IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

248 IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

8.3 Developing an application using Branch

Transformation Toolkit

Branch Transformation Toolkit v5.1 includes a graphical workbench and visual

development tools as add-ons to the WebSphere Studio Application Developer

or the WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration Edition. It provides

tools to create multi-channel application in bottom-up and top-down approaches,

8.3.1 Development paths

Branch Transformation Toolkit v5.1 is a versatile toolset that allows the

development of a multi-channel application along a variety of paths. The

development path used depends on whether the development begins from a new

project, or from existing components. Two typical paths in application

development are:

򐂰 Top-down development, which starts with a high-level architecture.

򐂰 Bottom-up development, which starts with existing components.

Top-down development

The first step in the development path is the topology of the target system

defined by the technical architect. From there, you can use the toolkit's Graphical

Builder to generate the appropriate artifacts, such as presentation model,

business model, and so on. You can then divide the tasks of realizing artifacts

assigning them to different team members. This shows the advantage of

top-down development path, which is,

parallel development with an integrated

architecture

.

After the artifacts are realized, it is time to generate the real working code. With

Branch Transformation Toolkit tools, you can control every generation step and

make adjustments to the generation options as well as to the results created by

the Graphical Builder and other ancillary tools.

The top-down path is also typical for prototypes, rapid application development

(RAD), and initial versions of an application. This development path guarantees

the option for clean, object-oriented implementation of the business model, as

well as performing state of the art J2EE implementations.

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Following is a typical development path of a Branch Transformation Toolkit

application using the top-down approach:

1. Create a Branch Transformation Toolkit project, as shown in Figure 8-7.

Figure 8-7 The Branch Transformation Toolkit project wizard

250 IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

2. Elaborate the presentation layer, as shown in Figure 8-8.

Figure 8-8 Create models for the presentation layer

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3. Construct the business layer as shown in Figure 8-9.

Figure 8-9 Create Single Action EJB as the business operation

4. Create any required business processes. See Figure 8-10 on page 252

252 IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

Figure 8-10 Use BPEL as the business operation