Tools for adapter development

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

Adapter component Configuration tool API
Business object Business Object Designer Not applicable
Object Discovery Agent (ODA) Business Object Designer Object Discovery Agent Development Kit (ODK)
Connector Connector Configurator C++ Connector Library

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.

Development support for business objects

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.

Development support for ODAs

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.

Development support for connectors

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 C++ 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

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 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.

Note:
The ADK is part of the WebSphere Business Integration Adapters product and it requires its own separate Installer. Therefore, to have access to the development samples in the ADK, you must have access to the WebSphere Business Integration Adapters product and install the ADK. Please note that the ADK is available only on Windows systems.

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
C++ Connector Development Kit (CDK) Provides sample code for a C++ connector.

cdk

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 following ProductDir\DevelopmentKits subdirectory:

DevelopmentKits\cdk
 

Table 12 describes the contents of the subdirectories in the cdk directory.

Table 12. Components of the Connector Development Kit

Connector Development Kit component Description Subdirectory
C++ connector library

Provides development versions of the C++ connector library, which you need to use when you create 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

The CDK includes the following code samples to help in the development of your C++ connector:

DevelopmentKits\cdk\samples
 

The CDK is supported only on Windows systems. To compile a C++ connector, use the compiler in the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 development environment. For more information, see Compiling the connector.

Note:
The WebSphere Business Integration Adapters 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 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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