Concepts and Terminology
Objectified has a simple number of concepts and terms that you should be aware of. This guide will help you as you build your classes, design your field and properties, and ultimately, create your API designs.
Concepts
Objectified stores and defines its data internally using PostgreSQL. There are a number of database tables and stored procedures that assist with its storage, along with manipulation and representation of the data stored therein.
Stored procedures are used to help maintain data security, validity, and logging.
Objectified never deletes data: records that are "removed" are marked for deletion with a "soft-delete" flag.
Data is shaped using a combination of Class definitions that are
formed using Properties. Their data is joined together by way of a
ClassProperty class (joining table) that defines the data that each
Class represents.
The Objectified platform stack provides a means to generate Class
definitions, along with the ability to store and retrieve records
that conform to the shapes of each defined Class.
Terminology
Data Type
A Data Type is a core type that identifies the data that can be stored
in a Field. These are core JSON primitive data types that are
represented by Objectified, and by JSON schemas.
Data types can contain arrays of data, enumerations, regular expressions, and much more.
Core data types cannot be modified or removed, as they are considered essential to the Objectified platform.
Data types are shared among all Tenants in Objectified.
Note, there are currently 8 data types defined in the platform. These
types cannot be changed; they are used by Field definitions in order
to identify the type of data that can be stored.
Tenant
Tenants are names that are used to organize groups of objects or
organizations. They are used to prevent name collisions that can occur
when multiple organizations may use similar names to describe different
object definitions.
A Tenant ensures that all of a given set of objects have unique names
so that they may easily be identified and separated under a common group.
For instance, one Tenant's definition of a User may differ from
another Tenant's User. Same with a Car, Bike, or Computer.
Tenants are created by the Objectified staff. Each organization has a limit of 3 tenants that they can use. Additional tenancies may require additional licenses.
Furthermore, users are assigned to tenants based on the requirements for each tenant.
Class
Classes are templates that define the shape (or schema) of data that
can be contained in a record (or Instance).
Classes contain any name that you want, however, we recommend a name that
describes the type of data that the object will end up storing.
Avoid names that begin with numbers or small letters. Class names
should be named using PascalCase,
and should not contain any spaces or special characters.
Examples of good names include User, Account, StreetAddress.
Bad examples include names like phoneNumber and zipcodeAnd4.
Avoid plurality in the Class names wherever possible.
Field
In Object-Oriented design, Fields define the data that can be stored
for a Class Property. Property names are unique per Class and
the Fields that contain the storage definitions can be reused.
Avoid naming fields with the same names for properties. The properties
that you define should use the Field to describe the data that they
store - not the other way around.
Field names should be camelCase.
Property
Properties are member stores that are used by Classes to store
data defined by a Field.
Properties describe Fields by adding options such as nullability,
default values, required flags, and so on. Properties can also be
objects that implement other Properties (sub-properties).
Properties can reuse Fields as required - for instance, multiple
strings, numeric values, floating point definitions, etc.
Properties are not specific to any one Class - they can be reused
as necessary.
Property names should be camelCase.
Class Property
A ClassProperty defines the properties that are assigned to a Class.
These are used to define the data that a Class can store when a new
Instance of data is created.
ClassProperties are used to create the templates to describe what a
Class can contain, thus creating the JSON Schema rules that define
what they store.
It is recommended to use an ID field in each class so that their
data instances can be retrieved using this unique field.