Glossary

Adapter. See Enterprise Connector.

Application. a J2EE Application running inside an iPlanet Application Server.

Application Programming Interface (API). The functions that the application program uses to perform tasks. For example, managing files, accepting text or numbers in a document, and displaying information on the screen. The API defines a standard way of using features.

Application Server. A comprehensive solution that enables enterprises to easily develop, deploy, and manage business critical Internet applications.

Bind Duration. is how long a connection is bound to the client J2EE component.

Bind Duration Escalation. to escalate the connection from method-bound to sp-bound and vice versa by the Enterprise connector.

Bind Duration Timeout. is to forcibly get the connection from the service provider back to the pool, so that other service providers could use it.

BSP . See UIF.

Configuration Info. Enterprise connector specific EIS configuration information. This information includes access details like EIS host names, port numbers, languages, load balancing features, etc. Furthermore, the configuration information is loosely defined to include pooling configuration definitions, user mapping definitions, etc.

Data Block. a data object which encapsulates all inputs and outputs of this operation's execution. This object can have default or initial values. The enterprise connector is responsible for marshalling and unmarshalling the data object contents, to and from backend formats.

Data Mining. A service provided by the enterprise connector provider in a GUI-based tool form, in order to mine the service and data object definition information from the EIS systems and export it to the repository. For example, in case of the R/3 enterprise connector, the R/3 data mining tool fetches the BAPI information and In and Out parameters and populates the repository.

Data Object. a backend system independent data representation. It also provides rich and consistent set of introspect, access and mutation APIs for developers to manipulate data objects. Data objects shield the user from learning complicate legacy system data formats. It is the only common data format that is used to communicate among UIF and enterprise connector extensions. Each enterprise connector extension is required to understand a data object and translate native data formats to this common form and vice versa.

Data Object Array. has elements of homogeneous types addressed by an integer index.

Data Object Collection. is the super interface of data object structure, list and array.

Data Object List. has elements of heterogeneous types addressed by an integer index. A data object list has a special count attribute to hold the field count.

Data Object Primitive. a data object that wraps a primitive value around the data object. For example, an integer, a string, binary buffer, etc.

Data Object Structure. is fields of heterogeneous types addressed by either a name or an integer index. Two data object structure fields cannot have the same name. A data object structure has a special count attribute to hold the field count.

Datasource. Data source is a logical representation of the EIS instance inside UIF. The definition of a datasource is stored inside the repository. This definition contains EIS specific service provider definitions, pool definitions, data type definitions, function object definitions and user mapping definitions.

Data Object Type Definitions. the structural information of the Data Objects, mined by the Administrator to be made available in the Repository.

Deployment. The process whereby software is installed into an operational environment.

Deployment Descriptor. An XML file provided with each module and application that describes how they should be deployed. The deployment descriptor directs a deployment tool to deploy a module or application with specific container options and describes specific configuration requirements that a deployer must resolve.

Distributed Application. An application made up of distinct components running in separate runtime environments, usually on different platforms connected via a network. Typical distributed applications are two-tier (client-server), three-tier (client-middleware-server), and multiplier (client-multiple middleware-multiple servers).

Document Type Definition (DTD) . Is a file (or several files) written in XMLs declaration syntax, which contain a formal description of a particular type of document. It describes the names that can be used for element types, where they may occur and how they fit together.

Enterprise Connector . EIS specific extension that implements the UIF enterprise connector contract, and provides marshalling and unmarshalling of UIF data types to EIS specific data types. The enterprise connector also provides rich exceptions which incorporate backend specific error codes to the application logic.

Enterprise Information System (EIS). EIS can be interpreted as packaged enterprise application, transaction systems or user applications. For example, R/3, PeopleSoft, Tuxedo, and CICS.

Enterprise Server Beans (EJB) . Is a non visual software component running on the server part of an application. An EJB is usually configured at deployment time by editing its properties.

Extensible Markup Language (XML). Is the universal format used for structured documents and data on the web. XML is extensible because it is not a fixed format like HTML. XML is not a single, predefined markup language, it's a meta language - a language for describing other languages - which lets you design your own markup. A predefined markup language like HTML defines a way to describe information in one specific document class only. XML lets you define your own customized markup languages for different document classes. XML can do this because it's written in SGML, the international standard meta language for text markup systems.

Function Object. is a logical group of operations. Each operation can be considered as a method with its own input and output parameters. The parameters are represented in a single data object named dataBlock. The operations are related because they share a common state machine. The state is maintained by runtime from call-to-call.

