Modules are the smallest units of software in the Niagara architecture.

Major releases of the Niagara software are distributed along with a set of release modules, but as new modules are made available for that release of Niagara, they may be distributed as independent revisions within that release.

Beginning in AX-3.7, two types of modules are possible in the Niagara framework, “standard” Java archive (.jar) modules which make up the Niagara software, and “synthetic Java archive” (.sjar) modules which allow for the creation of memory-resident modules and types programmatically at run-time. Although they share many characteristics, the two types of modules are distinctly different. This section describes standard modules simply called “modules.” For details on synthetic modules, refer to the “NiagaraAX Synthetic Modules” engineering notes document.

Figure 5 shows a partial list of modules, as displayed in the nav side bar pane.

Don’t confuse modules with components. Components are used to build Niagara implementations, while modules make up the Niagara software itself. Refer to About components for more information about components.

The following topics are covered in this section: