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TIBCO Developers Library – What is TIBCO General Interface?

TIBCO General Interface

The primary objective of software developers is to create applications that function efficiently and conform to the needs of the end-users. However, an effective program must have a look and feel that is somewhat favorable for the users. This is where TIBCO General Interface can be very useful because it allows TIBCO developers to create the interface for their efficiently working applications.

What is TIBCO General Interface?

When General Interface (GI) application is deployed in a web browser, it can function as a client-installed software that is locally installed in your computer. This means that when the applications developed in GI are deployed on a web browser, it can perform with the speed, performance, and features that are just like software installed in your own computers.

What is great about GI is that it has a visual authoring environment which allows the developers to create applications and deploy them quickly. Also, the visual authoring environment can run as an independent tool or integrated into any IDE that you like.

What is the advantage of GI over Thick Client?

Thick clients are applications that are installed in your computer. General Interface’s advantage over these applications is that it is much easier and cheaper than thick applications because you don’t need to buy and install new software in your computers for the application to run. All you need is a web browser.

What is the advantage of GI over Thin Client?

Just for an overview, a thin client is a client computer which is connected to a central server. The advantage of GI over thin clients is that it provides better speed, performance and necessary business logic to function as an efficient application, so that processing on the server will be minimized.

What does it mean when we say that GI is AJAX-based?

Applications developed in GI are fast because they can retrieve only the needed data in contrast to getting all the data from the server. For example, there is an employee data in the server that has the fields of employee_id, name, department, bday and other fields. Using GI which is AJAX-based, we can just retrieve the employee_id, name, and department instead of getting all the employee data because we may not need all the other information in our application.

What is a server-based MVC architecture?

A server based MVC is composed of the Model, View, and Controller. The model is in charge of managing information and notifying the user if there are changes in the information. The View is used to draw GUI objects. It is attached to the model and draws its contents in the display area. When there are changes in the model, then the view redraws the GUI. The controller is in charge of controlling the model and view based on the input of the user.
In this setup, the browser is just like a display area because all the processing is done on the server. It is also slower because the server will submit a new page during every input of the user.

What is TIBCO GI’s MVC architecture?

The GI’s MVC architecture has the model and controller on the server but the view component is running on the browser. Also, the view component has its own MVC architecture which turns the browser into an environment where the user and the application can interact without bothering the web server all the time. Thus, there are only few processes running on the server. This will greatly improve the performance of the application.

What are the requirements for installing TIBCO GI?

Installing TIBCO GI does not require too much from your system. It will only consume more or less 100MB of disk space and it can already function efficiently with only 512MB of RAM.

For the software requirements, it can run with XP Pro from Service Pack 1 to older versions, VISTA, and WINDOWS 2003 Server. The minimum version required for Internet Explorer is only 6.0 and for Firefox are 2.0 and 1.5.x versions.
This means that you don’t need to have the latest computers or the newest versions of the software to be able to use TIBCO General Interface.

What is a CDF?

CDF stands for Common Data Format. It is a document which contains a common XML schema that can be used by different components. In GI, a CDF document can be used and displayed in Grids, Lists, and Charts.
The data stored in CDF are somewhat similar to the data stored in databases because both data can be accessed by external components.

For example, an application can retrieve data from the database and use or display this data as needed by the application. In GI, the data retrieved from the CDF can also be used, mapped and displayed using different components such as Grids, Lists, and Charts.

What are charts?

Generally, the term chart refers to a visual representation of data. This also applies to the charts used in GI because they are used to represent data in a visual manner which is different from data representation using tables, grid, and lists.

In TIBCO General Interface, charting is offered as an added option which means that it does not require any additional installation or plug-ins before it can be used.

Furthermore, charts in GI make use of a common data format which can also be used by other GI components.

How do you customize GI applications?

Customizing GI applications can be done in four different ways.

o Dynamic properties

· These are used to override the default properties so that the look and feel of your application conforms to the requirements of the client or the company.

