FAQs

Why isn’t TailorPro just another way of saying customization?

TailorPro was designed with one goal in mind, to never touch the production environment. This means that TailorPro won’t change the production database structure or the application code or environment. If you draw a circle around your production application, TailorPro sits outside that circle, executing your new code on demand.

Since it is isolated from your production environment code and database, these can change with a patch or even be over-written with an upgrade and your modifications will remain intact. You have added a layer of adaptive behaviors over your application, but you have not customized your core application.

Does it really make upgrades simpler?

Because TailorPro sits outside your application footprint, there is no messy intertwining of custom code with standard code. There is no concern that the unused database field you filled with critical information is now populated by the application. You can apply patches or whole upgrades with confidence that your modifications to data structures or functions won’t be lost. They’re safely stored outside the application.

Of course, your modifications may now be obsolete. You will need to review modifications for changed screens and ensure that their anchor point and functionality still make sense. If you need to update them, you simply alter the record in the TailorPro repository that drives the anchor. Best of all, you know exactly which modifications exist and which circumstances they run under, by querying the TailorPro repository. There is no hidden but critical customization buried and unmarked in an anonymous procedure waiting to pop up the morning of go live.

Does your upgrade present new opportunities, such as combining databases? TailorPro’s context sensitive features allow you to run a single, standard application for all your users. Rather than managing their customizations with complex paths and duplicated code, rely on the TailorPro repository to recognize the correct context and deploy the appropriate modification.

How does TailorPro work?

TailorPro allows the developer to select where to put “anchors” that invoke the desired behavior within the natural flow of the application. The developer attaches a program to the anchor. The program normally includes utilities from the TailorPro library that provide the most common functions, e.g. adding a new field to an existing Progress frame, plus some custom logic. “Anchors” can be set anywhere in the business process, i.e. in a Progress field or frame. TailorPro is NOT a “screen scraper”. TailorPro gets its information and enables its controls through the Progress session. All anchors are self-documenting in the Program Table (where/when/what/which context) and are controlled from the developers’ menu and toolbars.

In addition TailorPro provides functionalities for database rules and db extensions, which allow you to add and revise data structures. TailorPro creates and manages record extensions that tie directly to the record in the production application but reside in the side database.

TailorPro takes advantage of the best features of the Progress environment to create a flexible layer above the production application for your adaptations.

How hard is it to use?

IT departments are legitimately concerned that new tools will introduce a new maintenance burden and new learning curves. We have installed TailorPro in a wide range of organizations, from those with no Progress developers to a large team of dedicated resources. The norm is a small group of developers who are already responsible for a million other tasks. We have designed the tool, the utility libraries and the application so that even non-developers can make basic changes. The tool is geared to people with only a general knowledge of Progress. The power lies in the code libraries that allow a developer to accomplish almost all of the standard tasks with little or no extra coding. Our goal is to help you leverage limited development resources for more overall customer satisfaction than you were able to achieve before.

What are the system requirements for TailorPro?

Testing shows TailorPro places no noticeable load on the hardware hosting it. If you want to implement complex business logic, you will need to ensure your code is well tuned. Similarly if you want to begin storing significantly more data, or turn on extensive audit trails, you will need to budget space for your side database. But the TailorPro engine and tools alone require very little disk space and almost no other server resources.

TailorPro will work with any version of Progress from v8 through Open Edge. It has been implemented with QAD™ v7 through eB 2.1 with domains. It will work with any QAD user interface, including ChUI, GUI, Desktop and .Net UI.

What languages can I use with TailorPro?

International implementations are common in the manufacturing marketplace. TailorPro will use any language Progress supports. You are not limited to the language your production application is delivered in.