Introduction to Pathmaker

Approaches for Using Pathmaker
Using Pathmaker—An Overview
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Simulating the appearance of the application screens and navigation among those
screens is an important feature of the Pathmaker product that can be used during the
design of an application, as well as during the development of an application.
Potential end users can view the user interface and provide valuable feedback early in
the application life cycle. Simulation is a good method of verifying the basic
presentation of screens without the cost of creating services and configuring a
Pathway system.
Simulating the interface before data for the application has been defined in the
Pathmaker catalog can even help to identify fields that must be present in the
database; however, simulation will not always help to identify relationships between
the data elements.
Note The Pathmaker product is not intended as a database design tool; if prior database analysis or design has
not been completed, it is possible to create a user interface that cannot be implemented effectively.
Creating Prototypes The screen painter and simulation features of the Pathmaker product are very effective
for previewing the screens of a proposed application, but end users might also want to
preview some of the functionality of a proposed application.
One of the best ways application developers can demonstrate application functionality
is to create a prototype of a proposed production application. A prototype is a
simplified working model on which a custom production application will be based.
Using Pathmaker DB requesters and the standard services and servers provided with
the product, application developers can quickly create a working prototype that
demonstrates basic application functionality such as adding, updating, and deleting
information in the database.