Q. What is the output of ARAD Studio?

By default, ARAD generates custom OSGi modules for extending Liferay. Developers can download the source code of all OSGi modules and add them in Liferay workspace of the project. These OSGi modules are generated for web, service and API that includes pre-implemented services, forms, APIs, validation, bulk uploading and downloading, one-many & many-many relationship and other features which are commonly required to implement a complete application module.

Q. General opinions are pointing now-a-days that OSGi modules are being discouraged due to drawbacks like Specialized Resources, Increased Development Time, Higher Risk of Breaking Changes, Deployment Restrictions.

Please note the statement by Liferay saying: “Traditionally, extending Liferay required creating and deploying custom OSGi modules. These modules are written in Java and can interact with Liferay’s core services. While this method provides a powerful and comprehensive way to extend Liferay’s functionalities, it has notable drawbacks”

With the above highlighted statement you can rest assured that OSGi method is still Powerful and Comprehensive way to extend Liferay.

ARAD has been designed to resolve these drawbacks as below:
 

• Specialized Resources: OSGi modules require developers with Liferay expertise to build them safely and properly, which limits the pool of developer resources. But ARAD users don’t need to bother for Liferay expertise as it provides Low-Code mechanism to build OSGi modules without writing a single line of code. It not only generates secure codes for services but also generates the codes for front end UI and their templates from a single place. Resource from non-development background can also generate and update OSGi modules with the help of ARAD Studio.
   
• Increased Development Time: Since there is no need to write java code to develop OSGi modules, it is much faster than developing application using Liferay Object, Collection and Client Extensions. ARAD generates all in a single step.
   
• Higher Risk of Breaking Changes: Since ARAD generates all OSGi modules through automation, it also migrates its modules to upgraded version of Liferay APIs. ARAD team keeps monitoring all breaking changes with new upgrades of Liferay and upgrades ARAD client for the new versions. All modules generated with ARAD Studio can be migrated to new version with the single click of Generate button.
   
• Deployment Restrictions: ARAD Modules can be used with Liferay PaaS and Liferay self-hosted deployment as there is no provision of deploying custom OSGi modules in Liferay SaaS deployments.

Q. Can we create Liferay Object using ARAD Studio?

Yes, you can create Liferay Objects as well using ARAD Studio. You need to select module type as Object while creating a microservice in ARAD Studio. You will need to write code for client extensions to develop custom applications that uses Liferay Objects.

Q. Why should we use ARAD Studio?

You should use ARAD Studio if you are using Liferay as your unified platform for multiple solutions. If you are not using Liferay, you can start anytime with free trial. Benefits that you will appreciate after using ARAD is the "Benefit of Speed" in developing following capbilities which requires lot of time in development.
 

1. Widgets for basic data analytics for dashboard like trend chart, calculation chart and category wise count chart generated automatcally with every module.
2. In most of the applications, bulk uploading is a common requirement but for uploading data as Liferay Objects Liferay expertise would be required to develop client extensions for each object. Services and UI for bulk uploading of data for ARAD generated modules can be used for all modules as OOTB capability.
3. Mobile app for content management is not an OOTB capability of Liferay. With ARAD Studio you can generate mobile widgets for all modules that you generate for web portal.
4. Input Forms - ARAD generates javascript based Backbone forms which can be reused in any other application / platform using client side javascript. It is not possible to host Liferay forms on other applications due to tight coupling of Liferay forms with Liferay APIs.
5. Single Step Development - When you use ARAD you don't need to go to multiple places for creating Object, Collection, Client Extensions etc. All integrated OSGi modules including mobile app are generated from one single interface where you add a new microservice in your application. Private pages for managing content is also created having generated widget added to it. You 
6. Gen AI Capability - ARAD Studio is pre-integrated with Open AI for generating data models for your requirement. You can modify data models after they are generated with the help of Open AI. It saves a significant amount of time that goes in defining fields and their input types for each data model when you do it manually.

Q. We have lot of data in excel format, can ARAD Studio help in managing excel data at a central place?

Using ARAD Studio you can generate multiple modules from your excel sheet in one go. ARAD's cloud engine analyses your excel sheet and data inside it and it creates all fields with right data types. Once modules are generated, you can upload your data in respective modules using bulk uploading feature provided in the module.

You can also define all data models for an application in one excel file and upload the file contaning multiple sheets to create the application within minutes.