Chapter 6. Developing a wrapper 93
6.2 Developing the Trade6 wrapper for Windows
To package Trade6 in a solution, we need to create the necessary wrappers to define
installation and configuration steps. We use Express Runtime V2.1’s wizard and GUI features
for this purpose.
The wrapper for Trade6 with contains 2 user programs: predeployment checker (PDC) and
Main. The Trade6 application comes with the wsadmin scripts that you run in the interactive
mode. They are not suitable for utilizing them as part of the wrapper.
So, we had to create them outside of the Express Runtime Developer environment. Our next
step was to test them. After successful test we are ready to start working with Express
Runtime Developer.
6.2.1 Creating the Trade6 application project
To develop a wrapper, you need to create an application project. The following steps describe
how to create the Trade6 application project:
1. Start Express Runtime Developer by selecting Start Programs IBM Express
Runtime 2.1 Express Runtime Developer. You should be in the Express Runtime
Developer perspective (see Figure 6-1).
Figure 6-1 Express Runtime Developer perspective
Note: If you want to view this sample wrapper, download and import its files into Express
Runtime Developer. Refer to Appendix D, “Additional material” on page 435, for the
download instructions.
We provide two ZIP files for the Trade6 solution for Windows.
򐂰
Trade6WinSolution.zip contains the solution for a single Windows system. You’ll find
the description of the development process for this solution in this section.
򐂰
Trade6WinSolutionMultisystem.zip contains the Trade6 application and middleware
components, but is designed to be deployed to multiple systems. This solution also
includes the Console for Express Runtime.
94 IBM Express Runtime V2.1
2. Create a new Express Runtime application project.
a. In the Express Runtime Developer window, select File New Application Project
(see Figure 6-2).
Figure 6-2 Creating a new application project
b. Type TradeWin as the Project Name and click Next as indicated in Figure 6-3.
Figure 6-3 New project name
Chapter 6. Developing a wrapper 95
c. In the next window, use the following values and click Finish as shown in Figure 6-4:
Application ID: TradeWin
•Version: 1.0
Installation time: 20. This is the approximate installation time in minutes. This value
is used by Deployment Wizard to show the installation progress.
Operating System: Windows
Default Language: English
Wrapper file name: application.axml. This is the default name. You may come up
with your own name. But we recommend to leave it as is.
Figure 6-4 New application id and basic information
Figure 6-5 Selecting supported operating system
Note: In this example, we are deploying Trade6 on Windows. If your application
supports a different platform, you can select a different operating system from the
Operating system field (see Figure 6-5).
96 IBM Express Runtime V2.1
3. The Express Runtime Developer window now displays the Application Wrapper Editor
Welcome page in the right pane. The Package Explorer panel shows the newly created
application folder named TradeWin (Figure 6-6).
Figure 6-6 Application Wrapper Editor Welcome page
Chapter 6. Developing a wrapper 97
a. Click the General tab. The page in Figure 6-7 appears. This gives you the fields where
you specify the general information for your application project. Set the following values
as shown:
Application Name: TradeWin
Installation time: 1.0
Provider Name: IBM
Default Language: English
Supported Operating Systems: Windows
Figure 6-7 General application information
b. Click the Programs tab. This brings up the User Programs Information page.
Note: Remember that you can use the translation keys as values for the
parameters. See “General tab” on page 70.
Note: Should your application support other languages and operating systems, you
can use this page to select the appropriate options.
Note: The Main Program is required in an application project. However, there is no
program associated with it by default.
In our Trade6 application project, we use two user programs: a Pre-deployment
Checker, and the Main Installation program.
The Pre-deployment Checker examines the target system for any prerequisite on
the target system.
The Main program performs the tasks to deploy the Trade6 application. Such tasks
are creating a DB2 table, and invoking wsadmin scripts to configure WAS (for
example: configure resources, install EAR, etc.).

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