· The good thing about dynamic properties is that once you have created it in .JSS file, it can be reused by other applications.

o Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

· These can be used to change the appearance of your application provided that the property for an object that you are changing is not set elsewhere in your application.

o XSL

· You can also customize your application by merging XSL and XML files or by adding XSL parameters to your GI components.

o Spyglass

· These are data displayed in a pop-up window when you mouse over certain components in your application.

How do you deploy applications using GI?

Deploying applications in GI can be done in three different ways:

o HTML Page

· As its name suggests, this is a page in HTML format. When you double-click this page, your application will be displayed in your web browser.

o Launch Link

· This is embedded into another HTML page where a link for your application will be created. When the link is clicked, your application will be displayed.

o Inline DIV

· This is added into another HTML page and it will be displayed in the same HTML page as another division. Your application may run along with other applications in that page.

What are the best practices in developing GI applications?

Some of the best practices in GI can be achieved through:

o Correctly referencing your application when deployed on a web server because the location of your files while developing your application differs when they are already deployed on the web server.

o Using your own application’s unique namespace so that naming conflicts during deployment will be minimized if not completely resolved.

o Changing the deployment mode into live mode so that your application will be able to call web services.

o Using the static mode if you are not calling any web service. This mode is usually used for testing and developing applications.

TIBCO General Interface is truly a great tool for both creating an interface for your already working applications and for developing your own web-based application. This tool is so easy to use and its output and end results are really amazing.

NOTE: This article was written by one of the TIBCO Certified Professionals of Xmarter, Inc., a technology consulting firm that specializes in delivering business solutions using TIBCO technology. To schedule a technical interview with the consultants, send an email to info@xmarter.com.

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TIBCO Developers Library – What is TIBCO Enterprise Message Service?

TIBCO Enterprise Message Service

In developing large and useful business applications, there is really a need for communication between two or more software components so that they may perform their tasks accordingly. Like for TIBCO consultants, they need to create a way where TIBCO software components can communicate with one another especially in carrying out the required tasks.

One way of communication is through direct connection between different systems. However, this kind of approach is not applicable for large number of systems because some software components function differently from others. Also, it will require all the systems to know how to connect to every system in the network. This is one of the reasons why enterprise messaging system was created; so that all these systems can connect to each other through a central messaging server and all they need to know is how to connect to this central messaging server. This enterprise message system is implemented in TIBCO Enterprise Message Service.

What is enterprise messaging?

Enterprise messaging allows different systems to communicate with each other using a loosely coupled architecture. A loosely coupled architecture means that we can replace components without affecting the other components running in the server. The reason behind this is that the components are less dependent on each other. This also means that the system can continue to work even though some components are not connected to the network or to the server. Furthermore, some components within the system can still continue to send messages without waiting for reply messages.

What are the advantages of enterprise messaging?

Enterprise messaging can provide a single unifying medium of communication between different systems. It is also good for a network setup that is always changing.

For example, we have ten different systems and we want all of these systems to communicate with each other. If we are not using messaging, then we will need to know and configure the connection to every system. Now, just imagine what would happen if we have 100 computers or more. But, if we are using enterprise messaging, then we will just need to know how to connect the systems to a central messaging server.

Another advantage is that there is a movement of real-time data. The messages can be created and received in real-time.

Moreover, enterprise messaging has time independence, which means that the client has the option to still receive messages when he reconnects to the server even if the client was down when the message was sent.

What is TIBCO EMS?

TIBCO EMS stands for Enterprise Message Service and it is TIBCO’s implementation of Java Message Service. TIBCO EMS is fully compliant with the JMS specification and it has added some enhancements to the JMS specification. It also has added features like load-balancing, routing, and fault tolerant configurations, which help improve performance and minimize failures in the server.

What is JMS?