Function Object Definitions. the structural information of the Function Objects, mined by the Administrator to be made available in the Repository.

Function Object Template. defines an instance of a Function Object. All the Function Object instances of a specific template type follow the same structure.

Interaction Models. a conversational model between the UIF and the enterprise connector. UIF currently supports only synchronous request/response interaction model.

J2EE application . Any deployable unit of J2EE functionality. This can be a single module or a group of modules packaged into an .ear file with a J2EE application deployment descriptor. J2EE applications are typically engineered to be distributed across multiple computing tiers.

J2EE product . An implementation that conforms to the J2EE platform specification.

Java . Java is a network programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to users or files.

Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE). An environment for developing and deploying enterprise applications.

JavaServer Page (JSP) . Allows developers to rapidly develop and easily maintain, information rich, dynamic web pages that leverage existing business systems. JSP also enables rapid development of web-based applications that are platform independent. Additionally, JSP is an extensible Web technology that uses template data, custom elements, scripting languages, and server-side Java objects to return dynamic content to a client. Typically the template data is HTML or XML elements, and in many cases the client is a Web browser.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Defines a network representation of a search filter transmitted to an LDAP server.

Marshalling and Unmarshalling. it is defined as the conversions of UIF data type formats to EIS specific data formats. This is the primary responsibility of the enterprise connector.

Metadata. Metadata can be loosely defined as the configuration, function object, data object, and service provider information available in the repository. The metadata service which lives as a core service in UIF is responsible for interpreting the metadata definitions and instantiate corresponding in-memory objects.

Pool Definitions. the pooling information to be used by UIF, mined by the Administrator to be made available in the Repository.

Pooling. Algorithm used to enable efficient use of the scarce resources.

Pooling Configuration. the pooling configuration information used by the UIF, mined by the Administrator to be made available in the Repository.

Process Manager (PM). IPlanet process manager tool allows the user to defined process models and their interactions. Process manager's runtime engine interprets the process model definitions and executes the process items as per the definition.

Property Set . a data object whose value settings target this operation's execution to a specific backend business function. For example, dbName, storedProc name, BAPI name, Peoplesoft message identifier, program name, queue name, etc. The settings also control the operation's execution.

Repository. UIF repository is a persistent store that stores information needed by UIF components. For example, runtime, metadata service, tools - repository browser, connector management console, enterprise connectors, etc. The repository is a hierarchy of information where semantic categories (or types) of information stored in repository are - function objects, data objects, data info objects, enterprise connector (adapter) configuration details (service providers), pool configuration details, web user-to-EIS user mapping information, etc. An importer/exporter tool imports and exports repository contents to and from the user readable form (XML). UIF repository services provide cached runtime access to the information stored in the UIF repository. Repository APIs provides functionalities like - access, navigation and construction of data objects from the repository.

Repository Browser. The repository browser allows you to view the repository contents and to perform operations such as browsing content and exporting and importing function object, data object, and configuration information to and from XML files.

Runtime Manager. an object factory to construct data object, service provider and function object based on either type or template information. Further, the runtime manager encapsulates advance features such as connection pooling, thread hand off and connection bind escalation from a developer.

Server . A computer or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software. For example, a iPlanet web server or iPlanet application server, or the machine that the software is running on, A single server machine could have several different server software packages running on it.

Service Provider. A service provider is a logical representation of the connection to the backend datasource. The service provider definition is usually appropriately preconfigured (by the datasource administrator) to point to the EIS, as well as preconfigured with appropriate connection pooling and lifecycle management settings.

Service Provider Definitions. The configuration information of the Service Provider, mined by the Administrator to be made available in the Repository.

Servlet. An application or script written in Java and executed on a server. A servlet extends the functionality of a Web server, generating dynamic content and interacting with Web clients using a request-response paradigm.

System Administrator . The person responsible for configuring and administering the enterprise's computers, networks, and software systems.

Tools. Are used for the development, packaging, and deployment of applications.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TA suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Designed for the UNIX operating system, but is now available for every major operating system.

Unified Integration Framework (UIF). UIF appears in the package names and repository browser. The UIF consists of a unified API suite for all enterprise connectors.

User Mapping Definitions. These are definitions of user mapping tables from web domain to EIS domain for a specific EIS system. The contents of the user mapping tables are managed via the management console.

XML. See Extensible Markup Language.