Newsletter sign-up

View all newsletters

Sign up for our technology specific newsletters.

Enterprise Java

Email Address:

Connect the enterprise with the JCA, Part 1

A look at the J2EE Connector Architecture

By Dirk Reinshagen, JavaWorld.com, 11/21/01

Page 2 of 5

Data mapping

With the next EAI feature -- data mapping -- data acquired in one format (for instance in the EIS's native format) by the resource adapter must be transformed into the format required for the business object. Mapping data from one system to another often proves the most time consuming aspect of system integration because you must map each business object in both systems. In response, most EAI vendors provide visual tools to enable a developer to set up such mapping.

While JCA does not offer an equivalent data-mapping facility, EJB's (Enterprise Java Beans) Container Managed Persistence (CMP) facility provides a similar functionality. However, currently not all EJB containers can use EJB CMP with JCA (using JCA as a data resource in place of JDBC). Presumably this will change as JCA becomes more widely adopted.

Message broker

Messaging brokers, another feature common to many EAI products, usually enable both point-to-point and publish/subscribe messaging. EAI products often employ messaging as the connectivity layer to tie together disparate systems.

Currently JCA does not address connectivity to an EIS in a message-oriented manner. It is possible, however, to implement some of a message broker's feature set in an EAI product by using JMS (Java Messaging Service), which is part of J2EE.

Workflow

Workflow is the management of business processes. Think of workflow as a coordinator. In and of itself, workflow lacks the capability to do anything, but rather relies on business objects, messages, and other external entities to perform functionality (for example creating a user object in a database). Workflow coordinates the use of business objects, messages, and so on to perform business processes.

JCA does not address workflow. However, look for something in the J2EE arena to address workflow, as it serves as an important component when developing a complex system.

Having discussed how JCA (and J2EE) compare with EAI tools, it's now important to look at how JCA fits into an overall integration strategy.

JCA and a general integration strategy

These days, many systems must integrate with other systems. But, what does that mean? In this section, I describe various integration types and where JCA fits into them.

Integration falls into two main buckets:

• Inbound integration: outside systems initiate data requests to your system
• Outbound integration: your system initiates data requests to other systems

All of the following integration types can be applied in both an inbound and an outbound manner.

User interface integration

User interface (UI) integration represents the most coarse-grain type of integration. UI-level integration implies that the data passed between systems will exist in the form of a UI representation. An outbound integration at the UI level entails requesting the UI (most likely a Webpage) from a remote system, then possibly manipulating it before displaying it as if it were part of your system's UI. An inbound integration at the UI level entails allowing an outside system to request UI pages on your system for inclusion on a remote system.

 

Improve efficiency with Visual Studio(r) 2010 Beta 2. - Microsoft

About Us | Advertise | Contact Us | Terms of Service/Privacy

Copyright, 2006-2008 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.