The WebSphere® Transformation Extender data handler is
an ideal choice when you have non-XML data coming into, or leaving,
your WebSphere ESB.
Note that you must have WebSphere Transformation Extender available.
You must install WebSphere ESB before
you install the WebSphere Transformation Extender for WebSphere ESB. You
must have a valid license for WebSphere Transformation Extender. WebSphere Transformation Extender is an
independent product and has to be installed separately.
For your server to work with WebSphere Transformation
Extender, you must use the WebSphere Transformation Extender
installer for WebSphere ESB. In
addition to installing WebSphere Transformation Extender,
this process also installs the WebSphere Transformation
Extender Java™ client libraries as an OSGi
bundle in the WebSphere ESB product
so that it is accessible to WebSphere ESB.
Installing WebSphere Transformation Extender
for
WebSphere ESB is
a two-step process:
- Run the WebSphere Transformation Extender for the
Software Developers Kit (SDK). This installs the SDK and the OSGi
bundle for WebSphere Transformation Extender in the WebSphere ESB plug-ins.
- Optional: Run the installer for WebSphere Transformation
Extender Design Studio. This step provides you with all the tools
required to design and create tree-types and maps.
Note: You must perform the first step on every node where you
will utilize the WebSphere Transformation Extender data handler.
The second step is required only on nodes where you want to create
and edit maps.
The installation of WebSphere Transformation Extender
should have configured the system path to point to WebSphere Transformation
Extender. Verify that the installation location (for example, C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere
Transformation Extender 8.2) is part of your system
path.
The WebSphere Transformation Extender data handler calls WebSphere Transformation Extender using
Java Native Interface (JNI). This may have performance implications
on your system.
The WebSphere Transformation Extender data
handler has
the following memory requirements:
- For transforming from native data to business object, the memory
required is at least twice the size of the native data plus twice
the size of the serialized business object.
- For transforming from business object to native data, the memory
required is at least twice the size of the serialized business object
plus twice the size of native data.
The WebSphere Transformation Extender data handler is
an ideal choice when you have non-XML data entering, or leaving, your WebSphere ESB environment.
For XML data, you should use the XML data handler for JMS,
WebSphere MQ, and HTTP imports and exports, and use the XMLDataHandler
for EIS bindings.
Additional considerations for using the WebSphere Transformation
Extender data
handler.
- If your data is in an industry standard format supported by WebSphere Transformation Extender, then
the WebSphere Transformation Extender data handler is
an ideal solution. See related links for a
list of industry packs.
- For formats such as delimited, csv, and fixed-width, use the data
bindings and data handlers that are supplied as part of WebSphere ESB rather
than the WebSphere Transformation Extender data handler.
- For COBOL, use the COBOL data binding generator to generate a
COBOL data binding.
- For any other custom format, make an evaluation based
on the memory requirements and the ease of developing a WebSphere Transformation
Extender map compared to developing a custom data binding.