How ORDA will change the way you work

April 4, 2018 3 min read

Imagine a way of using your database with an object-oriented approach, without worrying about its physical structure. Imagine that you could maintain multiple current selections at the same time or that you could perform recursive queries in a single line of code. Well, this is now a reality thanks to ORDA! With 4D v17, your code can be written in an object-oriented mode, and you can easily navigate through your entire data model.

ORDA was one of the major announcements of 4D Summit 2018, opening a world of new possibilities in 4D. It’s now time to give you more details about the ORDA features available with 4D v17. To do so, we’ve prepared a series of blog posts dedicated specifically to ORDA core concepts and related features. And we’ll release them, one after another, day after day.

But wait – what does ORDA stand for? ORDA is an acronym for Object Relational Data Access.

O … Object

Objects are not new to 4D. We introduced them years ago. They first appeared in the language, then as object fields, and now with object notation. ORDA is taking things a huge step further. Why not use the whole database as an object?

R … Relational

Creating business applications without using relations would be very difficult. ORDA makes using relations so much easier, even if they’re recursive.

D … Data

Everything is about data. Let’s get rid of current records and current selections.Imagine having something better and less restrictive. ORDA makes using your data as easy and convenient as before, but unlimited.

A … Access

ORDA is not just a new language or a new syntax. It’s about accessing data. Even from different sources, with the same code and the same forms.

how will ORDA change the way you work?

For existing 4D developers, ORDA will open up new possibilities, and allow taking advantage of cutting-edge modern concepts. But there’s no reason to panic, you won’t have to rewrite your code. You can combine the classic 4D language with ORDA, in the same application, even in the same method.

For new 4D developers, ORDA will make it easier for developers coming from other languages (like JavaScript for example) to hit the ground running with 4D since a lot of the object-oriented concepts will be familar to them.

Finally, this new ORDA blog post series will include many database examples and code samples to guide you and show you ORDA‘s full potential. So stay tuned and give us feedback through the 4D Forums!