Cayenne User Documentation
ORM Case Study

This chapter shows how ORM (Object Relational Modeling) approach should be chosen based on the project requirements and other factors. It contains links to technical aspects of modeling that are discussed elsewhere. A few scenarios are shown below that describe the most common cases that a development team may encounter on a typical O/R project. Lets assume an imaginary company called "Some Company" that sells services to consumers as its main business, but also sells consumer products, and works with business customers. There are a number of project teams working on a set of Object/Relational projects.

### Project 1: Java Interface to an Existing Database

"Some Company" has a billing system that runs on Sybase database, that uses a set of UNIX C++ applications to perform nightly batch jobs and print the bills. The project goal is to create a Java client-server Object/Relational system that will be used by customer service representatives to provide customer support and correct billing errors. Such system must use the existing database schema without changing it, but both Swing frontend and Java business layer that performs the database access have to be created from scratch.

### Project 2: New System

"Some Company" is planning a brand new e-commerce site for its web users. Both the database and Java business objects must be designed from scratch as a part of the same project.

### Project 3: Converting an Existing Java Business Framework

Before getting into O/R technology, "Some Company" created a set of Java applications for its sales and marketing teams working with business customers. These applications use a custom persistence framework based on Data Access Objects (DAO - a term for objects that encapsulate the handcoded SQL for their persistence operations). The goal of the project is to convert DAO to Cayenne-based Object/Relational business framework, preserving all business rules, and using the existing database.

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