Code Generation

For new projects, Dali does provide a code generator tool, Dali Studio, which creates source code files appropriate for the chosen database. The DaliStudio is a clever little adjunct to the main package that allows you to connect to one or more databases and to view the associated schemas.

DaliStudio allows you to view the data and generate database access code. You can then copy and paste this code into your application, safe in the knowledge that it is error-free.

While this level of automation isn't to everyone's taste, it is definitely useful. I can easily imagine using it in testing and during code reviews.

Dali works hard to separate application code from the underlying database. As a rule of thumb, it's important not to rely on features that are specific to your particular database. The same is true of Dali; its very power is in one sense a weakness, in that users might well come to rely too much on the supplied features!

I'm slightly concerned about Dali's singleton mode concurrency model. The concurrency issue attempts to solve the problem of multiple users requesting the same data. In singleton mode, all such users get the same reference. This strikes me as slightly anarchic. Data changes made by user X will be seen by user Y (and vice versa), if both X and Y simultaneously access the same data! I'd prefer some sort of locking mechanism.

Despite these minor misgivings, this is an excellent package priced competitively at $149. If your application is Microsoft-centric, you access one or more databases, and you want to reduce reliance on your database vendors, then this is just the package for you. Would I buy it? Definitely.

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