4th Dimension 2003: Application Integration

With application integration, applications are able to reuse each other's data and functionality. 4th Dimension 2003 introduces a number of new features to enhance application integration through its support for Web Services.

"The Web Services features of the new 4th Dimension 2003 have allowed us to develop remote capabilities for our customers that decreases time and effort, increases accuracy and visibility and has already lead to profitable new opportunities."
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Application Integration and Web Services in 4th Dimension 2003

Supports SOAP 1.1 (Simple Object Access Protocol) as both a client and server
WSDL
Support for XML data exchange, including XML import/export
Compatible with .NET, J2EE or any other Web service platform
Seamless integration with existing 4th Dimension databases-virtually no re-development is required
"One-click" enabling of existing database methods as publishable SOAP methods
Support for SSL and user authentication, XML Import/Export

XML is fast becoming the standard for transferring data between applications. 4th Dimension 2003 supports the import and export XML data through a manual process or programmatically.

4th Dimension 2003 Supports Web Services as a Client and Server

4th Dimension 2003 applications can call methods in other applications as well as allow other applications to call 4th Dimension applications. For example, a 4th Dimension 2003 application could call a method in SAP while simultaneously allowing a Microsoft Excel application to call one of its own methods. Developers can utilise commands in 4th Dimension's language to customise how they communicate with remote Web Services. Similarly, using 4th Dimension's SOAP server, any client that supports SOAP (C#, Java, Visual Basic, AppleScript, and of course 4th Dimension) will be able to call 4th Dimension methods by using the same code they would to access any other Web Service.

Sharing Application Logic

Through application integration, all the applications in a business can share data as well as application logic. By adopting SOAP, 4th Dimension has made it seamless to decouple your business logic from the interface and make it available to a new range of customers and applications.

Success Story

"We have been using a custom 4D application developed by Bart Alcorn Of AvantraNet to manage our company for nearly four years. The Web Services features of the new 4D 2003 have allowed us to develop remote capabilities for our customers that decreases time and effort, increases accuracy and visibility and has already lead to profitable new opportunities.

As a service company with over 2000 customers in 20 countries, keeping on top of our activities and jobs has been an increasingly difficult task. By developing applications which give our clients direct, but controlled access to our data, we are pushing the data entry task to our clients. Traditionally a customer would enter much of the data we need into their own data processing system. They would then have to either reenter this data into a web page for online ordering or call or fax us and we would have to manually enter this information into our system. Multiple entry of the same data is a waste of everyone's time and a major source of error. The ability of our Web Service APIs to be tied directly into our customer's existing infrastructure allows them to control the ordering process to meet their business model, and then to transfer that information to us instantly and accurately.

This frees us to perform the work they pay us for, rather than using our time to re-enter data already in their system and assures them of a higher degree of accuracy, a very important feature in today's must meet last second deadlines. As an equipment repair company, allowing our customers to see where and at what stage their assets are is a huge value for us, while providing piece of mind for them. That this can be accomplished automatically as well as after hours, and without the messy "screen scraping" work arounds that have plagued B2B web sites, is a major feature.

We expect this suite of applications to drive growth, increase customer satisfaction, and keep our administration costs flat as we grow sales. As we launch these applications, I fully expect web services to become the impetus that propels our company to the next level as measured across all benchmarks."

- Robert Hicks, CEO, National Service Center, Inc.