Overview

The Content Engine APIs consist of Java™-based and Microsoft® .NET-based logical architectural subcomponents, and the transport between their subcomponents. The API sets provide common functionality for both Java and .NET application development. You can build your own Java applications and applets using the Java client API, which provides classes for creating, accessing, and manipulating content and objects. The set of .NET framework classes allows high-level access to Content Engine objects through .NET languages such as C#. Using either API, you can develop and customize your applications.

The components are platform-neutral and generally provide a thin wrapping around remote procedure calls. They perform the marshalling and unmarshalling of parameters for serialization and deserialization. For specific objects, they can also provide limited, transparent caching of object property values. The API also provides a Connection object, which transparently handles authentication and through which batch operations are performed.

The Content Engine Java API is compatible with Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 2.0. For more information, refer to the EJB 2.0 specification. The Content Engine .NET API is compatible with the .NET Framework 2.0. For more information, refer to Microsoft's .NET 2.0 documentation.

The Content Engine Java and .NET APIs are installed during Content Engine installation. You can install the API files anywhere, including a non-Content Engine system. Note that the .NET API requires the Microsoft .NET Framework and Web Services Enhancements (WSE). Refer to the IBM FileNet P8 Hardware and Software Requirements document for the latest version requirements of these two components. To download this document from the IBM support page, see Accessing IBM FileNet Documentation.

The Content Engine API documentation is installed as part of the FileNet P8 Documentation installation, and includes Java reference documentation, .NET reference documentation, and this Developer's Guide. This Guide provides conceptual information about some of the most commonly-used objects, as well as code examples in the "Working With" chapters. For reference information on each interface and class, refer to one of the following depending on your development environment:

Release Notes

The IBM FileNet P8 Platform Release Notes document contains important information about this release. To download the document from the IBM support page, see Accessing IBM FileNet Documentation.