WebSphere Process Server Glossary

activity
In the process editor, the basic building block of a process that represents the usage of an operation that must take place to satisfy the overall business process. An activity is connected to links through its terminals.
administrative console
A graphical interface that guides the user through systems administration tasks such as deployment, configuration, monitoring, starting and stopping applications, services, and resources.
API
See application programming interface.
application programming interface (API)
An interface that allows an application program that is written in a high-level language to use specific data or functions of the operating system or another program.
application server
A server program in a distributed network that provides the execution environment for an application program.
artifact
A physical piece of information that is used or produced by a software development process. Examples of artifacts include models, source files, scripts, and binary executable files.
ASYNC
See asynchronous.
asynchronous (ASYNC)
Pertaining to events that are not synchronized in time or do not occur in regular or predictable time intervals.
attribute
A characteristic or trait of an entity that describes the entity; for example, the telephone number of an employee is one of that employee's attributes. An attribute may have a type, which indicates the range of information given by the attribute, and a value, which is within that range. In XML, for example, an attribute consists of a name-value pair within a tagged element, that modifies features of the element.
bean
A definition or instance of a JavaBeans component. See also enterprise bean, JavaBeans.
bidi
See bidirectional. This definition is from the Localisation Industry Standards Association (LISA) Glossary.
bidirectional (bidi)
Pertaining to scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew that generally run from right to left, except for numbers, which run from left to right. This definition is from the Localisation Industry Standards Association (LISA) Glossary.
BPEL
See Business Process Execution Language.
business graph
A wrapper that is added around a simple business object or a hierarchy of business objects to provide additional capabilities, such as carrying change summary and event summary information related to the business objects in the business graph.
business object
A set of attributes that represent a business entity (such as Employee).
Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)
An XML-based language for the formal specification of business processes and business interaction protocols. BPEL extends the Web Services interaction model and enables it to support business transactions.
business rule
A directive intended to influence or guide business behavior in support of business policy that has been formulated in response to business unit SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis.
business rule group component
A component that provides the interface for calling business rules, as well as a logical grouping mechanism for managing business rules.
cascading style sheet (CSS)
A file that defines a hierarchical set of style rules for controlling the rendering of HTML or XML files in browsers, viewers, or in print. A CSS includes a defined order of precedence to address cases when the definitions of any style element in a document conflict.
CEI
See Common Event Infrastructure.
cell
An arbitrary grouping of one or more nodes in a distributed network.
class
In object-oriented design or programming, a model or template that can be used to create objects with a common definition and common properties, operations, and behavior. An object is an instance of a class.
class path
A list of directories and JAR files that contain resource files or Java classes that a program can load dynamically at run time.
cluster
A group of application servers that collaborates for the purposes of workload balancing and failover.
CMP
See container-managed persistence.
Common Event Infrastructure (CEI)
A core technology of the IBM Autonomic Computing initiative that provides basic event management services, including consolidating and persisting raw events from multiple, heterogeneous sources and distributing those events to event consumers.
compensation
The means by which operations in a process that have successfully completed can be undone if an error occurs, to return the system to a consistent state.
compensation service
The operation that is performed to compensate for a successful operation when a process generates a fault (which is not handled within the process).
connection factory
A set of configuration values that produces connections that enable a J2EE component to access a resource. Connection factories provide on-demand connections from an application to an enterprise information system (EIS).
connection pool
A group of host connections that are maintained in an initialized state, ready to be used without having to create and initialize them.
container
(1) A column or row that is used to arrange the layout of a portlet or other container on a page.
(2) An entity that provides life-cycle management, security, deployment, and runtime services to components. (Sun) Each type of container (EJB, Web, JSP, servlet, applet, and application client) also provides component-specific services.
container-managed persistence (CMP)
The mechanism whereby data transfer between an entity bean's variables and a resource manager is managed by the entity bean's container. (Sun)
container transaction
See >container-managed transaction.
CSS
See cascading style sheet. A CSS includes a defined order of precedence to address cases when the definitions of any style element in a document conflict.
database response file
A text file that specifies parameters for configuring the event database.
data store profile
An object that defines properties used by the default data store plug-in, which is used to persistently store events received by the event server.
deadlock
A condition in which two independent threads of control are blocked, each waiting for the other to take some action. Deadlock often arises from adding synchronization mechanisms to avoid race conditions.
deploy
To place files or install software into an operational environment. In J2EE, this involves creating a deployment descriptor suitable to the type of application that is being deployed.
deployment code
Additional code that enables bean implementation code written by an application developer to work in a particular EJB runtime environment. Deployment code can be generated by tools that the application server vendor supplies.
deprecated
Pertaining to an entity, such as a programming element or feature, that is supported but no longer recommended, and that might become obsolete.
distributed application
An application made up of distinct components that are physically located on different computer systems, connected by a network.
EAR
See enterprise archive. See also Web archive, Java archive.
EIS
See enterprise information system.
EJB
See Enterprise JavaBeans.
EJB container
A container that implements the EJB component contract of the J2EE architecture. This contract specifies a runtime environment for enterprise beans that includes security, concurrency, life cycle management, transaction, deployment, and other services. (Sun)
EJB factory
An access bean that simplifies the creating or finding of an enterprise bean instance.
EJB home object
In EJB, an object that provides the life cycle operations (create, remove, find) for an enterprise bean. (Sun)
EJB JAR file
A Java archive that contains an EJB module. (Sun)
EJB module
A software unit that consists of one or more enterprise beans and an EJB deployment descriptor. (Sun)
EJB object
In enterprise beans, an object whose class implements the enterprise bean remote interface (Sun).
EJB query
In the EJB query language, a string that contains an optional SELECT clause specifying the EJB objects to return, a FROM clause that names the bean collections, an optional WHERE clause that contains search predicates over the collections, an optional ORDER BY clause that specifies the ordering of the result collection; and input parameters that correspond to the arguments of the finder method.
enterprise application
See J2EE application.
enterprise archive (EAR)
A specialized type of JAR file, defined by the J2EE standard, used to deploy J2EE applications to J2EE application servers. An EAR file contains EJB components, a deployment descriptor, and Web archive (WAR) files for individual Web applications. See also Web archive, Java archive.
enterprise bean
A component that implements a business task or business entity and resides in an EJB container. Entity beans, session beans, and message-driven beans are all enterprise beans. (Sun) See also bean.
enterprise information system (EIS)
The applications that comprise an enterprise's existing system for handling companywide information. An enterprise information system offers a well-defined set of services that are exposed as local or remote interfaces or both. (Sun)
Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB)
A component architecture defined by Sun Microsystems for the development and deployment of object-oriented, distributed, enterprise-level applications.
enterprise service discovery wizard
A tool that is used to generate business objects, WSDL interfaces, and Service Component Architecture (SCA) constructs from the enterprise information system to run as an SCA component.
entity
In markup languages such as XML, a collection of characters that can be referenced as a unit, for example to incorporate often repeated text or special characters within a document.
entity bean
In EJB programming, an enterprise bean that represents persistent data maintained in a database. Each entity bean carries its own identity. (Sun) There are two types of entity beans: container-managed persistence (CMP) entity beans and bean-managed persistence (BMP) entity beans. See also session bean.
event
A message, request, or notification that is either sent or received by business integration applications.
event access interface
A J2EE stateless session bean that provides methods for querying historical events from the event server.
event catalog
A repository of event metadata used by applications to retrieve information about classes of events and their permitted content.
event catalog application
An application that stores or retrieves event metadata in the event catalog, such as a management or development tool, or an event source or event consumer.
event correlation sphere
The scope of an ECSEmitter method that allows an event consumer to correlate events. Each event includes the identifier of the correlation sphere to which it belongs and the identifier of its parent correlation sphere from the event hierarchy.
event database
A database in which events that can be monitored are stored, and which is required to support the persistence of those events.
event definition
A description of event classes and their allowed content, which is stored by the event catalog.
event factory
An object that returns new instances of either the CommonBaseEvent element or of the specialized classes representing complex property data types.
event object
An object that captures information about an event that has occurred in a system application and then passes the event object to the event infrastructure, where it is published to event subscribers or stored in a database for later retrieval. The event object describes an event type, indicates when the application generated the event, and identifies properties relevant to the event.
exit condition
A Boolean expression that controls when processing at a process node is completed.
extended data element
An application-specific element that contains information relevant to an event.
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
A standard metalanguage for defining markup languages that is based on Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). XML simplifies the process of authoring and managing structured information and transmitting and sharing structured information across diverse computing systems.
Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)
A language for specifying style sheets for XML documents. XSL Transformation (XSLT) is used with XSL to describe how an XML document is transformed into another document.
Faces component
One of a collection of user interface components (such as input fields) and data components (representing data such as records in a database) that can be dragged to a Faces JSP file and then bound to each other to build a dynamic Web project. See also JavaServer Faces.
Faces JSP file
A file that represents a page in a dynamic Web project and contains JavaServer Faces UI and data components. See also JavaServer Faces.
factory
In object-oriented programming, a class that is used to create instances of another class. A factory is used to isolate the creation of objects of a particular class into one place so that new functions can be provided without widespread code changes.
failed event
An object that records the source, destination, description, and time of failure between two service connector components.
global instance identifier
A globally unique identifier that is generated either by the application or by the emitter and is used as a primary key for event identification.
handle
In the J2EE specification, an object that identifies an enterprise bean. A client may serialize the handle, and then later deserialize it to obtain a reference to the enterprise bean. (Sun)
human task
An interaction between a Web service and a human.
interface map
A supporting service component in Service Component Architecture (SCA) that captures a fairly common pattern, allowing module designers to resolve and reconcile differences across multiple interfaces, using transforms and other rudimentary operations.
J2EE
See Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition.
J2EE application
Any deployable unit of J2EE functionality. This unit can be a single module or a group of modules packaged into an enterprise archive (EAR) file with a J2EE application deployment descriptor. (Sun)
JAAS
See Java Authentication and Authorization Service.
JAR
See Java archive. See also enterprise archive, Web archive.
JAR file
A Java archive file.
Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
An environment for developing and deploying enterprise applications, defined by Sun Microsystems Inc. The J2EE platform consists of a set of services, application programming interfaces (APIs), and protocols that provide the functionality for developing multitiered, Web-based applications. (Sun)
Java archive (JAR)
A compressed file format for storing all the resources that are required to install and run a Java program in a single file. See also enterprise archive, Web archive.
Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS)
In J2EE technology, a standard API for performing security-based operations. Through JAAS, services can authenticate and authorize users while enabling the applications to remain independent from underlying technologies.
Java bean
See also enterprise bean, JavaBeans. See bean.
JavaBeans
As defined for Java by Sun Microsystems, a portable, platform-independent, reusable component model. See also bean.
Java class
A class that is written in the Java language.
Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)
An industry standard for database-independent connectivity between the Java platform and a wide range of databases. The JDBC interface provides a call-level API for SQL-based database access.
Java Message Service (JMS)
An application programming interface that provides Java language functions for handling messages.
Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI)
An extension to the Java platform that provides a standard interface for heterogeneous naming and directory services.
JavaServer Faces (JSF)
A framework for building Web-based user interfaces in Java. Web developers can build applications by placing reusable UI components on a page, connecting the components to an application data source, and wiring client events to server event handlers. See also JavaServer Pages, Faces component, Faces JSP file.
JavaServer Pages (JSP)
A server-side scripting technology that enables Java code to be dynamically embedded within Web pages (HTML files) and executed when the page is served, in order to return dynamic content to a client. See also JSP file, JSP page, JavaServer Faces.
JDBC
See Java Database Connectivity.
JMS
See Java Message Service.
JNDI
See Java Naming and Directory Interface.
join
(1) An SQL relational operation that allows retrieval of data from two or more tables based on matching column values.
(2) A incoming link that connects an activity to the rest of the process.
JSF
See JavaServer Faces. See also JavaServer Pages, Faces component, Faces JSP file.
JSP
See JavaServer Pages. See also JSP file, JSP page, JavaServer Faces.
JSP file
A scripted HTML file that has a .jsp extension and allows for the inclusion of dynamic content in Web pages. A JSP file can be directly requested as a URL, called by a servlet, or called from within an HTML page. See also JavaServer Pages, JSP page.
JSP page
A text-based document using fixed template data and JSP elements that describes how to process a request to create a response. (Sun) See also JavaServer Pages, JSP file.
LDAP directory
A hierarchical directory of names that can reflect an organization's structure or geography and that is accessed via the LDAP protocol. Running LDAP on a Domino server enables the Domino Directory to serve as an LDAP directory.
local home interface
In EJB, an interface that specifies the methods used by local clients for locating, creating, and removing instances of enterprise bean classes. See also remote home interface.
managed node
A topology that consists of one or more federated process servers.
mediation module
A module that allows communication between applications by transforming the service invocation to a format that is understood by the target, passing the request to a target, and returning the result to the originator.w
message
In Web Services Description Language (WSDL), a single piece of information moving between the invoker and the service that describes which operations the service provides. A message consists of logical parts, each of which is associated with a definition within some type of system.
method
(1) In Java programming, a function that is defined in a class. (Sun)
(2) In object-oriented programming, an operation that an object can perform. An object can have many methods.
module
In J2EE programming, a software unit that consists of one or more components of the same container type and one deployment descriptor of that type. Examples include EJB, Web, and application client modules. (Sun)
namespace
(1) In XML, a uniform resource identifier (URI) that provides a unique name to associate with all the elements and type definitions in a schema.
(2) Space reserved by a file system to contain the names of its objects.
naming service
An implementation of the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) standard.
node
(1) An addressable element in a portal navigation tree.
(2) A logical grouping of managed servers.
persistent data store
A nonvolatile storage for event data, such as a database system, that is maintained across session boundaries and that continues to exist after the execution of the program or process that created it.
queue manager
A system program that provides queuing services to applications. It provides an application programming interface so that programs can access messages on the queues that the queue manager owns.
RAR
See resource adapter archive.
relationship instance
The run-time instantiation of the relationship. The relationship definition is a template for the relationship instance.
relationship manager
A tool for creating and manipulating relationship and role data at run time.
relationship service
A service used to model and maintain relationships across business objects and other data
remote home interface
In enterprise beans, an interface that specifies the methods used by remote clients for locating, creating, and removing instances of enterprise bean classes. See also local home interface.
remote method
A business method in the remote interface that is callable by a client.
resource adapter archive (RAR)
A Java archive (JAR) file that is used to package a resource adapter for the Java 2 Connector (J2C) architecture for WebSphere Application Server.
response file
An ASCII file that can be customized with setup and configuration data. When this file is invoked from a command line, it automates installation or profile creation and augmentation processes. A response file cannot be used interactively.
result set
The set of rows that a stored procedure returns.
role
In J2EE development, the function performed by an individual in the development and deployment phases of an application. The J2EE specification defines several roles, including Application Component Provider, Application Assembler, Deployer, System Administrator, and Tool Provider.
SCA
See Service Component Architecture.
SDO
See Service Data Objects.
selector component
A component that provides a means of interposing a dynamic selection mechanism between the client application and a set of target implementations.
Service Component Architecture (SCA)
An architecture in which all elements of a business transaction, such as access to Web services, Enterprise Information System (EIS) service assets, business rules, workflows, databases and so on, are represented in a service-oriented way.
Service Data Objects (SDO)
An open standard for enabling applications to handle data from heterogeneous data sources in a uniform way. SDO incorporates J2EE patterns but simplifies the J2EE data programming model.
service-oriented architecture (SOA)
A conceptual description of the structure of a software system in terms of its components and the services they provide, without regard for the underlying implementation of these components, services and connections between components.
session
(1) A logical or virtual connection between two stations, programs, or devices on a network that allows the two elements to communicate and exchange data, or the activities that occur during the establishment, maintenance, and release of the connection. A session can be activated and deactivated as requested.
(2) In J2EE, an object used by a servlet to track a user's interaction with a Web application across multiple HTTP requests.
session bean
An enterprise bean that is created by a client and that usually exists only for the duration of a single client/server session. (Sun) See also entity bean.
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
A lightweight, XML-based protocol for exchanging information in a decentralized, distributed environment. SOAP can be used to query and return information and invoke services across the Internet.
SOA
See service-oriented architecture.
SOAP
See Simple Object Access Protocol.
SQL
See Structured Query Language.
SQL query
A component of certain SQL statements that specifies a result table.
staff activity
An activity in a process that queries human interaction for decisions on how to proceed. It is used in an interruptible process where the process will halt to await the outcome of the human interaction.
stateful session bean
A session bean that acts on behalf of a single client and maintains client-specific session information (called conversational state) across multiple method calls and transactions. See also stateless session bean.
stateless session bean
A session bean with no conversational state. All instances of a stateless bean are identical. (Sun) See also stateful session bean.
Structured Query Language (SQL)
A standardized language for defining and manipulating data in a relational database.
style sheet
A specification of formatting instructions that, when applied to structured information, provides a particular rendering of that information (for example, online or printed). Different style sheets can be applied to the same piece of structured information to produce different presentations of the information.
synchronous process
A process that starts by invoking a request-response operation. The result of the process is returned by the same operation.
target component
A component that is the final target of a client service request.
target namespace
A unique logical location for information about the service that associates a namespace with a WSDL location.
transition condition
A Boolean expression that determines when processing control should be passed to the targeted node.
UDDI
See Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration.
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
A unique address that is used to identify content on the Web, such as a page of text, a video or sound clip, a still or animated image, or a program. The most common form of URI is the Web page address, which is a particular form or subset of URI called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URI typically describes how to access the resource, the computer that contains the resource, and the name of the resource (a file name) on the computer.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
The unique address of a file that is accessible in a network such as the Internet. The URL includes the abbreviated name of the protocol used to access the information resource and the information used by the protocol to locate the information resource.
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)
A set of standards-based specifications that enables companies and applications to quickly and easily find and use Web services over the Internet.
URI
See Uniform Resource Identifier.
URL
See Uniform Resource Locator.
user registry
A database of known users and user-provided information that is used for authentication purposes.
Web archive
A compressed file format, defined by the J2EE standard, for storing all the resources required to install and run a Web application in a single file. See also enterprise archive, Java archive.
Web server
A software program that is capable of servicing Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests.
Web server plug-in
A software module that supports the Web server in communicating requests for dynamic content, such as servlets, to the application server.
Web Services Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL)
See Business Process Execution Language.
WebSphere Process Server Failed Event Manager
A graphical user interface in the administrative console from which administrators can query, update, and manage failed events slated for manual recovery.
WS-BPEL
See Web Services Business Process Execution Language. See Business Process Execution Language.
XML
See Extensible Markup Language. XML simplifies the process of authoring and managing structured information and transmitting and sharing structured information across diverse computing systems.
XML Path Language (XPath)
An XSL sublanguage designed to uniquely identify or address parts of a source XML document, for use with XSLT. XPath also provides basic facilities for manipulation of strings, numbers and Booleans.
XML schema
In XML, a mechanism for describing and constraining the content of XML files by indicating which elements are allowed and in which combinations. XML schemas are an alternative to the document type definition (DTD) and can be used to extend functionality in the areas of data typing, inheritance, and presentation.
XML Schema Definition Language (XSD)
A language for describing XML files that contain XML schema.
XPath
See XML Path Language.
XPath expression
An expression that searches through an XML document and extracts information from the nodes (any part of the document, such as an element or attribute) in that document.
XSD
See XML Schema Definition Language.
XSL
See Extensible Stylesheet Language.
XSL style sheet
Code that describes how an XML document should be rendered (displayed or printed).
XSLT
See XSL Transformation.
XSL Transformation (XSLT)
A standard that uses XSL style sheets to transform XML documents into other XML documents, fragments, or HTML documents.