Tools for adapter development

In the IBM WebSphere business integration system, the connector is a component of an IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapter. As discussed in "Adapters in the WebSphere business integration system", an adapter includes runtime components to support communication between an integration broker and applications or technologies. The adapter also includes an adapter framework, which includes components for the configuration, runtime, and development of custom adapters in cases where a prebuilt adapter for a particular legacy or specialized application is not currently available as part of the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapter product.

The adapter framework includes configuration tools that assist in the development of the adapter components listed in Table 7.

Table 7. Configuration tools that participate in the development of a connector
Adapter component Configuration tool API
Business object Business Object Designer Not applicable
Object Discovery Agent (ODA) Business Object Designer Object Development Kit (ODK)
Connector Connector Configurator C++ Connector Library

In addition to the adapter framework, the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapter product also provides the Adapter Development Kit (ADK). The ADK is a toolkit that provides code samples of ODAs and connectors. For more information, see Adapter Development Kit.

Development support for business objects

Table 8 shows the tools that the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapter product provides to assist in the development of business objects.

Table 8. Development tools for business object development
Development tool Description
Business Object Designer Graphical tool that assists in the creation of business object definitions, either manually or through an ODA.

For a brief introduction to business objects, see "Business objects". For more information on the use of the Business Object Designer, see the Business Object Development Guide.

Development support for ODAs

Table 8 shows the tools that the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapter product provides to assist in the development of an ODA.

Table 9. Development tools for ODA development
Development tool Description
Business Object Designer Graphical tool that assists in the creation of business object definitions, either manually or through an ODA.
Object Development Kit (ODK) Set of Java classes with which you can create customize the generated mapping code.

In addition, the ADK provides sample ODAs in the following product subdirectory:

DevelopmentKits\Odk
 

For a brief introduction to ODAs, see "Business objects". For more information on the use of the Business Object Designer and the development of ODAs, see the Business Object Development Guide.

Development support for connectors

Table 10 shows the tools that the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapter product provides to assist in the development of connectors.

Table 10. Development tools for connector development
Development tool Description
Connector Configurator Graphical tool that assists in the configuration of the connector.
Adapter Development Kit Includes sample code for C++ connectors and ODAs.

The platform for connector development is Windows 2000. Connectors can be written in either C++ or Java, depending on the language of the application API.

Connector Configurator

Connector Configurator is a graphical tool that allows you to configure a connector. It provides the ability to set the following information:

This graphical tool runs on Windows 2000. Therefore, this platform is for connector configuration.

Note:
For more information on the use of Connector Configurator, see Appendix B, Connector Configurator.

Adapter Development Kit

The Adapter Development Kit (ADK) provides samples to assist in connector development. The ADK provides the samples in the DevelopmentKits subdirectory of your product directory. Table 11 lists the components of the Adapter Development Kit and the subdirectory of the DevelopmentKits directory in which they reside.

Table 11. Components of the Adapter Development Kit
Adapter Development Kit component Description DevelopmentKits subdirectory
C++ Connector Development Kit (CDK) Provides sample code for a C++ connector. cdk
ODA Development Kit Provides sample for an Object Discovery Agent (ODA) Odk

Connector Development Kit

The ADK includes the C++ Connector Development Kit ( CDK), which provides components for use in the development of a connector. The components of the CDK reside in the ProductDir\DevelopmentKits subdirectory:


Table 12. Components of the Connector Development Kit
Connector Development Kit component Description Subdirectory
C++ connector library

Provides connector class libraries that you need to use when you develop a C++ connector. For more information, see Overview of the C++ connector library.

lib
Code samples Sample code for a simple C++ connector samples
Connector-class header files Provide definitions for the classes of the C++ connector library generic_include

For C++ connectors, use the compiler in the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 development environment.

Note:
The IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapter product also provides a Java version of the Connector Development Kit for use in development connectors in the Java programming language. For more information, see the Connector Development Guide for Java.

ODA samples

The Adapter Development Kit includes samples for the creation of an Object Discovery Agent (ODA). These samples reside in the following directory:

DevelopmentKits\Odk
 

For more information, see Development support for ODAs.

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