JMS which stands for Java Message Service is an enterprise messaging specification created by Sun Microsystems. It is also what we call the store-and-forward messaging system. Store-and-forward messaging system means that all messages created by clients pass through the server before it is sent or forwarded to the designated consumers. This also applies to the reply messages created by the consumers.

JMS also provides both queue-based and publish-subscribe APIs. Queue-based APIs make use of queue destinations and publish-subscribe APIs make use of topic destinations.

What is the JMS Message structure?

The JMS Message structure is composed of the headers, properties, and body. The header is required, while the properties and body are both optional.

The Header of the message contains predefined fields which are used to route and deliver the message. Some of these predefined fields are the following:

o JMSDestination is the destination to which the message is sent.

o JMSDeliveryMode determines if the message is persistent or non-persistent

o JMSExpiration is the length of time that the message will live before expiration.

The Properties (optional) are optional properties that can be added on JMS systems by authorized users such as administrators.

The Body (optional) contains the data you want to send to the consumers. It must be one of these five types:

o TextMessage

o MapMessage

o BytesMessage

o StreamMessage

o ObjectMessage

What is message compression?

Message compression ensures that the message will take less memory space when saved on the storage of the server. Nonetheless, we must take note that message compression will only compress the body of a message. The headers and properties can never be compressed.

What are the types of queues and topics we can create in EMS?

There are three types of queues or topics that we can create in EMS. They can be static, temporary, or dynamic queues/topics. Static queues/topics are specified explicitly in the configuration files. Temporary queues/topics are used for reply messages in request/reply interactions. Dynamic queues/topics are not specified in the configuration files for these are dynamically created by client programs. Moreover, dynamic queues are TIBCO specific, which means that it is an extension added by TIBCO to the JMS specification.

What are the advanced features of TIBCO EMS?

The advanced features of TIBCO EMS include JMS capability to non-Java programs such as C and C# Client API. It also provides an administrative API which is used for managing and monitoring the EMS server and its components. It can be configured for connection to other EMS servers such as fault-tolerance and routing so that multiple EMS servers can participate in the server operations. It can also be connected to other TIBCO components specifically TIBCO Rendezvous and TIBCO SmartSockets. It offers destination bridging which makes it easier to send the same message from one destination to other destinations. It has JNDI and SSL support to provide security over the EMS server and its components. Also, it can be integrated into third party application servers.

How do you configure the TIBCO EMS?

There are the three ways to configure TIBCO EMS. The first way is by modifying the configuration files. The main server configuration file is the tibemsd.conf. This is where you can set the names of the other configuration files. It has some basic parameters such as server name and password, listen port and storage location for messages. Its other parameters are for fault-tolerance, and SSL.

Another way to configure TIBCO EMS is through the use of the EMS Administration tool which comes in console mode. This means that you have to type or issue the correct commands to use this tool.

The third way to configure TIBCO EMS is the through the use of Administration API.

What is fault tolerance and how does it work?

Fault tolerance is having a pair of EMS servers configured as the primary and backup servers. The primary server accepts client connections, and interacts with clients to deliver messages. When the primary server fails, the backup server resumes the operation in its place. The backup server will be the primary server, and the other server will be the backup server when it goes online.

One important configuration for these fault-tolerant servers is that they should have access to the same shared state which consists of information about client connections and persistent messages.

What are destination bridges?

Destination bridging is a server-based solution provided by TIBCO EMS. It is an alternative for creating messages multiple times. For example, if we want to send the same message from one destination to other destinations, we don’t need to send the same message a number of times. We just bridge the different destinations so that the same message will be sent to all the bridged destinations.

How can you improve Client-side processing while using TIBCO EMS?

We can improve the client side processing by configuring the Server Settings, Destination Settings and Security Settings.

In the server settings, we can use EMS routing between servers within the network so that all servers and systems within the network can communicate with each other. Also, we should use destination bridging so that we don’t have to send the same message again and again.

For the destination settings, we should only use durable topics if it is really needed. We can enable pre-fetching for small size messages. We can make use of lower JMS reliability modes. For client-load balancing, we can use non-exclusive queues so that more than one consumer can process the message from the queue in a round-robin fashion.

