As the old proverb says, there is nothing new under the sun, and that is very true here. We have used many tools/libraries in our pasts that offered some features that influenced our thinking. Some of the earliest examples that we actually used include:
- VAX CDDL - a schema definition tool for multiple VAX/VMS programming languages used in the mid 1980s.
- VAX FMS - a screen layout tool and library for VAX/VMS used in the mid 1980s that let you graphically define your screens with fields imported from VAX CDDL.
- HyperCard - a programming tools/database from the late 1980s that allowed users to defined their own "card" layout and data schema.
There are multiple modern versions of these kinds of ideas, for example:
- JSON Schema - Expired drafts for a proposed internet standard for defining a JSON schema.
- OpenAPI Specification - (formerlly known as the Swagger Specification), a spec for defining how to call an API.
- JSON API - The JSON transport from Ember expressed as a independant spec.
- DreamFactory - REST API backend for mobile, web, and IoT apps.
- Angular Schema Form - AngularJS directives for creating forms from a JSON Schema
While these products are individually nice, they are at this moment, isolated and independent, requiring the developer to wire them together to get a useful end product.
We want to change that. You should be able to get going with all the features in a very short time, and future changes to your schema should be very simple and fast to make.