Design Methodology › Step Two: Developing the Design › Internal/Technical Specifications › Application Considerations

Application Considerations

After the application format has been determined, decisions need to be made about how the application will work. The developer must consider the following:

• Records — What subschema, map, and work records are to be part of this application?
• Menu Screens — Will standard system-defined menus be used or will the menus be user-defined? If system-defined, which format of the system menu will be chosen? If user-defined, how will the menus be formatted and what will they do?

  For information about the three types of system-defined menu maps, see the CA IDMS Mapping Facility Guide.

  Chapter 4, Designing Maps discusses methods that can be used when designing user-defined menu maps.

• Map formatting — What maps will be needed? What will the maps look like? Are there site-specific standards that need to be considered?
• Automatic editing — What edit and/or code tables are necessary? Will the data be displayed as it is stored? How will the internal and external pictures be defined? How will the date display be formatted?

  For further information on automatic editing and error handling, see the CA IDMS Mapping Facility Guide.

• Messages — What informational and error messages, other than those supplied by the runtime system, should be conveyed to the terminal user?
• Security — What levels of security will be assigned? Will user, program, or subschema registration be implemented? Will a user id and password be required to sign on to an application?

  For further information on the security that can be implemented, see the CA ADS User Guide.