OFBiz as a middle-tier framework

[Blue Sun]

Guys,

I am in charge of development for major Linux-based Java language niche
SaaS system in the e-commerce supply-chain domain. It has a wide
customer base, an excellent reputation in the industry, and is growing
steadily.  We are planning to expand it by adding Order Entry,
Inventory, Accounting, and other functions that are documented as
services in OFBiz.  Later, in phase II, we will be adding functionality
like online Catalog, Ordering, and Shopping Cart modules.

I am looking at several solutions, from creating this project from
scratch to using a dependable open-source framework like OFBiz.

We would be integrating the OFBiz functionality behind our own JSP GUI
and a Struts M-V-C presentation tier.   We also use Hibernate and Oracle
10i as our data tier.

We would be moving our application server platform to JBoss when we
build this additional functionality into our system.

I would like to hear the experiences of other developers who have used
OFBiz strictly as a business tier framework and integrated it into a
custom presentation front end and data persistence back end.

How difficult is it to implement only what we will need?

What is the learning curve like?

Is the granularity sufficient that we can use it for the specific
business domain functions we want, and not carry around a lot of
unnecessary code baggage?

How easy is it to modify to fit our own architectural and business models?

How easy is it to integrate specific modules into existing systems?

Any advice, encouragement, or dire warnings would be appreciated.

- Blue Sun
[hidden email]

[Jacopo Cappellato-3]

On Jul 3, 2008, at 11:38 PM, Blue Sun wrote:

> Guys,
>
> I am in charge of development for major Linux-based Java language  
> niche SaaS system in the e-commerce supply-chain domain. It has a  
> wide customer base, an excellent reputation in the industry, and is  
> growing steadily.  We are planning to expand it by adding Order  
> Entry, Inventory, Accounting, and other functions that are  
> documented as services in OFBiz.  Later, in phase II, we will be  
> adding functionality like online Catalog, Ordering, and Shopping  
> Cart modules.
>
> I am looking at several solutions, from creating this project from  
> scratch to using a dependable open-source framework like OFBiz.
>
> We would be integrating the OFBiz functionality behind our own JSP  
> GUI and a Struts M-V-C presentation tier.   We also use Hibernate  
> and Oracle 10i as our data tier.
>
>
> We would be moving our application server platform to JBoss when we  
> build this additional functionality into our system.
>
> I would like to hear the experiences of other developers who have  
> used OFBiz strictly as a business tier framework and integrated it  
> into a custom presentation front end and data persistence back end.
>

You may ask to Dr Frankenstein for an advice :-)

Jacopo

> How difficult is it to implement only what we will need?
> What is the learning curve like?
> Is the granularity sufficient that we can use it for the specific  
> business domain functions we want, and not carry around a lot of  
> unnecessary code baggage?
>
> How easy is it to modify to fit our own architectural and business  
> models?
>
> How easy is it to integrate specific modules into existing systems?
>
> Any advice, encouragement, or dire warnings would be appreciated.
>
> - Blue Sun
> [hidden email]

[Adrian Crum]

In case you don't get the joke, Jacopo is saying that you'll end up with
a monster of pieced-together code. It would be better to migrate
existing artifacts over to OFBiz.

-Adrian

Jacopo Cappellato wrote:

>
> On Jul 3, 2008, at 11:38 PM, Blue Sun wrote:
>
>> Guys,
>>
>> I am in charge of development for major Linux-based Java language
>> niche SaaS system in the e-commerce supply-chain domain. It has a wide
>> customer base, an excellent reputation in the industry, and is growing
>> steadily.  We are planning to expand it by adding Order Entry,
>> Inventory, Accounting, and other functions that are documented as
>> services in OFBiz.  Later, in phase II, we will be adding
>> functionality like online Catalog, Ordering, and Shopping Cart modules.
>>
>> I am looking at several solutions, from creating this project from
>> scratch to using a dependable open-source framework like OFBiz.
>>
>> We would be integrating the OFBiz functionality behind our own JSP GUI
>> and a Struts M-V-C presentation tier.   We also use Hibernate and
>> Oracle 10i as our data tier.
>>
>>
>> We would be moving our application server platform to JBoss when we
>> build this additional functionality into our system.
>>
>> I would like to hear the experiences of other developers who have used
>> OFBiz strictly as a business tier framework and integrated it into a
>> custom presentation front end and data persistence back end.
>>
>
> You may ask to Dr Frankenstein for an advice :-)
>
> Jacopo
>
>> How difficult is it to implement only what we will need?
>> What is the learning curve like?
>> Is the granularity sufficient that we can use it for the specific
>> business domain functions we want, and not carry around a lot of
>> unnecessary code baggage?
>>
>> How easy is it to modify to fit our own architectural and business
>> models?
>>
>> How easy is it to integrate specific modules into existing systems?
>>
>> Any advice, encouragement, or dire warnings would be appreciated.
>>
>> - Blue Sun
>> [hidden email]
>
>

[Jacopo Cappellato-3]

Yeah,

sorry, it was not my intention of being harsh... however I would  
really suggest you to get a list of *functional* (not technical)  
requirements for your applications, then review the existing features  
(in OFBiz) and work on a gap analisys.
Only after this, you should make a decision about the tools you will  
need.

