1. Mental Model

Before any worked example, the conceptual map.

The framework is module-driven: every screen a PM creates and every screen a customer sees is a row in gdsmodule joined to layout rows in gdsconfigformmaster/slave, permission rows in gdsjurisdiction, and stored procedures invoked through BusinessBaseController in the runtime.

These pages are intentionally short — each one explains one concept, with links to the vertical slices that exercise it. Concepts pages should stay short; if one grows past a screenful, that's a sign the content wants to be a slice instead.

• The data-driven thesis — why the framework looks the way it does.
• Modules, forms, virtual tables — the three core nouns.
• Master / slave document pattern — header/lines, everywhere.
• No-FK, semantic-FK reality — how relations actually work.
• Two customization channels — metadata edits vs. SQL scripts.
• Customization layers — within Channel 1, how base / per-tenant / per-user overlays merge.
• Multi-tenancy and product editions — the three scoping axes (sBrandsId, sSubsidiaryId, sVersionFlowId).
• The metadata-driven request lifecycle — the diagram you'll come back to.
• The three API tiers — internal (xlyEntry), external (xlyApi), inbound webhooks (xlyInterface).