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0 pointsmeekaaku1y ago0 comments

I agree with this.

From a technical perspective, how would one structure a program like this? Where the main developers also use the same 'engine' to develop the product itself, while also exposing the same engine to the third parties?

The first such case I have seen was Maya (the 3d software) when it first came out use a custom scripting language called MEL(Maya Embedded Language) to develop the entire user interface and corresponding actual entity manipulations. Third party plugin developers also use the same MEL.

I thought wow, and that is still impressive today.

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JWlrCk9PkipFTDq1y ago

I work with a CRM that allows users to add additional functionality by uploading definitions in XML "spec" files.

The XML specs are a combo of metadata and code and define all functionality in the system including SQL tables, forms for adding/editing data, query nodes for the internal query system, arbitrary business processes etc. They can include SQL stored procedures to run or call out to bundled C# code, and they can be accompanied by HTML templates that generate UI elements where appropriate (e.g. user facing forms).

There are a lot of moving parts and the documentation is a bit patchy but it's a really ingenious system for adding modular functionality, particularly in a CRM setting. Pretty much all of the "official" functionality is built using this spec system.

meekaakuOP1y ago

But would not that be a maintenance nightmare with code with xml and lack of version control.

Also how does one restrict to a particular tenant

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