Architecture of the platform

The OMAP Backend is built on top of Django which is written in Python. Django calls itself the Framework for perfectionists with deadlines and this is one reason why we consider it a good choice. On the other hand, besides all C-based languages python is widely adopted in the industry and thus a machine manufacturers may already have a team capable of writing Python.

The general structure at the moment is a modular monolith but there are REST APIs for nearly every operation so that it could also be extended with containers. We have chosen this approach as it leads to a (in our opinion) reasonable tradeoff between modularity and operational complexity. The modules are basically django-apps but extended via a module system (TODO: Module System).

Currently, we only barely use javascript on the frontend and mostly rely on server-side rendering. Here, we follow the philosophy from the Ruby on Rails Team. They developed the Hotwire Stack as alternative to frontend frameworks like vue.js. Although such an addition could be coming in the future. Currently most javascript used is organized as Stimulus.js Controllers.

Communication from Machines (or more general Edge Devices) is done via MQTT but an AMQP Adapter is planned in the future. A separate MQTT Process is running as bridge and can handle incoming MQTT messages. We have our own pluggable MQTT Handler system to allow other Apps to bring further messaging handlers.