Deployment — Concepts and terms

A working PRPC application often corresponds to the contents of one or a few RuleSets. The rules in these RuleSets collectively provide the logic, the properties, the flows, the HTML forms, the computations, and all other ingredients of the "package."

Deploying minor versions and patches

Because RuleSet versions and other access control features isolate developers from users, you can often develop your application on the same PRPC server that supports production users.

If you have updated an application already in production use, you can deploy the updated application to users of the system by:

• Locking a version to prevent the rules associated with the version from changes. See RuleSet form — Completing the Versions tab.
• Making an additional RuleSet and version available to users. Typically this involves only updating the access group they use.

For example, if production users previously access the ALPHA:03-04-07 RuleSet version, they can be "upgraded" to use ALPHA:03-05-02 by changing the access group they use.

This roll-out can be gradual. Some users can continue to use lower-numbered versions, while others use more recent versions.

Copying a RuleSet to another system

If your development and testing occurs on a different PRPC system than your application production, you can keep them synchronized as often as you want.

Use the Archive tools to copy one or a few RuleSet versions from one PRPC system to another. This is quick and simple to use, does not depend on the operating system or database product supporting the two systems, and can be completed without stopping either system.

Deploying a product

Use a Product rule to deploy a completed application on a separate PRPC system. See About Product rules. To move a product or one RuleSet version, see About the Archive tools.

Skimming

After your application is mature, you may want to consolidate multiple versions of its RuleSet into one new version, retaining only the newest and best versions of rules that have changed over time. Use the Skim function to create a new major version containing the best (highest) versions.

Concepts