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:
- MemberJunction Explorer: The primary UI for data exploration, management, and administration
- Custom Web Applications: Custom applications built using MemberJunction's libraries and APIs
- Mobile/Desktop Applications: Apps that connect to MemberJunction via its API layer
API Layer
The API layer exposes MemberJunction's functionality to client applications:
-
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
-
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:
-
Entity Classes: TypeScript classes representing business objects
- Property definitions and validation
- Business methods and rules
- Relationship navigation
-
Services: Encapsulate complex operations that span multiple entities
- Transaction management
- Multi-step processes
- Integration with external systems
-
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:
-
Repository Pattern: Encapsulates data access operations for entities
- CRUD operations
- Custom queries
- Caching strategies
-
ORM Layer: Object-Relational Mapping functionality
- Maps between database records and entity objects
- Manages relationships
- Handles data type conversions
-
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:
-
Entity Metadata: Describes entities and their properties
- Property types and constraints
- Display formats
- Search configuration
-
Relationship Metadata: Defines connections between entities
- Foreign key relationships
- Many-to-many relationships
- Navigation properties
-
Validation Metadata: Specifies validation rules
- Required fields
- Range constraints
- Custom validation rules
Database Layer
The database layer stores all data and metadata:
-
SQL Server: Primary supported database platform
- Full feature support
- Performance optimizations
- Advanced querying capabilities
-
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:
- A client application sends a request to the API layer (GraphQL or REST)
- The API layer authenticates and authorizes the request
- The request is routed to the appropriate business logic component
- Business logic applies rules and validation
- Data access layer retrieves or updates data using metadata-driven queries
- 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:
- The database schema contains the primary metadata definitions
- The CodeGen system reads this metadata to generate TypeScript code
- 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:
-
Database Provider: Abstracts database-specific functionality
- SQL Server provider
- Other database providers
-
Authentication Provider: Supports different authentication methods
- Local authentication
- Microsoft Identity (Azure AD)
- Auth0
- Custom providers
-
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:
-
Authentication: Verifies user identity
- Multiple authentication providers
- JWT token management
- Session handling
-
Authorization: Controls access to resources
- Role-based access control
- Permission management
- Data-level security
-
Data Security: Protects sensitive data
- Field-level security
- Data encryption
- Audit logging
Scalability and Performance
The architecture supports scalability and performance optimization:
-
Horizontal Scaling: Add more application servers
- Stateless API design
- Load balancing support
- Distributed caching
-
Vertical Scaling: Increase resources for existing servers
- Efficient resource utilization
- Performance monitoring
-
Database Optimization:
- Intelligent query generation
- Connection pooling
- Index optimization
Integration Architecture
MemberJunction is designed for integration with other systems:
-
API Integration: Expose functionality to external systems
- GraphQL and REST APIs
- Webhook support
- Event-driven architecture
-
AI Model Integration: Interact with models across popular model families
- Language understanding
- Query/Response generation
- Agent framework registration
-
Authentication Integration: Work with existing identity providers
- SAML
- OAuth/OpenID Connect
- LDAP/Active Directory
Updated 2 days ago