Application Documentation Solutions

Pikauba Software solutions help software developers, QA professionals, information architects and project managers develop world class applications through source code documentation technologies.

The challenge: 

Produce complex data driven web applications that can be maintained, upgraded and tested to ensure maximum reliability.

Solutions:

Object oriented design methodologies and application modeling frameworks such as UML are only able to bring partial solutions to final software solutions.  These methodologies readily produce design documentation, but do not produce interface API documentation that can be leveraged in team development environments.  One of the challenges of team development is how to effectively communicate data flow and interfaces between the various layers in an n-tiered application. 

Java developers have been using various forms of JavaDoc to partially achieve this communication objective.   As effective as JavaDoc is at describing Java classes and associated methods, it does not address issues of database usage documentation or ASP page flow documentation.

Pikauba Software products are designed to assist in projects ranging in size from the most basic ASP web site or SQL Server database, all the way up to complex data driven applications running on Microsoft Reporting Services.

DBDocumentor™

Documenting SQL databases is rarely an enjoyable task, and often is performed at the end of a project, leading to incomplete and potentially misleading documentation.  DBDocumentor takes the majority of the pain out of database documentation by providing a framework where developers can annotate the database as it is being developed, and produce the resultant documentation in a matter of minutes, or as part of any build process.  This ensures that not only is the latest documentation always available, but the ease of describing SQL objects means that developers are more likely to write relevant documentation.

Even in the absence of SQL object descriptions, DBDocumentor output is valuable for those wishing to learn the structure and schema of a database.  The output:

• Is fully cross referenced and hyperlinked
• Includes all the input and output parameters, result set layout and return values for procedural SQL
• Indicates security permissions required on objects
• Indicates how the data contained in an object is accessed, and by whom
• Includes temporary SQL objects
• Includes the effects of dynamic SQL
• Optionally contains fully colorized syntax highlighting of SQL source
• Supports SQL Server Reporting Services, meaning that even your reports are cross referenced and hyperlinked
• Clearly indicates where data is being accessed from, and where it is being modified from

The latest version of DBDocumentor includes support for multiple SQL dialects, including Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and below, Firebird 2.0 or 1.5, and Sybase SQL Anywhere 10 and below.

SQLHelp

If DBDocumentor is more than you need, perhaps you might consider SQLHelp.  It is able to document the SQL Server 2000 stored procedures in your project.  Even before you've written the actual procedure, using the annotation syntax of SQLHelp you can annotate the batch to document and define the interface to the batch.  By producing the documentation defining the purpose of the procedure and doing so in a manner that allows developers to code against the procedure as it's being developed can shorten development times dramatically.  The power of interface contracts and object oriented design come to the world of SQL.  

ASPHelp

SQL is just the beginning.  Today's data driven dynamic web applications can also benefit from OOD principles.  ASP is a very popular scripting platform for the web but most web applications are hampered by a lack of documentation to describe all the paths of execution for the script, how variables are passed from page to page, and each page interacts with other pages, and most importantly for some, the intent behind subroutines and functions used to build the final web page.

ASPHelp can help perform this task.  ASPHelp is an ASP documentation tool that can parse through completed ASP to assist the QA professional in the task of ensuring that all paths of execution are covered and document the variables used, and how they are used.  If used at the beginning of the project, information architects can define how each page is accessed, the data manipulations to occur, and the intent behind each page.  Net result: interface contracts for ASP.  As a result, ASPHelp is an invaluable tool in the information architects' toolbox.

The SQLHelp and ASPHelp documentation tools can assist web application developers in bringing the benefits of object oriented design to their projects.  They provide a standardized rules based approach to documentation that can reduce, or even eliminate, maintainability issues.

New! DBDocumentor™ 4.40

Complete database documentation for SQL Server, Firebird and Sybase SQL Anywhere (ASA) databases databases.  Produce fully cross referenced documentation for SQL databases in minutes.  Learn More »

ASPHelp 2.21

ASP documentation made simple.  Find all the variables on an ASP page, how they are used, and where your page might go to, under all conditions.  Now featuring ActiveXObject usage reporting. Learn More »

SQLHelp 2.42

Produce programmers reference documentation for SQL Server stored procedures.  Learn More »

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