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Architecture Overview

Architecture Overview

This document provides a high-level overview of the MemberJunction architecture, explaining its key components and how they interact.

High-Level Architecture Diagram

MemberJunction follows a modern, layered architecture that separates concerns and promotes maintainability and extensibility.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Client Applications                       │
│  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────────┐    │
│  │MemberJunction │  │  Custom Web   │  │ Mobile/Desktop    │    │
│  │   Explorer    │  │ Applications  │  │   Applications    │    │
│  └───────┬───────┘  └───────┬───────┘  └─────────┬─────────┘    │
└─────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────┘
          │                   │                   │
          ▼                   ▼                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                           API Layer                             │
│  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────────┐    │
│  │   GraphQL     │  │     REST      │  │    Skip AI        │    │
│  │     API       │  │     API       │  │   Interface       │    │
│  └───────┬───────┘  └───────┬───────┘  └─────────┬─────────┘    │
└─────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────┘
          │                   │                   │
          ▼                   ▼                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Business Logic Layer                       │
│  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────────┐    │
│  │Entity Classes │  │   Services    │  │    Validation     │    │
│  │               │  │               │  │                   │    │
│  └───────┬───────┘  └───────┬───────┘  └─────────┬─────────┘    │
└─────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────┘
          │                   │                   │
          ▼                   ▼                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Data Access Layer                         │
│  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────────┐    │
│  │ Repository    │  │   ORM Layer   │  │  Query Builders   │    │
│  │               │  │               │  │                   │    │
│  └───────┬───────┘  └───────┬───────┘  └─────────┬─────────┘    │
└─────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────┘
          │                   │                   │
          ▼                   ▼                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Metadata Layer                            │
│  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────┐  ┌───────────────────┐    │
│  │Entity Metadata│  │Relationship   │  │    Validation     │    │
│  │               │  │  Metadata     │  │     Metadata      │    │
│  └───────┬───────┘  └───────┬───────┘  └─────────┬─────────┘    │
└─────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────┘
          │                   │                   │
          ▼                   ▼                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Database Layer                            │
│         ┌───────────────┐        ┌───────────────┐              │
│         │ SQL Server    │        │   Other DBs   │              │
│         │               │        │               │              │    
│         └───────────────┘        └───────────────┘              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Architectural Components

Client Applications

MemberJunction supports multiple client application types:

  1. MemberJunction Explorer: The primary UI for data exploration, management, and administration
  2. Custom Web Applications: Custom applications built using MemberJunction's libraries and APIs
  3. Mobile/Desktop Applications: Apps that connect to MemberJunction via its API layer

API Layer

The API layer exposes MemberJunction's functionality to client applications:

  1. GraphQL API: The primary API for data access and manipulation

    • Schema automatically generated from metadata
    • Strong typing and efficient querying
    • Support for complex data relationships

  2. REST API: Traditional REST endpoints for simpler integration scenarios

    • CRUD operations on all entities
    • Batch operations for performance
    • Standardized endpoint patterns

Business Logic Layer

The business logic layer contains the core application logic:

  1. Entity Classes: TypeScript classes representing business objects

    • Property definitions and validation
    • Business methods and rules
    • Relationship navigation

  2. Services: Encapsulate complex operations that span multiple entities

    • Transaction management
    • Multi-step processes
    • Integration with external systems

  3. Validation: Ensures data integrity and business rules

    • Property validation
    • Cross-field validation
    • Business rule enforcement

Data Access Layer

The data access layer handles interactions with the database:

  1. Repository Pattern: Encapsulates data access operations for entities

    • CRUD operations
    • Custom queries
    • Caching strategies

  2. ORM Layer: Object-Relational Mapping functionality

    • Maps between database records and entity objects
    • Manages relationships
    • Handles data type conversions

  3. Query Builders: Dynamic SQL generation based on metadata

    • Filter construction
    • Sort ordering
    • Pagination

Metadata Layer

The metadata layer is the foundation of MemberJunction's architecture:

