The framework behind ten years of [binary]'s work

Model first

At the core of BCT is a declarative data model. Entities, attributes, relations, patterns and formulas are described in XML according to a custom schema (version 3.1). The framework compiles the model and generates forms, listings, administration and exports from it. Applications are thus designed from the data, not from the screens.

Architecture

• Storage is interchangeable: database, files, memory. The model doesn’t know where the data lives.
• Renderers turn the same data into HTML5, forms, tables, Bootstrap or Excel.
• Modules cover recurring needs: CMS, e-shop, users, mailer, general website.
• Plugins connect Google services (Maps, Analytics, Translate, Geocoder), Facebook or YouTube.

What was built on it

The largest application is the eDomovník client portal, the second the Streetmarket e-shop. Alongside them, dozens of websites and e-shops for smaller companies and the KOMS Praha website. Both eDomovník and komspraha.cz still serve clients on BCT today, more than ten years after they were created.

What remains

BCT was entirely the work of one person — and that was both its strength and its limit. When [binary] moved to WordPress and its ecosystem with the work for 4finance, the approach changed too: as little custom code as possible, more time for analysis, choosing off-the-shelf solutions and connecting them. What remains of BCT is a way of thinking — designing from the data model and separating data from presentation.