Archive for Knowledge Basewithout synopsis

Creating a customisable software package

Every software developer knows that there are two basic ways of supplying an application to a customer - a bespoke system or a software package. The bespoke system is tailored to the client's need, but it is expensive as he has to carry all the development costs. A software package is cheaper as the costs are split across multiple clients, but it is difficult to come up with a single solution that satisfies every client's needs. There will always be a client whose business processes are slightly different from the others, so some customisation is quite commonplace. This article shows how features have been added to the RADICORE framework, and deployed in a multi-user ERP package, which make the process of customisation far easier than you may think possible.

Published: 08 January 2026

The Road to Rapid Application Development (RAD)

This gives an overview of the decisions I made and the steps I took to create RADICORE, my Rapid Application Developnment framework. My success was down to the fact that I ignored "best practices" in favour of a set of "better practices".

Published: 21 December 2024

Evolution of the RADICORE framework

This explains how the current RADICORE framework had its origins in a framework I developed in COBOL in the 1980s, then again in UNIFACE in the 1990s, culminating with my PHP version which I began in 2002.

Published: 01 June 2022

How Radicore prevents SQL Injection attacks

This article explains how RADICORE prevents SQL Injection attacks.

Published: 17 July 2021

How Radicore prevents CSRF attacks

This article explains how RADICORE prevents Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks.

Published: 08 October 2017

How Radicore's Hook System Works

This article explains the mechanism which allows custom code to be inserted into the processing flow.

Published: 16 September 2017

The use of Cascading Style Sheets within Radicore

This article describes how CSS files are used within the Radicore framework.

Published: 22 April 2008

How to implement Two Factor Authentication

This FAQ entry describes how you can implement Two Factor Authentication (TFA) or Two Token Authentication (TTA) via a RADIUS server.

Published: 01 February 2008

How to implement a Virtual Private Database/Multi-Tenancy/Row Level Security

This article describes how you can implement as a Virtual Private Database (VPD), also known as Row Level Security (RLS) or Multi Tenancy (MT). This allows a single database instance to be shared by several customers (tenants) but keeps each customer's data hidden from other customers.

Published: 01 October 2007

RADICORE tutorial

This tutorial shows how to create the directory structure for a new application at the touch of a button then, starting with nothing more than a database schema, build the components for that application at the touch of another button - all without writing a single line of code.

Published: 18 October 2006

RADICORE tutorials menu

This is the list of tutorial pages which are available for the RDICORE framework.

Published: 18 October 2006

How to extend the validation class

This article describes how you can extend the validation class with custom methods.

Published: 11 September 2006

How to produce PDF documents with RADICORE

This article describes how you can produce output in PDF format instead of HTML.

Published: 28 August 2006

How does RADICORE maintain application state?

This describes how Radicore maintains your application state in a stateless environment.

Published: 19 August 2006

How to add javascript to your RADICORE application.

This shows you how to add javascript to an application which runs under the RADICORE framework.

Published: 09 August 2006

How does the HELP facility work?

This shows you how to make HELP text available to your users in different languages.

Published: 07 August 2006

The RADICORE Security Model

Here is a list of all the security features within RADICORE.

Published: 25 April 2006

RADICORE programming guidelines

Here are a few guidelines if you wish to start developing with the RADICORE framework.

Published: 21 April 2006

How do I start a new project with RADICORE?

Before you can start bulding components for a new project there are are few simple steps you need to take.

Published: 14 April 2006

How do I build new components with RADICORE?

Once you have built your application database simply follow these steps in order to build components to perform basic CRUD operations on each table.

Published: 14 April 2006

What is a Menu system?

A menu system shows the user a list of available options so that one can be chosen to be activated. This list is usually broken down into a number of menu pages which are linked together in some sort of hierarchy.

Published: 09 April 2006

What is an RBAC system?

An access control system is used to restrict a user's access to the components within an application. In a Role Based Access Control system this access is defined for user groups (or 'roles') instead of individual users.

Published: 09 April 2006

What is a Workflow system?

A Workflow or Business Process Automation system helps ensure that the completion of a task is automatically followed by the next task in a pre-defined sequence.

Published: 09 April 2006

What is an Audit Logging system?

An Audit Logging system is used to provide a history or audit trail of all changes made to the system. These changes can be viewed with a set of simple online screens.

Published: 09 April 2006

What is a Data Dictionary?

A Data Dictionary holds meta data, or 'data about data', for an application database, and is capable of holding more information than is available in the database's own INFORMATION_SCHEMA.

Published: 09 April 2006

What is Internationalisation?

Internationalisation is the process of designing an application so that it can be adapted to various languages and regions without engineering changes.

Published: 09 April 2006

What are Transaction Patterns?

Transaction Patterns are patterns which describe user transactions, and are geared towards the structure and behaviour of application components from the user's perspective. They are not the same as design patterns which describe the framework on which applications are built.

Published: 09 April 2006

What architecture does RADICORE use?

RADICORE uses a combination of the 3-tier architecture and the MVC design pattern.

Published: 09 April 2006

How does RADICORE aid Rapid Application Development?

A lot of tools claim to enable RAD, but some are more rapid than others. How is RADICORE different?

Published: 09 April 2006

How is RADICORE unique?

What makes RADICORE unique among all the other frameworks?

Published: 09 April 2006

RADICORE for PHP - Functions, Methods and Variables

This contains documentation on all the Functions (API's), Methods and Variables used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 10 March 2006

Internationalisation and the RADICORE framework

This article describes the facilities for Internationalisation which have been built into the RADICORE framework.

Published: 15 July 2005

A Data Dictionary for PHP Applications

The article describes the Data Dictionary which is used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 17 June 2005

User Guide for the Data Dictionary

This is the user guide for the Data Dictionary which is used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 17 June 2005

UML diagrams for the RADICORE framework

This article shows some of the Transaction Patterns used with RADICORE as UML diagrams.

Published: 11 November 2004

User Guide for the Workflow system

This is the user guide for the Workflow system which is used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 16 September 2004

An activity based Workflow Engine for PHP

This article describes the Workflow system which is used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 16 September 2004

Creating an Audit Log with an online viewing facility

This article describes the Audit Logging system which is used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 24 August 2004

User Guide for the Audit Logging system

This is the user guide for the Audit Logging system which is used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 24 August 2004

A Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) system for PHP

This article describes the RBAC system whch is used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 13 May 2004

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) Design Pattern for PHP

This article show how the Model-View-Controller (MVC) Design Pattern has been implemented in the RADICORE framework.

Published: 02 May 2004

A Development Infrastructure for PHP

This article explains the RADICORE framework, how it is based on a combination of the 3-tier architecture and MVC design patterns, and about transaction patterns.

Published: 02 August 2003

Transaction Patterns for Web Applications

This articles describes all the Transaction Patterns which are used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 02 August 2003

FAQ on the RADICORE framework

This contains a selection of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the use of the RADICORE framework.

Published: 02 August 2003

User Guide for the Menu and Security (RBAC) system

This is the user guide for the integrated Menu and Security (RBAC) system which is used within the RADICORE framework.

Published: 01 June 2003