VDoc is structured in a n-tier architecture. It is made up of several layers, each of which has a specific role.
The presentation layer is managed by the Web browser. It is responsible for processing the interaction with the end-user. Web Designer is exclusively located on this first tier.
Authentication, retrieval of data from connected user (environment, language, skin, etc.) and the production of graphical interface are managed by the second tier. The Web server used is Tomcat. On production environment, the latter is generally placed behind an Apache or an IIS server to accelerate serving the static data such as images and HTML files.
The application layer is only available from the third tier. All application treatments are created here taking into account the business rules defined by the VDoc application. This layer separates the presentation from the data manipulation. The application server used is Jboss which is an EJB (Entreprise Java Bean) container.
Data manipulation is done on this tier which also requires the presence of an EJB server. JBoss must be on this tier.
The last tier contains the company's and the VDoc application's persistable data. As of date, the latter supports three database engines:
The following diagram depicts the n-tier architecture supported by VDoc.
The division into several layers simplifies software installation procedures, information sharing between applications and enables component reuse. It is important to note that between each of these layers, it is possible to set a firewall for additional security and maximum data protection.