In setting up the security for TIBCO EMS, we should just use SSL if there is no available Virtual Private Network. Another way is through disabling authentication if possible so that the servers and clients can easily communicate with each other.

These are just some of the important information you need to know about TIBCO EMS and it still has a lot more to offer which you will learn upon using it. This TIBCO component is so easy to use and its functionality is great. So, if you are developing large business applications and you want your software components to communicate with each other, TIBCO EMS is the right software for you.

NOTE: This article was written by one of the TIBCO Certified Professionals of Xmarter, Inc., a technology consulting firm that specializes in delivering business solutions using TIBCO technology. To schedule a technical interview with the consultants, send an email to info@xmarter.com.

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TIBCO Developers Library – What is BusinessWorks Performance Tuning?

TIBCO BusinessWorks Performance Tuning

The performance of software or applications installed in every system may vary according to some aspects involved like the efficiency of the program and the specifications of the system.

The program may function very well but if the resource of the computer where it is installed does not meet its minimum requirements then it will affect the functionality of the program and other applications that may be running on the system. It may also slow down the computer.

There are also instances when the computer’s resources are more than enough to be able to run applications. But the issue here is that the resources of the computer is not fully utilized. You may still be able to tune up your computer for better performance.

Upon a TIBCO consultant finishes the installation and uses the TIBCO BusinessWorks and its components, you may find your applications functioning very well, but what you do not know is that you can still be able to improve its performance. You may also have some negative issues depending on the computer that you are using, but don’t worry because there are ways to be able to modify some settings of the TIBCO BusinessWorks so that it may be able serve your needs.

What TIBCO component is used for optimizing TIBCO BusinessWorks performance?

TIBCO Administrator is used for optimizing TIBCO BusinessWorks components. TIBCO Administrator functions as a central server for administering different TIBCO components. This tool can also be used for creation, deployment and management of applications.

To be able to access TIBCO Administrator’s Interface, you need to use a web browser but before that, you should first make sure that the TIBCO Administrator service and the TIBCO Runtime Agent service for the domain that you will be using are both running.

Just for added information, TIBCO Runtime Agent (TRA) is needed so that you will be able to create projects using the TIBCO Designer and deploy and manage them using the TIBCO Administrator.

What is TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks Engine?

TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks Engine controls the execution of processes. These processes have activites to be executed and a set of resources. The BusinessWorks Engine also has other tasks such as management of connections, validation of data, managing and monitoring of different services, and configuring logs.

What changes in the settings can be done to optimize TIBCO BusinessWorks Performance?

We can modify parameters such as max jobs, flow limit, step count, activation limit, thread count, minProcessors, maxProcessors and accept count if we don’t want all of our process instances to be held in memory because generally, process instances created reside in the memory of the computer.

Specifying a value in the max jobs means that the number of process instances in the memory will not exceed this value. If the value set for the max jobs is already reached, then the process instances created will be held on the disk of the computer, but they will be moved back to the memory if the memory space is already sufficient.

If a value is set for the flow limit, then the number of process instances created will not exceed this value. If this value is reached then the creation of process instances is suspended but the process instances already in memory still continue to run. Creation of new process instances will resume if the number of currently running process instances is more or less half the value set for the flow limit.

The value for step count is the number of tasks that are executed successively by a thread before it is released. However, this may not be true all the time because of some exceptions when the job is blocked or the job is in a transaction. If the job is in a transaction and the step count has already been exceeded, then the thread will still not be released until the transaction is completed. On the other hand, if the process instance is in a blocked condition or is waiting for an event then that process instance will be paged out to disk, and the memory space it was consuming will be used to run other process instances.

Checking the option for activation limit means that if the process instance is in a blocked condition, it will still stay in the memory and will not be paged out to disk until it is completed. Having this option checked will greatly affect the performance of the engine because the process instances in the memory may be waiting for an event indefinitely.

