How it works...
The key to the Bizevex architecture is the adapter, the software that acts as the interface between the local application and the world.
The main advantage of using a generalized adapter technology is that it focuses integration efforts on the data representation of the information exchanged, rather than on the mechanics of the transport technology.
Every application's Bizevex adapter speaks the local application's data formats, semantics and directly adresses its native interfaces.
- The dialogue engine determines how the application will exchange transaction messages with its partner adapter on the other side of the interface.
- The parameter list processor selects the interface, drawing its instructions from an external XML document, called a "data definition interface" (DDI) which contains all the critical information required for both the source and target adapters. Some of this data includes: the name and location of the application data, the format (i.e. a flat file or MS/Access file) data, whether the transactions are to be synchronous or asynchronous plus more.
- The XML parser generates outbound transaction messages in the agreed-upon XML exchange format.
- The XSLT engine translates differents dialects of XML application data. It uses an external XSLT document as its template.
- The actual interface to the application takes the form of platform-specific code (called a "spoke"). This application-specific component of the adapter we create using the Data Junction toolset, combined with custom programming in C++, Java, and XML.
