State of the art issues in distributed databases (Panel Session)

Abstract

The development of inexpensive, powerful, microcomputers with bit-mapped graphics displays and local area networks makes it possible to provide each person in a office with a personal computer which can communicate with other computers and shared resources (e.g. printers and data). These personal computers can be used to automate many of the office tasks which currently use paper forms, telephone communication, and filing cabinets and thereby improve office worker productivity. Unfortunately, existing programming languages and application development tools are not well-matched to the full-screen interactive user interfaces and the multiuser form-flow applications that these office systems require. As a result, application programs to automate offices are complex, unreliable, expensive, and time-consuming to produce. Examples of these systems are keeping track of papers submitted to a journal, bug reports sent to a software organization, and purchase orders sent to a company. We have developed an interactive, Form-flow Application Development System (FADS) which will make it easier to build these applications. The system has built-in forms (e.g. data entry and report forms), tools for combining many forms into an application (e.g. using data entered into a data entry form as arguments to a database query that produces data for a report form), facilities to send data (i.e. forms) to another user, and triggering mechanisms to allow a user's attention to be directed to important information (e.g. that a bug fix is overdue). Moreover, applications are developed interactively using the same form-based user interface as the applications being created.