PVEntityGenerator

Generates SQL scripts, Java/.NET Entity files and transfers sample data from and to Access databases.

Overview

PVEntityGenerator is a tool for database applications written in Java and .NET. It's primary target to be used together with the "PVFramework", a proprietary RDBMS mapping framework for legacy Java and .NET applications. But it can also be used standalone as handy tool to transfer table structures and data between an MS Access database and RDMBS servers.

The main functionality:

• Create or update database structures (via auto-generated SQL scripts) in the RDMBS server as defined in the Access database
• Transfer data from the Access database to the RDMBS server and vice versa
• Generate Java/.NET "Entity" class files to be used with the "PVFramework" library

Database support

The tool was tested with (but supports newer versions as well):

Platform	Versions
SQLServer	Microsoft SQL Server 2000-2005
Oracle	Oracle 8i-10g
MySQL	MySQL 4.x-5.x
PostgreSQL	(experimental)

Supported Access database formats:

• Access 2000 (.mdb)
• Access 2007 and up (.accdb)

Code Generation support

Platform	Versions
Java2	Java2 (JDK 1.4) with PVFramework für Java 3.x
Java5	Java5 (JDK 1.5) with PVFramework für Java 4.x
Java5JPA	Java5 (JDK 1.5) with Java Persistence (JPA) and Hibernate
NET	Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 mit PVFramework.NET 2.x
NET20	Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 mit PVFramework.NET 3.x

Database Model Definition

The database as models in the Access database is the base for the DDL statements generated by the PVEntity Generator including:

• Tables
• Columns
• Data Types
• Default Values
• Primary Keys
• Foreign Keys
• Indexes

However, some features available in RDMBS servers are not available in Access. It's possible to set special "attributes" in the description of each column in the Access database to further customize the data model generated for the RDBMS. These attributes follow the syntax #attribute without a value and #attribute=value for attributes with value. It's possible to add multiple attributes additional to a description comment for a single field. Example:

Field Desciption #size=300 #notest

Supported attributes for all platforms:

Attribute	Description	Example
size	Defines to size of a VARCHAR or CLOB column (independently of the size defined in the Access database which is limited to 255). If this attribute is set on a CLOB columns is generated as VARCHAR on the RDMBS server.	#size=300
identity	Enables "Auto-Increment"/"Identity" for the column, that means the RDBMS fills it with a new incremented value for each new row. May be not supported for all RDBMS servers.	#identity
auto-increment	Same as 'identity'	#auto-increment
notest	If set not unit tests are generated automatically for the entity classes	#notest
deprecated	The column is marked as deprecated in the generated entity class.	#deprecated

Additional attributes currently only supported for the 'Java5JPA' platform:

Attribute	Description	Example
xmlmapping	Defines a class name for mapping XML content in a CLOB column. The class has to be a POJO with serializable fields.	#xmlmapping=xxx.yyy.MappingClass
searchindex	Defines that this column is index by full text search. Optionally the index type can be specified as value: analyzed (previously: tokenized, default) not_analyzed (previously: un_tokenized) not_analyzed_no_norms (previously: no_norms) analyzed_no_norms no	#searchindex=analyzed
searchstore	Defines if the column value itself should be stored in the index document: no (default), yes, compress	#searchstore=yes
searchembeddepth	Defines for foreign key columns if depending objects should be indexed as well ("IndexEmbedded"). The value defines the depth.	#searchembeddepth=1
searchboost	Defines a search boost factor (float number)	#searchboost=2.5
searchdateresolution	Defines the resolution for timestamp fields: year, month, day (default), hour, minute, second, millisecond	#searchdateresolution=day
searchfieldbridge	Defines the class name of a custom "FieldBridge" or "StringBridge" implementation.	#searchfieldbridge=xx.yy.FieldBridgeImpl

Developing PVEntityGenerator

Recommended environment for developing PVEntityGenerator:

• Visual Studio Community 2022
• Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects extension
• Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable (32bit)