Just my 2 cents,

Jacopo



On Jul 4, 2008, at 12:41 AM, Adrian Crum wrote:

> In case you don't get the joke, Jacopo is saying that you'll end up  
> with a monster of pieced-together code. It would be better to  
> migrate existing artifacts over to OFBiz.
>
> -Adrian
>
> Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>> On Jul 3, 2008, at 11:38 PM, Blue Sun wrote:
>>> Guys,
>>>
>>> I am in charge of development for major Linux-based Java language  
>>> niche SaaS system in the e-commerce supply-chain domain. It has a  
>>> wide customer base, an excellent reputation in the industry, and  
>>> is growing steadily.  We are planning to expand it by adding Order  
>>> Entry, Inventory, Accounting, and other functions that are  
>>> documented as services in OFBiz.  Later, in phase II, we will be  
>>> adding functionality like online Catalog, Ordering, and Shopping  
>>> Cart modules.
>>>
>>> I am looking at several solutions, from creating this project from  
>>> scratch to using a dependable open-source framework like OFBiz.
>>>
>>> We would be integrating the OFBiz functionality behind our own JSP  
>>> GUI and a Struts M-V-C presentation tier.   We also use Hibernate  
>>> and Oracle 10i as our data tier.
>>>
>>>
>>> We would be moving our application server platform to JBoss when  
>>> we build this additional functionality into our system.
>>>
>>> I would like to hear the experiences of other developers who have  
>>> used OFBiz strictly as a business tier framework and integrated it  
>>> into a custom presentation front end and data persistence back end.
>>>
>> You may ask to Dr Frankenstein for an advice :-)
>> Jacopo
>>> How difficult is it to implement only what we will need?
>>> What is the learning curve like?
>>> Is the granularity sufficient that we can use it for the specific  
>>> business domain functions we want, and not carry around a lot of  
>>> unnecessary code baggage?
>>>
>>> How easy is it to modify to fit our own architectural and business  
>>> models?
>>>
>>> How easy is it to integrate specific modules into existing systems?
>>>
>>> Any advice, encouragement, or dire warnings would be appreciated.
>>>
>>> - Blue Sun
>>> [hidden email]

[Tim Ruppert]

+1 on this.  There are lots of implementations out there that utilize  
OFBiz as a middle tier only implementation.  There are pluses and  
minuses to this approach for sure.  While OFBiz does a good job in  
it's role of performing the services that are asked of it, at the end,  
you may ask yourself . . . why did I do this?

Adding integrations on day one, unless you ABSOLUTELY have to - is  
always a bad idea.  Can you elaborate more on why you would want to do  
this?  You can utilize JSP UIs in OFBiz if you like - and while I love  
Hibernate in general - when communicating to the OFBiz data schema, it  
would make MUCH more sense to utilize the Entity Engine.

Looking forward to hearing more from you when you get a chance.

Cheers,
Tim
--
Tim Ruppert
HotWax Media
http://www.hotwaxmedia.com

o:801.649.6594
f:801.649.6595


On Jul 3, 2008, at 4:50 PM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:

> Yeah,
>
> sorry, it was not my intention of being harsh... however I would  
> really suggest you to get a list of *functional* (not technical)  
> requirements for your applications, then review the existing  
> features (in OFBiz) and work on a gap analisys.
> Only after this, you should make a decision about the tools you will  
> need.
>
> Just my 2 cents,
>
> Jacopo
>
>
>
> On Jul 4, 2008, at 12:41 AM, Adrian Crum wrote:
>
>> In case you don't get the joke, Jacopo is saying that you'll end up  
>> with a monster of pieced-together code. It would be better to  
>> migrate existing artifacts over to OFBiz.
>>
>> -Adrian
>>
>> Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>>> On Jul 3, 2008, at 11:38 PM, Blue Sun wrote:
>>>> Guys,
>>>>
>>>> I am in charge of development for major Linux-based Java language  
>>>> niche SaaS system in the e-commerce supply-chain domain. It has a  
>>>> wide customer base, an excellent reputation in the industry, and  
>>>> is growing steadily.  We are planning to expand it by adding  
>>>> Order Entry, Inventory, Accounting, and other functions that are  
>>>> documented as services in OFBiz.  Later, in phase II, we will be  
>>>> adding functionality like online Catalog, Ordering, and Shopping  
>>>> Cart modules.
>>>>
>>>> I am looking at several solutions, from creating this project  
>>>> from scratch to using a dependable open-source framework like  
>>>> OFBiz.
>>>>
>>>> We would be integrating the OFBiz functionality behind our own  
>>>> JSP GUI and a Struts M-V-C presentation tier.   We also use  
>>>> Hibernate and Oracle 10i as our data tier.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We would be moving our application server platform to JBoss when  
>>>> we build this additional functionality into our system.
>>>>
>>>> I would like to hear the experiences of other developers who have  
>>>> used OFBiz strictly as a business tier framework and integrated  
>>>> it into a custom presentation front end and data persistence back  
>>>> end.
>>>>
>>> You may ask to Dr Frankenstein for an advice :-)
>>> Jacopo
>>>> How difficult is it to implement only what we will need?
>>>> What is the learning curve like?
>>>> Is the granularity sufficient that we can use it for the specific  
>>>> business domain functions we want, and not carry around a lot of  
>>>> unnecessary code baggage?
>>>>
>>>> How easy is it to modify to fit our own architectural and  
>>>> business models?
>>>>
>>>> How easy is it to integrate specific modules into existing systems?
>>>>
>>>> Any advice, encouragement, or dire warnings would be appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> - Blue Sun
>>>> [hidden email]
>

