.g. SQL Server or Oracle).

• Most common API’s are ODBC(Open Database

Connectivity) and ADO.NET for the Microsoft
Platform. JDBC for Java.
 Implementation
• No matter which API or language is used, the
steps are as follows:
– Identify and register a database driver.
– Open a connection to a database.
– Execute a query against the database.
– Process the results of the query.
– Repeat steps 3-4 as necessary.
– Close the connection to the database.
 A small example
• Before going to circuit, lets get acquainted
with some important terms,
– Connection
– Command
– SQL Data Adapter
– SQL Data Set
– SQL Data Table
 A small example
• We are going to develop a simple client and
service provider database.
• We are going to use VB.NET and SQL Server.

• There are several methods for database

connectivity, lets take a look (first we will see a
glimpse of SQL and SQL server then we will
look at a .NET application).
 3-Tier Applications
• In three tier there is an additional server
which can be used for different purposes, it
can be used as application server.

• The most common type of application here is

a ‘Web-based Application’. Here the additional
server involved is a web-server.
– It can be either on intranet, internet or both.
Web-Applications
 Web Application Components
• Database Server (Storage logic and DBMS)
• Web Server (handles http client requests, e.g.
IIS or Apache)
• Application Server
• Web browser

• Simple example, a registration module

developed in ASP or PhP.
 Databases in 3-tier Applications
Web Server (IIS) Database Server
Static Page Request

Application Server (ASP.NET)

Dynamic Page Request

Driver

Database Server
 Web Services
• It is a new class of applications that improves the
communication ability of systems over the web.
• A common web service protocol stack is,
– UDDI (Publish, Find and use services)
– WSDL (Service Descriptors <interfaces, how?>)
– SOAP (Service Interactions, <language independent>)
– XML (Data Format <standard>)
– Internet (Communications)
 Web Service
• Lets, take a look.