Overview of the connector development process

This section provides an overview of the connector development process, which includes the following high-level steps:

  1. Install and set up the IBM WebSphere business integration system software and install the Java Development Kit (JDK).
  2. Design and implement the connector.

Setting up the development environment

Before you start the development process, the following must be true:

Note:
To create a connector, you do not need to run the messaging software. However, the messaging software must be running before you can execute and test the connector.

Stages of connector development

As part of the connector development process, you code the application-specific component of the connector and then compile and link the connector source files. In addition, the overall process of developing a connector includes other tasks, such as developing application-specific business objects. Here is an overview of the tasks in the connector development process:

  1. Identify the application entities that the connector will make available to other applications, and investigate the integration features provided by the application.
  2. If your business integration system uses InterChange Server, identify generic business objects that the connector will support, and define application-specific business objects that correspond to the generic objects.
  3. If your business integration system uses InterChange Server, analyze the relationship between the generic business objects and the application-specific business objects, and implement the mapping between them.
  4. Define a connector base class for the application-specific component, and implement functions to initialize and terminate the connector.
  5. Define a business object handler class and code one or more business object handlers to handle requests.
  6. Define a mechanism to detect events in the application, and implement the mechanism to support event subscriptions.
  7. Implement error and message handling for all connector methods.
  8. Build the connector.
  9. Configure the connector.
    WebSphere InterChange Server

    If your business integration system uses InterChange Server, use Connector Configurator to create the connector definition and save it in the InterChange Server repository. You can call Connector Configurator from System Manager.

    Other integration brokers

    If your business integration system uses a WebSphere message broker (WebSphere MQ Integrator, WebSphere MQ Integrator Broker, or WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker) or WebSphere Application Server, use Connector Configurator to define and create the connector configuration file.

  10. If WebSphere MQ will be used for messaging between connector components, add message queues for the connector.
  11. Create a startup script for the new connector.
  12. Test and debug the connector, recoding as necessary.

Figure 12 provides a visual overview of the connector development process and provides a quick reference to chapters where you can find information on specific topics. Note that if a team of people is available for connector development, the major tasks of developing a connector can be done in parallel by different members of the connector development team.

Figure 12. Overview of the Java Connector development process


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