The Application Framework uses an associativity engine to simplify the development of your CAD application.
Based on an application/document architecture, it does this thanks to the following features:
- Application data is handled by the mechanism of attributes
- Attributes may be organized according to your development needs
- Multiple documents can be managed by the application
- Ready-to-use modeling data attributes common to CAD/CAM applications
- Data storage services
- A ready-to-use Undo-redo function
Because OCAF handles your application structure, this leaves only the creation of application-specific data and GUIs as your major development tasks.
Organization of application data is where OCAF differs from other CAD frameworks. In OCAF, the data structure is not shape-driven, but reference-key driven. In this approach, attributes such as shape data, color, material, are attached to a deeper invariant structure of a model than the shapes themselves. OCAF then organizes and embeds these attributes in a document.
OCAF documents are in turn managed by an OCAF application.
OCAF provides a solution for the structuration and the handling of Application Data, based on the Application/Document paradigm (gains in productivity)
Most of standard applicative data is ready to use, including data saving (reuse)
OCAF manages, at the kernel level, the notions of persistent ID and of Undo / Redo mechanisms