[Ritesh Trivedi]

Hi,

I am currently doing something similar. I am trying to use Wicket as a front end and Ofbiz at the back for our e-commerce store. Wicket integration (as a frontend) with Ofbiz becomes especially challenging because of underlying differences between Wicket as a MVC framework vs. traditional MVC framework. So it will probably be easier for you to integrate a front end that you want which is JSP/Struts.

About the backend - There are several components in Ofbiz that you will need to integrate your front end with.

1. Entity Engine
2. Service Engine/Service code (there are atleast couple of types - java based and simple language based)
3. Beanshell scripts
4. Possibly integrating Ofbiz filter/request processing with your Front end framework choice
5. If you are going to "port" some of the "screens" than you will need to understand Ofbiz UI specific component "screen framework" etc.
6. Data Model

Depending on how deep your integration is, this can take several weeks easily to understand, sometimes it takes few iterations before you can understand and come back to rework what you already worked on - so iterative development(XP) approach would be ideal.

Hope that helps.

Tim Ruppert wrote

+1 on this.  There are lots of implementations out there that utilize  
OFBiz as a middle tier only implementation.  There are pluses and  
minuses to this approach for sure.  While OFBiz does a good job in  
it's role of performing the services that are asked of it, at the end,  
you may ask yourself . . . why did I do this?

Adding integrations on day one, unless you ABSOLUTELY have to - is  
always a bad idea.  Can you elaborate more on why you would want to do  
this?  You can utilize JSP UIs in OFBiz if you like - and while I love  
Hibernate in general - when communicating to the OFBiz data schema, it  
would make MUCH more sense to utilize the Entity Engine.

Looking forward to hearing more from you when you get a chance.

Cheers,
Tim
--
Tim Ruppert
HotWax Media
http://www.hotwaxmedia.com

o:801.649.6594
f:801.649.6595


On Jul 3, 2008, at 4:50 PM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:

> Yeah,
>
> sorry, it was not my intention of being harsh... however I would  
> really suggest you to get a list of *functional* (not technical)  
> requirements for your applications, then review the existing  
> features (in OFBiz) and work on a gap analisys.
> Only after this, you should make a decision about the tools you will  
> need.
>
> Just my 2 cents,
>
> Jacopo
>
>
>
> On Jul 4, 2008, at 12:41 AM, Adrian Crum wrote:
>
>> In case you don't get the joke, Jacopo is saying that you'll end up  
>> with a monster of pieced-together code. It would be better to  
>> migrate existing artifacts over to OFBiz.
>>
>> -Adrian
>>
>> Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
>>> On Jul 3, 2008, at 11:38 PM, Blue Sun wrote:
>>>> Guys,
>>>>
>>>> I am in charge of development for major Linux-based Java language  
>>>> niche SaaS system in the e-commerce supply-chain domain. It has a  
>>>> wide customer base, an excellent reputation in the industry, and  
>>>> is growing steadily.  We are planning to expand it by adding  
>>>> Order Entry, Inventory, Accounting, and other functions that are  
>>>> documented as services in OFBiz.  Later, in phase II, we will be  
>>>> adding functionality like online Catalog, Ordering, and Shopping  
>>>> Cart modules.
>>>>
>>>> I am looking at several solutions, from creating this project  
>>>> from scratch to using a dependable open-source framework like  
>>>> OFBiz.
>>>>
>>>> We would be integrating the OFBiz functionality behind our own  
>>>> JSP GUI and a Struts M-V-C presentation tier.   We also use  
>>>> Hibernate and Oracle 10i as our data tier.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We would be moving our application server platform to JBoss when  
>>>> we build this additional functionality into our system.
>>>>
>>>> I would like to hear the experiences of other developers who have  
>>>> used OFBiz strictly as a business tier framework and integrated  
>>>> it into a custom presentation front end and data persistence back  
>>>> end.
>>>>
>>> You may ask to Dr Frankenstein for an advice :-)
>>> Jacopo
>>>> How difficult is it to implement only what we will need?
>>>> What is the learning curve like?
>>>> Is the granularity sufficient that we can use it for the specific  
>>>> business domain functions we want, and not carry around a lot of  
>>>> unnecessary code baggage?
>>>>
>>>> How easy is it to modify to fit our own architectural and  
>>>> business models?
>>>>
>>>> How easy is it to integrate specific modules into existing systems?
>>>>
>>>> Any advice, encouragement, or dire warnings would be appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> - Blue Sun
>>>> [e-mail]
>