IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

36 IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

This part of the chapter discusses each of these elements and considers their

place in the entire migration process. In some cases, such as migration

prerequisites, we have provided only abstract guidance. However, for some

elements, we have provided detailed instructions.

2.5.1 Application code

For a Branch Transformation Toolkit application, the migration from version 4.3

to version 5.1 will have a significant impact on the application code. The exact

workload required for code modification depends on the technology adopted by

the application. In some cases, deprecated APIs used in the application have to

be replaced with new ones.

During the migration process, your staff can follow standard, iterative

development practices. Generally, we assign a special team to carry out the

migration work. However, we can also involve the application developers.

2.5.2 Development environment

Development environments change over time. The Branch Transformation

Toolkit is based on the J2EE standard. The development environment of toolkit

applications is integrated with WebSphere Studio Application Developer or

WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration Edition, both of which are

based on the Eclipse Platform.

Development environments comprise more than just the IDE you use. The

changes necessary for a successful migration will impact several aspects of your

development environment because the development platform and the toolkit

plug-ins have changed dramatically between Branch Transformation Toolkit V4.3

and V5.1. You should also think about how migration will affect other areas of

your development environment such as test servers, or development practices

and methodologies.

Chapter 2. Migration strategy 37

Figure 2-3 shows the main tools provided as part of the Branch Transformation

Toolkit development environment, including the graphical builder, the CHA editor,

and the formatter editor.

Figure 2-3 Branch Transformation Toolkit development tools

Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 provides a number of tools that support the

development of applications. All the tools are plug-ins of WebSphere Studio

Application Developer or WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration

Edition. The key development tools provided by Branch Transformation Toolkit

include:

򐂰 The Business Process Wizard

This provides a GUI to help extend your business processes to take

advantage of toolkit-specific entities.

Note: This tool is only available when you use WebSphere Studio

Application Developer Integration Edition.

38 IBM Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 Migration and Usage Guidelines

򐂰 The Graphical Builder

This provides a set of tools to define the entities required by the applications

and to distribute the runtime files. It provides the development environment

throughout the development cycle of toolkit applications. It also acts as a

portal from which you can start other tools provided by the toolkit.

򐂰 The CHA Editor and Formatter Editor

This provides user-friendly interfaces for creating or maintaining the

definitions needed by the applications in the application logic layer.

Note: Some functions of the Graphical Builder are only available when you

use the Integration Edition of WebSphere Studio Application Developer.

Chapter 2. Migration strategy 39

򐂰 The Struts Tools Extension

This provides a GUI to help you extend your Struts configuration files to take

advantage of toolkit-specific entities. Figure 2-4 shows an outline of the Struts

extension.

Figure 2-4 Struts extension tool

Because Branch Transformation Toolkit 5.1 supports two types of development

platforms, there are two sets of plug-ins, including different files:

򐂰 Plug-ins forWebSphere Studio Application Developer 5.1.1

These plugins include components that do not depend on the features of

WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration Edition 5.1.1.

If you haveWebSphere Studio Application Developer5.1.1 installed on your

system, the toolkit installation wizard uses WebSphere Studio Application

Developer as your development environment. After the installation, the wizard

decides that WebSphere Studio Application Developer is your development

environment and automatically copies the plug-ins for WebSphere Studio