IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

8 IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

1.3 Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 architecture

This section introduces the prime architecture of Branch Transformation Toolkit

5.1. The new version is based on the J2EE standard. The development

environment for toolkit applications is integrated with WebSphere Studio

Application Developer or WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration

Edition, which are based on the Eclipse Platform. The runtime environment for

toolkit applications is based on WebSphere Application Server or WebSphere

Business Integration Server Foundation.

The architecture of a Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 application solution is

based on a logical three-tier model:

򐂰 Back-end enterprise tier

򐂰 Application server tier

򐂰 Client tier

Figure 1-2 on page 9 depicts these tiers.

Chapter 1. Introduction to IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 9

Figure 1-2 The logical tiers in Branch Transformation Toolkit architecture

Client tier

BTT data

context

Java client

BTT panel (AWT)

Application server tier

Application presentation layer

(Web container)

EJB

Application logic layer

(EJB container)

EJB

Struts action

Struts action servlet &

request processor

View

Struts form

BTT data

context

EJB

WSIF/

EJB

BTT data

context

BTT EJB

Process Choreographer

Micro flow

BTT

BTT data

context

BTT client side

micro flow

Services

WSIF

Invokers

WSIF/

EJB

Back-end enterprise tier

JDBC

database services

JCA resource

adapters

Data

WSIF

10 IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

The client tier is responsible for presenting an interface to the user in a client

device. The Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 supports the following types of

clients:

򐂰 Java clients running as applets in a browser or as Java applications

For Java clients, the toolkit provides a set of graphical user interface (GUI)

JavaBeans™ to build the client user interface and a mechanism to navigate

the application views.

򐂰 HTML browser clients

For HTML browser clients, the toolkit’s Struts Extension framework on the

application presentation layer of the application server tier manages the user

interface and view navigation.

The application server tier has two parts:

򐂰 The application presentation layer

The application presentation layer is responsible for creating a request for the

invocation of business logic that is hosted within the application logic layer. In

HTML browser clients, the presentation layer is also responsible for providing

the view navigation. The application presentation layer converts an action

carried out by a user in the user interface into a Web Services Invocation

Framework (WSIF) message or Enterprise JavaBean (EJB™) method

invocation, which the presentation layer then sends to the application logic

layer.

򐂰 Application logic layer

The application logic layer is responsible for performing the business process

that fulfils the presentation layer request. A business process consists of a set

of activities and may involve accessing and manipulating enterprise data and

performing financial service procedures in the back-end enterprise tier.

The application logic layer can use two mechanisms for performing the

business process. If the application server tier is running on WebSphere

Business Integration Server Foundation, the application logic layer can use

the Business Process Choreographer and work area features. If the

application server tier is running on WebSphere Application Server, the

application logic layer can use a Single Action EJB. For more details about

Business Process Choreographer and Single Action EJB, refer to 1.4, “Terms

and definitions” on page 11.

The back-end enterprise tier consists of enterprise level databases and older

systems that provide existing business logic and services. The application logic

layer communicates with these databases and systems through J2EE Connector

Architecture (JCA) connectors, database services, and formatters. The