This section provides the following information about the process to develop an ODA:
An ODA is one of the possible components of an IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapter. An adapter includes run-time components to support communication between InterChange Server Express and applications or technologies. One of these run-time components is the ODA, which creates the business object definitions for the connector to use at run time. The connector is the run-time component that handles communication between an application (or technology) and InterChange Server Express. The adapter also includes an adapter framework, which includes components for the configuration, run time, 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 Adapter product.
For development of an ODA, the adapter framework includes the development
support listed in Table 20.
Table 20. Adapter framework support for the development of an ODA
In addition to the WebSphere Business Integration Adapter Framework, the Adapter Development Kit (ADK) is a toolkit that provides code samples of ODAs and connectors. For more information, see 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 the product directory.
Table 21 lists the samples that the ADK provides for the development
of an ODA as well as the subdirectory of the DevelopmentKits
directory in which they reside.
Table 21. ADK Samples for ODA Development
Adapter Development Kit component | Description | DevelopmentKits subdirectory |
---|---|---|
Object Discovery Agent Development
Kit (ODK) | Provides ODA samples | Odk |
Twineball adapter sample | Provides a sample adapter, which includes an
ODA | Twineball_sample |
As Table 21 shows, the Adapter Development Kit includes samples of Object Discovery Agents (ODAs). These samples reside in the following directory:
DevelopmentKits\Odk
For more information, see Development support for ODAs.
Table 22 shows the tools that the WebSphere Business Integration
Adapters and WebSphere InterChange Server Express products provide to assist
in the development of business object definitions.
Table 22. Tools for development of business object definitions
Development tool | Description |
---|---|
Business Object
Designer Express | Graphical tool that assists in the creation of business object definitions, either manually or through an ODA. |
For a brief introduction to business object definitions, see Business object definitions.
Table 23 shows the tools that the WebSphere Business Integration
Adapters and WebSphere InterChange Server Express products provide to assist
in the development of an ODA.
Table 23. Tools for development of ODAs
Development tool | Description |
---|---|
Business Object
Designer Express | Graphical tool that assists in the creation of business object definitions, either manually or through an ODA. |
Object Discovery Agent Development Kit (ODK) |
Contains:
|
As Table 23 shows, the ODK provides for the ODA developer both the ODK API (which is the library of methods to use in the ODA) and sample ODAs, which reside in the following product subdirectory:
DevelopmentKits\Odk\Samples
The ODK includes the following sample ODAs
ODA sample | Description | Subdirectory of DevelopmentKits\Odk |
---|---|---|
Roman Army ODA | Converts the names of Roman generals and soldiers from an XML file to business object definitions and provides some binary files that describe the conversion. This ODA uses the ODK API, as described in this chapter. |
For startup scripts: Samples For external files and.jar file: RomanArmy For Java source: com\ibm\btools\ODK2\ RomanArmy
|
JDBC ODA |
Converts JDBC data (tables and schemas) to business object definitions. For this sample ODA to run, it must have access to a JDBC database. This sample is based on a previous version of the ODK API, which handles generation of business object definitions only, not generation of file content.
|
For startup scripts: Samples For Java source:
|
For a brief introduction to ODAs, see Using an Object Discovery Agent to create a business object definition. For instructions on how to run the sample Roman Army ODA, see Using the sample ODA.
This section provides an overview of the ODA development process, which includes the following high-level steps:
Before you start the development process, the following must be true:
For an ODA to run, it must be able to access the ODA library, CwODA.jar. Therefore, this ODA library must be installed. For more information, see your product installation information.
InterChange Server Express |
---|
If your business integration system uses InterChange Server Express, the CwODA.jar file is installed as part of the software. Refer to the for product installation information, which includes how to install and start up the system. |
For the required version of the JDK and how to install it, refer to your product installation information. Make sure to update the PATH environment variable to include the installed Java directory. Since InterChange Server Express is your integration broker, restart InterChange Server Express after you have updated the path.
ProductDir\lib
To compile the ODA, the compiler must be able to access this directory ODA. For information on how to compile an ODA, see Compiling the ODA.
To develop an ODA, you must take the steps listed in Table 25.
Table 25. Steps in the development of an ODA
| ODA development step | For more information |
---|---|---|
1. |
Extend the ODA base class, ODKAgentBase2, to create your ODA
class.
| Extending the ODA base class |
2. |
Implement the methods of the ODA class, which provide the means of starting
the ODA.
| Starting the ODA |
3. |
Design and implement the ODA content:
| Determining the ODA generated content |
4. |
Implement error and message handling for all ODA methods. Implement
trace messages at the appropriate trace levels.
| Handling exceptions and Handling trace and error messages |
5. |
Create any classes needed to handle data-source interactions, such as:
| IBM recommends that you modularize the Object Discovery Agent into component classes that handle its separate significant processes. Details depend on your data source. |
6. |
Build the ODA.
| Compiling the ODA |
7. |
Create a startup script for the new ODA.
| Starting up a new ODA |
8. |
Test and debug the ODA, recoding as necessary.
|
|
Writing ODA code is only one part of the overall task for developing business objects. Before beginning to write the Object Discovery Agent code, you should clearly understand business object design issues, the application whose entities the business objects will represent, and the connector and data handler that will process the business objects. You should also be familiar with the steps users follow in Business Object Designer Express to create a business object definition using an Object Discovery Agent.