In the IBM WebSphere business integration system, the connector is a component of a 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 WebSphere Business Integration Adapters product.
The adapter framework includes configuration tools that assist in the development of the adapter components listed in Table 7..
In addition to the adapter framework, the WebSphere Business Integration Adapters product also provides the Adapter Development Kit (ADK). The ADK is a toolkit that provides code samples of connectors, ODAs, and data handlers. For more information, see Adapter Development Kit.
Table 8 shows the tools that the WebSphere Business Integration Adapters product provides to assist in the development of business objects.
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.
Table 8 shows the tools that the WebSphere Business Integration Adapters product provides to assist in the development of an ODA.
Development tool | Description |
---|---|
Business Object Designer | Graphical tool that assists in the creation of business object definitions, either manually or through an ODA. |
Object Discovery Agent Development Kit (ODK) | Set of Java classes with which you can create a custom ODA. |
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.
Table 10 shows the tools that the WebSphere Business Integration Adapters product provides to assist in the development of connectors.
Development tool | Description |
---|---|
Connector Configurator | Graphical tool that assists in the configuration of the connector |
Adapter Development Kit | Includes sample code for connectors and ODAs |
The supported operating-system environment for connector development is Windows 2000. Connectors can be written in either C++ or Java, depending on the language of your application API.
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 and Windows XP. Therefore, these platforms are for connector configuration.
The Adapter Development Kit (ADK) provides files and samples to assist in the development of an adapter. It provides samples for many of the adapter components, including an Object Discovery Agent (ODA), a connector, and a data handler. The ADK provides these samples in the DevelopmentKits subdirectory of your product directory.
Table 11 lists the samples that the ADK provides for the development of a connector, as well as the subdirectory of the DevelopmentKits directory in which they reside.
Adapter Development Kit component | Description | DevelopmentKits subdirectory |
---|---|---|
Connector Development Kit (CDK) | Provides sample code for a connector. |
cdk |
The ADK includes the Connector Development Kit (), which provides components for use in the development of a connector. The components of the CDK reside in the following ProductDir\DevelopmentKits subdirectory:
DevelopmentKits\
Table 12 describes the contents of the subdirectories in the directory.
Connector Development Kit component | Description | Subdirectory |
---|---|---|
Code samples | Sample code for a simple connector | samples |
The CDK includes the following code samples to help in the development of your :
DevelopmentKits\\samples
The Adapter Development Kit includes samples for an Object Discovery Agent (ODA). These samples reside in the following directory:
DevelopmentKits\Odk
For more information, see Development support for ODAs.