Base One Foundation Component Library

Infobox_Software
name = Base One Foundation Component Library (BFC)



caption =
collapsible =
author =
developer = Base One International Corp.
released =
latest_release_version = 7.40
latest_release_date = February 15, 2008
latest preview version =
latest preview date =
frequently updated =
programming language = Visual C++, C#
operating_system = Microsoft Windows
platform = Microsoft Visual Studio, .NET
language =
status =
genre = Web application framework
license = Base One EULA
website = http://www.boic.com/

The Base One Foundation Component Library (BFC) is a rapid application development toolkit for building secure, fault-tolerant, database applications on Windows and ASP.NET. In conjunction with Microsoft's Visual Studio integrated development environment, BFC provides a general-purpose web application framework for working with databases from Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Sybase, and MySQL, running under either Windows or Unix/Linux. BFC also includes facilities for distributed computing, batch processing, queuing, and database command scripting.

Design

BFC is based on a database-centric architecture whose cross-DBMS data dictionary plays a central role in supporting data security, validation, optimization, and maintainability features. [http://www.boic.com/b1mbatd.htm] Base One holds a number of U.S. patents on its core technologies, with additional patents pending. [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6384748.html] [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6738775.html] [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7181474.html] Developers can incorporate BFC components into Windows applications written in any of the major Microsoft programming languages (Visual C++, C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET) and using a variety of technologies, including COM/ActiveX, MFC, Crystal Reports, and AJAX. BFC works with both managed and unmanaged code, and it can be used to construct either thin client or rich client applications, with or without browser-based interfaces.

History

The development of BFC originally was funded by projects done for Marsh & McLennan and Deutsche Bank that started in the mid 1990's. [http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs072704-story01.html] The securities custody system built by Deutsche Bank with BFC is one of the earliest successful examples of commercial grid computing. [http://whitepapers.zdnet.com/casestudy.aspx?docid=106508] The name "BFC" was a play on Microsoft's MFC, which (starting with Visual C++ 1.5) BFC extended through class libraries to facilitate the development of large-scale, client/server database applications.

With the release of Visual C++ 2.0, BFC provided a way to upgrade from 16-bit Windows 3.1 and NT to true 32-bit Windows MFC applications. Under Visual C++ 4.0, BFC added Base One's Internet Server, enabling transparent database access across the Internet for distributed rich client and grid computing applications. [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-56252403.html]

Starting with Visual C++ 6.0, BFC added COM support, so that VB and ASP programmers could use BFC's database components, including ActiveX grid (table), combo, and edit controls. With the advent of VisualStudio .NET 2002, BFC was extended to support the .NET languages, C#, VB.NET, and ASP.NET. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_May_18/ai_n6032568]

Licensing

Base One International Corp. has three levels of BFC product offerings:

* BFC Basic: a free, time-limited trial version, with source code and samples
* BFC Professional: licensed for a single developer, with more source code and samples
* BFC Enterprise: licensed for an entire organization, with full source code and samples

References

# [http://www.boic.com/b1mbatd.htm Base One Distributed Computing in Depth] . Accessed March 5 2008.
# U.S. Patent 6384748. [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6384748.html Method of encoding numeric data and manipulating the same (2002)] . Accessed March 5 2008.
# U.S. Patent 6738775. [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6738775.html Database communication system and method for communicating with a database (2004)] . Accessed March 5 2008.
# U.S. Patent 7181474. [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7181474.html Database communication system and method for communicating with a database (2007)] . Accessed March 5 2008.
# ITJungle. [http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs072704-story01.html DB2/400: The Heart of a Supercomputer Cluster?] , July 27, 2004. Accessed April 9 2008.
# ZDNet. [http://whitepapers.zdnet.com/casestudy.aspx?docid=106508 Success Story - Deutsche Bank's Securities Custody Reporting System] . Accessed March 5 2008.
# PR Newswire. [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-56252403.html Base One Internet Server - For Building 'Rich Client' High Content Windows-Based Internet Sites] , October 13, 1999. Accessed March 5 2008.
# Business Wire. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_May_18/ai_n6032568 Base One Releases Tools for Building Commercial Grid Computing Applications with .NET] , May 18, 2004. Accessed March 5 2008.

External links

* Base One. [http://www.boic.com/bfcintro.htm Introduction to BFC]
* Business Wire. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_Sept_29/ai_n6215821 IDC Reviews Base One's Grid Computing as "Pragmatic, Scalable and Extensible"; Base One Granted Additional US Patent for Grid/Cluster Database Technology] , September 29, 2004. Accessed March 5 2008.
* Business Wire. [http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/151416/base_one_launches_high_performance_information_sharing_for_grid_computing/ Base One Launches High Performance Information Sharing for Grid Computing; IDC Reports Base One Positioned to Address Data Access and Sharing Across Grids] , May 23, 2005. Accessed March 5 2008.
* ITJungle. [http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs061405-story02.html Base One Update Brings Grids of Clusters] , June 14, 2005. Accessed April 9 2008.