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openmct/docs/src/architecture/index.md
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Introduction

The purpose of this document is to familiarize developers with the overall architecture of Open MCT Web.

The target audience includes:

  • Platform maintainers: Individuals involved in developing, extending, and maintaing capabilities of the platform.
  • Integration developers: Individuals tasked with integrated Open MCT Web into a larger system, who need to understand its inner workings sufficiently to complete this integration.

As the focus of this document is on architecture, whenever possible implementation details (such as relevant API or JSON syntax) have been omitted. These details may be found in the developer guide.

Overview

Open MCT Web is client software: It runs in a web browser and provides a user interface, while communicating with various server-side resources through browser APIs.

#direction: right
[Client|[Browser|[Open MCT Web]->[Browser APIs]]]
[Server|[Web services]]
[Client]<->[Server]

While Open MCT Web can be configured to run as a standalone client, this is rarely very useful. Instead, it is intended to be used as a display and interaction layer for information obtained from a variety of back-end services. Doing so requires authoring or utilizing adapter plugins which allow Open MCT Web to interact with these services.

Typically, the pattern here is to provide a known interface that Open MCT Web can utilize, and implement it such that it interacts with whatever back-end provides the relevant information. Examples of back-ends that can be utilized in this fashion include databases for the persistence of user-created objects, or sources of telemetry data.

Software Architecture

The simplest overview of Open MCT Web is to look at it as a "layered" architecture, where each layer more clearly specifies the behavior of the software.

#direction: down
[Open MCT Web|
  [Platform]<->[Application]
  [Framework]->[Application]
  [Framework]->[Platform]
]

These layers are:

  • Framework: The framework layer is responsible for managing the interactions between application components. It has no application-specific knowledge; at this layer, we have only established an abstraction by which different software components may communicate and/or interact.
  • Platform: The platform layer defines the general look, feel, and behavior of Open MCT Web. This includes user-facing components like Browse mode and Edit mode, as well as underlying elements of the information model and the general service infrastructure.
  • Application: The application layer defines specific features of an application built on Open MCT Web. This includes adapters to specific back-ends, new types of things for users to create, and new ways of visualizing objects within the system. This layer typically consists of a mix of custom plug-ins to Open MCT Web, as well as optional features (such as Plot view) included alongside the platform.