  1. Entity Metadata: Describes entities and their properties

    • Property types and constraints
    • Display formats
    • Search configuration

  2. Relationship Metadata: Defines connections between entities

    • Foreign key relationships
    • Many-to-many relationships
    • Navigation properties

  3. Validation Metadata: Specifies validation rules

    • Required fields
    • Range constraints
    • Custom validation rules

Database Layer

The database layer stores all data and metadata:

  1. SQL Server: Primary supported database platform

    • Full feature support
    • Performance optimizations
    • Advanced querying capabilities

  2. Other Databases: Provider architecture to support the addition of other database systems

    • PosgreSQL
    • MySQL/MariaDB
    • SQLite
    • ...

Component Interactions

Request Flow

Here's how a typical request flows through the MemberJunction architecture:

  1. A client application sends a request to the API layer (GraphQL or REST)
  2. The API layer authenticates and authorizes the request
  3. The request is routed to the appropriate business logic component
  4. Business logic applies rules and validation
  5. Data access layer retrieves or updates data using metadata-driven queries
  6. Results flow back through the layers to the client

Example GraphQL query flow:

sequenceDiagram
    participant Client
    participant GraphQL API
    participant EntityService
    participant Repository
    participant Database

    Client->>GraphQL API: Query for member data
    GraphQL API->>EntityService: Get member(s)
    EntityService->>Repository: Find members
    Repository->>Database: Execute query
    Database-->>Repository: Return results
    Repository-->>EntityService: Map to entities
    EntityService-->>GraphQL API: Return entities
    GraphQL API-->>Client: Return formatted response

Metadata-Driven Design

MemberJunction's architecture is metadata-driven, meaning that much of the system's behavior is determined by metadata rather than hard-coded logic:

  1. The database schema contains the primary metadata definitions
  2. The CodeGen system reads this metadata to generate TypeScript code
  3. At runtime, the application uses metadata to:
    • Validate data
    • Build queries
    • Generate UI components
    • Enable search functionality
    • Manage permissions

This approach provides significant flexibility and reduces the amount of code that needs to be written and maintained.

Provider Architecture

MemberJunction uses a provider architecture to abstract implementation details and support multiple underlying technologies:

  1. Database Provider: Abstracts database-specific functionality

    • SQL Server provider
    • Other database providers

  2. Authentication Provider: Supports different authentication methods

    • Local authentication
    • Microsoft Identity (Azure AD)
    • Auth0
    • Custom providers

  3. Storage Provider: Handles file and binary data storage

    • Local file system
    • Azure Blob Storage
    • Amazon S3
    • Custom storage solutions

Providers are implemented through interfaces and dependency injection, allowing for easy customization and extension.

Security Architecture

MemberJunction implements a comprehensive security architecture:

  1. Authentication: Verifies user identity

    • Multiple authentication providers
    • JWT token management
    • Session handling

  2. Authorization: Controls access to resources

    • Role-based access control
    • Permission management
    • Data-level security

  3. Data Security: Protects sensitive data

    • Field-level security
    • Data encryption
    • Audit logging

Scalability and Performance

The architecture supports scalability and performance optimization:

  1. Horizontal Scaling: Add more application servers

    • Stateless API design
    • Load balancing support
    • Distributed caching

  2. Vertical Scaling: Increase resources for existing servers

    • Efficient resource utilization
    • Performance monitoring

  3. Database Optimization:

    • Intelligent query generation
    • Connection pooling
    • Index optimization

Integration Architecture

MemberJunction is designed for integration with other systems:

  1. API Integration: Expose functionality to external systems

    • GraphQL and REST APIs
    • Webhook support
    • Event-driven architecture

  2. AI Model Integration: Interact with models across popular model families

    • Language understanding
    • Query/Response generation
    • Agent framework registration

  3. Authentication Integration: Work with existing identity providers

    • SAML
    • OAuth/OpenID Connect
    • LDAP/Active Directory

Updated 23 days ago