McPress Online - XBintegrator
Invenso has developed a new middleware product that connects different systems and applications via XML. Called XB/400, the data exchange engine allows non-technical users to write applications that move DB2/400 data into XML or XML data into DB2/400.
Invenso has developed a new middleware product that connects different systems and applications via XML. Called XB/400, the data exchange engine allows non-technical users to write applications that move DB2/400 data into XML or XML data into DB2/400.
XBintegrator was originally developed for systems running OS/400 V4R4 and higher. Now, XBintegrator also supports zSeries servers, pSeries servers, and Microsoft .NET systems.
After installing XBintegrator on your system, two small scripts need to be written one for the incoming XML document and another for the outgoing XML document. XBintegrator features its own script language, XBscript, an XML extension with the characteristics of a modern RAD application.
The platform-neutral XBscripts can be written with the aid of an XML editor, such as XBintegrator development studio (XBids). Invenso supplies XBintegrator customers with an extended user manual and example applications to simplify script-writing.
Once written, the script is saved in the IFS on the iSeries server, and developers use instruction LOADXMLDOC to import the script within the XBintegrator application.
Then, users can execute the script as a batch or as an interactive process via RUNXBI.
The script is callable from within CL, RPG, or COBOL programs where parameters can be passed by reference, like in a traditional program.
Invenso says XBintegrator is especially effective for users working with Web and print applications.
On the Web side, XBintegrator provides XML page data to a Web browser, and the included CGI-processor transfers the form data to XBintegrator. Based on the request, XBintegrator builds up a result set visualized in the browser as HTML or XML together with a stylesheet.
On the print side, XBintegrator allows users to utilize XSL-FO, a language for completely describing a styled document, including its content organization, styling, and layout--everything needed to format and paginate it.
XSL-FO is an intermediate form between media-neutral XML and media-dependent output.
XBintegrator provides the XML to be rendered together with the stylesheet by the XSL-FO parser. The result is a paginated document in PDF or printer-native code.
In addition, to extend XBintegrator to other platforms, Invenso built server-function on iSeries and a PC-based application called XBisp (Integrator Server Processor).
By using different connectors plugged into the XBisp environment, you can extend your iSeries applications.
Examples:
- The Office 2003 Connector connects iSeries legacy applications with Microsoft Word 2003 and Microsoft Excel 2003.
- The Biztalk Connector connects processes on PC servers. Biztalk interconnects applications on different platforms, internal or external.
- The IP Connector connects applications via different IP protocols, either secured or nonsecured. For example, with IP Connector, you can connect to Web services like Google, establish a Telnet connection over batch, send and receive a post request to an HTTP or HTTPS server, etc.
- The Database Connector connects applications on iSeries servers with data on other systems. The connector converts a data request to an SQL instruction or XML dialect of that specific database and then sends back an XML document containing the requested data. Or an application on another iSeries server or non-iSeries system can ask for data.
- The Application Connector integrates OS/400 applications with software on other server systems as well as industrial devices, PDAs, routers, printers, plotters, etc. It includes a universal mechanism to exchange the status and data between different applications and environments, and provides conversion routines for ASCII-EBCDIC and data-type presentation.
By Jed Henson - McPressOnline
Published November 2003
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