Low Code Development with Mendix (Erwin ‘t Hoen) (z-library.sk, 1lib.sk, z-lib.sk)

Low Code Development with Mendix Developing state of the art innovative apps at speed with the Mendix low code development platform Erwin ‘t Hoen

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Dedicated to My parents, who planted the seed of knowledge in my mind and nurtured it and My wife, my confidante, my muse, my love

About the Author Erwin‘t Hoen is an experienced Software Architect with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in Mendix, Business Processes, Customer Relationship Management, IT Service Management, and IT Strategy. A strong engineering professional with a Master of Science (MSc) focused on chemistry from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Worked as a business consultant, manager R&D and Chief Technical Officer for multiple companies and contributed to hundreds of software projects for businesses of various sizes. Now founder and owner of BlueTale B.V., a company solely focussed on realisation of Mendix based software solutions. Working with the Mendix platform for more than 14 years and since 2016 part of the Mendix Most Valuable Professional (MVP) honorary program.

About the Reviewer Nico Mouton is a qualified Expert Mendix developer and trainer. His portfolio includes projects in the manufacturing, finance, non-profit, and CRM sectors. Nico's expertise is in his ability to resolve complicated difficulties, such as ETL systems, scheduled events, and third-party integrations. Nico, with his great eye for detail, contributed to the implementation of many quality insurance practices and standards, as well as training young and incoming Mendix developers. Moreover, Nico is featured in a few Mendix-related articles, a YouTube how-to video, and other Mendix-related project videos. Additionally, Nico has a bachelor's degree in engineering and an AWS certification in addition to his Mendix certification. Nico has a strong interest in technology. When Nico is not working on Mendix, he does some carpentry, beekeeping, and plays with IoT integrations.

Acknowledgement I want to express my gratitude to my family for supporting me in this endeavour. Supporting me and encouraging me was invaluable during the writing of this book. I want to thank BPB Publications for giving me this opportunity to put my knowledge into writing this book. I enjoyed their guidance and expertise during the complete process of the final result that now lies before you. I would also like to thank my co-workers and companies I had the pleasure to work with and for during many years working in the software industry. You have all been an inspiration and a great source of knowledge. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for always believing in me.

Preface This book provides you with a comprehensive overview of the Mendix platform from a developer perspective. By reading this book you will learn the concepts of the Mendix development platform and should be able to build your own Mendix applications and have a strong basis for evaluation of the platform. You will understand where Mendix will help provide solutions to your urgent business requirements, making sure you are on top of your game in a fast-changing software world. For developers, being new or seasoned, at the end of this book you should be able to start your Mendix certification process and join the low-code community to help bridge the gap between business and IT. Why should you learn about Mendix? This book answers this question by putting low-code into perspective and provide an outlook on where the low-code software market is heading. This is followed by looking into the different concepts of low-code development in Mendix. Every Mendix application will be using and storing data in a database, we will explore how database design has been made visual and focuses on the functional requirements rather than the technical aspects with the domain model editor in Mendix. You will experience how to create a user interface with the Mendix page designer. You will learn that creating a user interface has never been easier, with the page designer in Mendix. Mendix functionality is created in a visual fashion within the platform, making sure that you can focus on the solution

rather than the syntax. Allowing you to build clear functionality at the speed of your ideas. No real-world business application lives in solitude, they always live in a connected environment alongside other applications. Thus, integration possibilities with these other applications are paramount. The book has a lot of theoretical learnings, but during the chapters you will have the opportunity to put the theory into practice and will end up with a fully functional, cloud deployed Mendix application, by following along with the offered exercises. After finishing this book, you will have gained a thorough understanding of the Mendix platform, be able to build your own solutions with Mendix to solve real-world challenges and be ready for your journey into low-code development with the Mendix platform. Chapter 1: Introducing Low Code – This chapter introduces low code application development. Describes what low code is and what place it has in the software world. Describes why low-code software development has gained so much traction with companies developing applications. Chapter 2: Understanding the Mendix Platform – This chapter introduces the Mendix development environment and provides an overview of the complete platform. Explores the complete lifecycle of Mendix applications and which role different parts of the platform play. The chapter introduces the different deployment and licensing options. It touches briefly on additional learning resources that can be found in the Mendix Academy and explain the certifications that can be reached. Describes the Mendix Marketplace which is full of components built by both Mendix and the

