Introduction to Pathmaker

A Suggested Life Cycle for a Pathmaker Application
Using Pathmaker—An Overview
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Documentation During this phase (which should be done in parallel with development), information
about the implemented application is recorded. This information will be used for
training, maintenance, and auditing purposes and to track the progress of application
development.
Documentation can be produced by printing hard copies of end user application
screens, the help text for end users, and all Pathmaker screens used to develop the
application. PMADL can be used to generate a detailed listing of the objects in a
Pathmaker project. In addition, a number of Pathmaker reports can be produced that
provide valuable information about an application from the information found in the
Pathmaker catalog.
Testing After the application (or a portion of it) has been developed, it is time to verify that it
works properly and according to the design. The type and depth of testing for an
application should be defined during the planning phase. Pathmaker provides a
utility (PMPROJECT) that creates Pathway command files that can be used to
configure and start a Pathway system for testing.
Move Into Production After thorough testing and acceptance by the end users, auditors, and other concerned
parties, the application is ready for production. The Pathmaker utility PMPROJECT
creates a file that can be used to FUP DUP the needed application components into the
production environment.
Maintenance After an application has been placed into production, changes to enhance or modify
the application are inevitable. The Pathmaker product can be used to perform many
application maintenance tasks.
Table 3-1 summarizes the phases in the life cycle of a Pathmaker application.