WebSphere Adapter Toolkit

The IBM® WebSphere® Adapter Toolkit provides the development tools, libraries, and sample code to assist you in creating JCA resource adapters.

With the toolkit, you can create either of the following adapter types:

A resource adapter based on the interfaces defined by the JCA Resource Adapter 1.5 specification. Choose this path if your goal is to develop a resource adapter that can run either in the unmanaged or managed mode, within any JCA 1.5 compliant container.
A resource adapter that extends the WebSphere Adapter Foundation Classes library. Select this path if your goal is to create a resource adapter implementation that can run in a managed server run time environment like IBM Business Process Manager and when you want a common functionality and extended qualities of service, offered specifically by WebSphere Adapters. WebSphere Adapters are based on the JCA 1.5 specification. These adapters are supported on multiple run time environments and brokers.

Implementing a WebSphere adapter allows you to take advantage of the quality of services offered in the WebSphere Adapter Foundation classes (AFC) and the flexibility to deploy the adapter on run time environments other than IBM Business Process Manager.

In either case, the toolkit provides a project creation wizard that generates the code that you then implement. In addition, the toolkit provides a specialized editor that facilitates the task of creating and configuring a resource adapter deployment descriptor.

This document focuses primarily on development of resource adapters and artifacts that extend the WebSphere Adapter Foundation Class library.

The following figure illustrates the process of developing a JCA resource adapter using WebSphere Adapter Toolkit.

This image illustrates the process of developing a JCA resource adapter.

Using the WebSphere Adapter Toolkit

The development process using IBM WebSphere Adapter Toolkit includes the following as shown in the illustration:

Run the New JCA Resource Adapter Project wizard.
The wizard generates a resource adapter deployment descriptor and code. The code includes sequence of calls, log and trace messages, and comments.
Use the Resource Adapter Deployment Descriptor Editor to configure your deployment descriptor.
Implement the code to correctly interface with your Enterprise Information system (EIS).
Export the resource adapter as a Resource Adapter Archive (RAR), or Enterprise Application Archive (EAR) file.

The purpose of this documentation

To integrate an adapter development requires some amount of customization, depending on customer requirements. The process of integrating adapter functionality into your business processes requires you to design, build, and test the solution that uses the adapter. WebSphere Adapter Toolkit documentation helps you to understand the architecture requirements, and provide guidance to implement the various facets of the toolkit, for specific requirements.