Implementations

Implementations define how to load data into a form and how to save data from a form. Once you have determined the type of form (Add, Edit, or View), you must determine the method for implementation. There are two basic options: Stored Procedure (SP) and Common Language Runtime (CLR). Stored Procedure implementations are defined in a data form spec with inline Transact-SQL CREATE PROCEDURE statements to be executed by the platform's feature loading mechanism. Using the inline Transact-SQL, the platform creates a stored procedure within the application's database for each implementation. Common Language Runtime implementations are defined with .NET classes that accompany the XML for the spec and that are referenced by the spec. When a CLR spec is loaded, the platform creates an assembly in SQL Server for the save or load logic.

Once you have chosen the type of form and the type of implementation, you can decide which implementations are necessary. With View Data Forms, there is a single implementation that loads data into the form. Add Data Forms and Edit Data Forms have a save action and must have a save implementation. The load implementation is optional for Add Data Forms. But since Edit Data Forms should load an existing record, load implementations are required for Edit Data Forms.

For a discussion about View Data Form implementations, see View Data Form Implementations. For a side-by-side comparison of an Stored Procedure (SP) and Common Language Runtime (CLR) load implementations, see Load Implementations. For a comparison of Stored Procedure (SP) and Common Language Runtime (CLR) save implementations, see Save Implementations.