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.
Table 7. Adapter framework support for the development of a connector
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.
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.
Table 8 shows the tools that the WebSphere Business Integration
Adapters 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 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.
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 Java 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.
Table 11. ADK samples for connector development
Adapter Development Kit component | Description | DevelopmentKits subdirectory |
---|---|---|
Java Connector Development Kit (JCDK) | Provides sample code for a Java connector. |
jcdk edk\ConnectorAgent
|
Twineball adapter sample
|
Provides a sample adapter, which includes a connector.
|
Twineball_sample
|
The ADK provides an adapter sample in the Twineball_sample subdirectory of DevelopmentKits. This sample contains several components of an adapter, including a connector, a data handler, and an Object Discovery Agent (ODA). For more information, see the Adapter Development Kit Samples Guide.
The ADK includes the Java Connector Development Kit ( JCDK), which provides components for use in the development of a connector. The components of the JCDK reside in the following ProductDir\DevelopmentKits subdirectory:
DevelopmentKits\jcdk
Table 12 describes the contents of the subdirectories in the jcdk
directory.
Table 12. Components of the Connector Development Kit
Connector Development Kit component | Description | Subdirectory |
---|---|---|
Code samples | Sample code for a simple low-level Java connector | samples |
The JCDK includes the following code samples to help in the development of your Java connector written with the low-level Java connector library:
DevelopmentKits\jcdk\samples
In addition, the JCDK includes code samples for a Java connector written with the Java connector library in the following directory:
DevelopmentKits\edk\ConnectorAgent
To compile a Java connector, use the Java compiler provided with the IBM Java Developers Kit (JDK). For more information, see Compiling the connector.
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.