Terminology
The following terms are used in this guide:
- ASI (Application-Specific Information) Metadata
tailored to a particular application or technology. ASI exists at
both the attribute and business object level of a business object.
See also Verb ASI.
- BO (Business Object) A set of attributes
that represent a business entity (such as Employee) and an action
on the data (such as a create or update operation). Components of
the WebSphere Business Integration Server Express system
use business objects to exchange information and trigger actions.
- BO (Business Object) handler A connector
component that contains methods that interact with an application
and that transforms request business objects into application operations.
- COM component The connector interacts
with a COM server by processing between a business object and a
COM component object. During connector processing, a COM component,
which is part of a COM application, is represented in the connector
by a proxy object. A proxy is a Java class
that represents a COM component.
- COMProxy The interface tool that allows
Java programs to communicate with ActiveX objects. This tool generates
the Java proxy objects that the connector requires to invoke COM
components. The properties, structures, and methods of a COM component
are typically defined in a type library file (.tlb, .dll, .ole, .olb, or .exe). Using the Java Native Interface and COM technology, COMProxy
allows a COM component to be treated just like a Java object.
- Connection factory A special kind of proxy
object that refers to an application. If the appropriate connector
properties are set, the factory object, which is persistent for
the life of the connector, can create connections that are placed
in the connection pool. The number of connections created depends
on the value specified in the PoolSize property.
- Connection object A special kind of proxy
object that is an instance of the connection class. A connection is
a reference to an application that can contain state information.
For every instance of a connection on the adapter side, there is
a corresponding object on the COM side. Connections can be instantiated
in batches, retrieved at will, sent back to the connection pool,
and be re-used by another thread.
- Connection pool A repository used to store
and retrieve connection objects.
- Foreign key A simple attribute whose value
uniquely identifies a child business object. Typically, this attribute
identifies a child business object to its parent by containing the
child's primary key value. The connector for COM uses the
foreign key to specify poolable connection objects.
- ODA (Object Discovery Agent) A tool that
automatically generates a business object definition by examining
specified entities within the application and "discovering" the
elements of these entities that correspond to business object attributes.
When you install the adapter, the ODA is automatically installed. Business Object Designer Express provides
a graphical user interface to access the ODA and to work with it
interactively.
- Per-call object pool A programmatic entity
for storing objects that need to pass from one method to the next
during a single doVerbFor method call. Stored objects may be proxy objects or simple
attributes.
- Proxy class A Java class that represents
a COM component class in the connector. The connector creates a proxy
object instance of the proxy class name specified in the business
object's ASI.
- Verb ASI (application-specific information) For
a given verb, the verb ASI specifies how the connector should process
the business object when that verb is active. It can contain the
name of the method to call to process the current request business
object.