Mendix community. The chapter provides a thorough understanding of the complete Mendix platform capabilities. Chapter 3: Mendix Development Environment Overview – This chapter explores all the features of the development IDE: Mendix Studio Pro. The different sections of the IDE as well as the menu options are covered. The built-in consistency checking, the errors pane and logging options are reviewed. This chapter describes the different settings, including languages and standard text. Here a first introduction of the Mendix security concepts is touched upon for a basic understanding of the permissions in a Mendix application. Chapter 4: Getting Started with the Baseline Application – This chapter introduces the sample application used in the exercises throughout the book. Chapter 5: Exploring Domain Models – This chapter introduces modules and entities. The chapter covers the basis of creating Mendix applications for solving business problems in the domain model editor. Chapter 6: Page Design and UI – This chapter shows the different options available to the developer to visualize the information in Mendix applications. The chapter covers the different widgets and their possible configuration and explains when to use which widget. The chapter pays specific attention to reusability of UI components. Chapter 7: Implementing Application Security – This chapter explains the Mendix security concepts and how to implement these concepts to ensure enterprise grade security is implemented in Mendix applications. Chapter 8: Business Logic: Microflows Basic- This chapter explains the business logic that can be modeled in Mendix applications. This chapter compares the working of microflows with Java code-blocks. The chapter explains

basic CRUD operations in detail and provides special attention to handling inheritance in microflow functionality. Chapter 9: Business Logic: Microflows Advanced – This chapter continues with more advanced concepts in modeling business logic. Provides the means and reasoning behind the error handling in Mendix microflows. Provides special attention to logging and debugging Mendix applications. Chapter 10: Mendix Patterns and Best Practices – This chapter provides best practices for developing Mendix applications. Describes standard patterns commonly used in Mendix. This chapter further describes the built-in performance bot and introduces the version control concept used in Mendix. Chapter 11: Mendix REST, SOAP, and Odata – This chapter explores the most common technologies used for the integration between applications, REST, SOAP and OData. The chapter descibes how these integration possibilities are implemented in the Mendix platform. How data can be exposed and consumed with the help of JSON structures, .xsd files, import and export mappings. Chapter 12: Explore Mendix Java Actions – This chapter is dedicated to exploring the possibilities of expanding the Mendix platform with the help of Java actions. Chapter 13: Native Apps and Nanoflows – This chapter allows the reader to learn fundamental concepts for building mobile applications with the Mendix platform. The chapter provides mobile specific best practices and introduces JavaScript actions and Nanoflows as new tools in the arsenal for building Mendix applications. Chapter 14: Testing, Deployment and Monitoring – This chapter presents a detailed overview of the options at the readers disposal for testing Mendix applications. Covers

the deployment options for web and mobile Mendix applications. The chapter finishes with the monitoring options available in the Mendix platform. Chapter 15: Review and Next Steps – This chapter reviews what the reader has learned from the previous chapters. Provides a possible outlook for low code development and guides the reader on how to proceed from here. Makes sure to put the learned theory into practice and learn more about the Mendix platform by touching on a number of related topics.

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Table of Contents 1. Introducing Low Code Introduction Structure Objectives Short history of development languages Understanding low code Using low code Starting with low code Start, structure, and scale Conclusion 2. Understanding the Mendix Platform Introduction Structure Objectives Platform overview Requirements management Development Consistency checking and testing Mendix and databases Mendix deployment Backups, permissions, and monitoring

Feedback Marketplace Mendix Academy and Forum Conclusion 3. Mendix Development Environment Overview Introduction Structure Objectives Mendix Studio Pro Menu bar File menu Edit menu App menu Run menu Language menu Other menus Application explorer pane Settings Security Navigation System texts System module Application modules Error panel Breakpoints, variables and debugger Console panel Conclusion

4. Getting Started with the Baseline Application Introduction Structure Objectives The exercise concept Needed resources High level overview of exercises Conclusion 5. Exploring Domain Models Introduction Structure Objectives Modules Domain model and entities Attributes Validation rules Indexes Associations Delete behavior Non-persistent entities and associations Inheritance Event handlers Import export Conclusion Exercises 6. Page Design and UI