FA101

[FA101] AEF – Starting with the ARENA Extension Framework

Duration of Course: One day

Course Covers

Front Arena can be extended at several extension points with a number of different technologies, and the ARENA Extension Framework (AEF) provides a programmatic framework into which extensions are registered As standard, Front Arena enables you to access a number of tools and technologies known as AEF Base (see AEF certification for details), to use these tools, the user must be AEF Base Certified. This course is normally the first step towards achieving AEF Base Certification. AEF Base Certification is also the prerequisite for certification in the Business Extension Packages, which enable the user to make advanced extensions in connection with these licensed add-ons, for example the AEF for Equity Pricing add-on.

AEF provides the user with many possibilities; the following are minor examples:

• Create custom real-time reports and applications as well as data extracts.
• Customize the function of the XML-based reporting engine.
• Programmatically access the database for reading and writing.
• Programmatically access the system’s business logic.
• Implement custom validations to implement business rules or to trigger any Python-based operation.
• Add custom columns to the Trading Manager.
• Implement Proprietary Valuation models.

This course is only an introduction to the tools that make the above possible, and it covers:

• AEF Introduction
1. Vision and design of AEF and Extensions
2. Overview of certification
• ARENA Data Model (ADM)
1. Important tables and keys
2. The basics of the ASQL reporting tool
• ARENA Class Model
1. Using the ACM Browser
2. Mappings between ACM and ADM
3. Using the Extension Manager
4. The ARENA Data Flow Language (ADFL)
• Python
1. Basic elements of the language and syntax
2. Using the AEL and ACM libraries

There will be a number of hands-on exercises.

Course Benefits

Important note: This course contributes to AEF Base Certification.

Goal of the Course

After the course, participants will:

• Be prepared for the remaining parts of AEF Base Certification and understand the overall nature of AEF
• Know the basics of ASQL and how to write simple queries
• Understand the basics of Python and know what can be done with Python in Front Arena
• Have observed ADFL, how ACM Extensions are implemented with it and for what purpose

Note that this course prepares the user to perform only the most basic AEF-related tasks. Skills are developed further in the other courses leading to AEF Base Certification. See AEF certification for more details.

Target Audience

The course is suitable for:

• Developers who wish to do further courses, complete AEF Base Certification and gain the ability and right to perform customization and extension of Front Arena
• Others who wish to gain a general understanding of AEF

Participants must be employed by a customer of SunGard Front Arena or an authorized Front Arena partner.

Required Knowledge Level

The participant needs to be an experienced software developer and should either have experience with standard Structured Query Language and Python, or they should be confident that they can learn these skills quickly despite that they are not covered in detail in this or any of the other AEF Base courses.

Type of Course: Technical/software deployment