The thread count determines the number of process instances that can be executed at the same time. The default value of this parameter is eight. Setting a different value for this parameter may be done in a trial and error manner because different values have different pros and cons. If the throughput is satisfactory but the system’s resources are not fully used, then you can set this parameter to a higher value; however, take note that if you specify a value that is too high it may cause CPU thrashing behavior. On the other hand, if you set a value that is too low, it will increase the use of memory but the throughput will be lowered and some of the system’s resources may not be utilized.

For processes that use HTTP connection, we can modify the minProcessors, maxProcessors, and acceptCount parameters. The minProcessors which has a default value of ten determines the number of threads that are initially created when the HTTP server starts. Setting a high value for minProcessors may block some CPU resources because a large number of threads that may not be necessary are created.

The maxProcessors which has a default value of 75 determines the maximum number of threads that can be created by the HTTP server. Setting a high value for this parameter can increase concurrency of executing process instances but the throughput for the process executions may decrease. On the other hand, if the value for maxProcessors is low, then there is an increased throughput but the number of processes executed concurrently will also be limited.

The acceptCount parameter which defaults to 100 determines the maximum number of connection requests that are accepted when all the processors of HTTP are already running. When the value set for this parameter is reached then all incoming requests are discarded. If you set a low value for maxProcessors, then you can set a higher value in acceptCount so that connection requests will not be rejected.

What modifications in the Java Virtual Machine can we do to optimize the BW engine’s performance?

Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is a set of applications that use a virtual machine to execute other computer programs. For an overview, a virtual machine is an application that has the functionality of running other applications just like a real computer. In TIBCO, the BusinessWorks engine is running in a JVM.

You can configure the heap size for the engine by setting a minimum and maximum value. These values determine the amount of memory to be used by the engine. You can also enable garbage collection so that resources in the system that are no longer in use can be deleted.

What are the characteristics of activities in BusinessWorks and how will it affect the engine’s performance?

There are two types of activities in BusinessWorks. They can either be blocking or non-blocking activities. This is determined based on how the activity functions with the thread.

Blocking activities are activities that are executed using the engine thread. This type of activity may affect the engine’s performance because if this activity is waiting for an event then the engine thread will also be waiting for the activity to resume from its waiting state.

Non-blocking activities are activities that are executed using a private thread. This kind of activity does not affect the engine’s performance because when the activity is processing, it switches to its own private thread. When it is done with its process, it will be fetched by the engine thread that is currently running.

What are other factors that may affect the BW engine’s performance?

The other factors that may affect the BW engine’s performance are the following:

o If you are using enterprise messaging, then the number of incoming messages and the rate of its creation in the messaging server may affect the engine’s performance.

o If your application is connected to other third party applications, then the other applications efficiency in processing may also affect the engine’s performance.

o If your computer has other applications currently running or it is performing some update on your system, it will also affect the BW engine’s performance.

Using TIBCO makes developers very productive because it is easy to use and the development of applications and business processes takes a less amount of time. Furthermore, it adds other useful features and it can still be tuned up for better performance.

NOTE: This article was written by one of the TIBCO Certified Professionals of Xmarter, Inc., a technology consulting firm that specializes in delivering business solutions using TIBCO technology. To schedule a technical interview with the consultants, send an email to info@xmarter.com.

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TIBCO Developers Library – What is TIBCO Business Studio?

Businesses need to have a flow of their working environment. Without this workflow, it will be hard for them to manage and understand how their company works. Business modeling is essential to every business and one business modeling tool stands out with so many features that will entice company to use it. TIBCO Business Studio is one the TIBCO iProcess Suite software, which has been developed to enhance productivity in every company.

What is TIBCO Business Studio?

TIBCO Business Studio™ is an eclipse-based business modeling tool that lets you model and simulate business processes. It is an easy to use and easy to understand tool since the software follows the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) standard in modeling business process flow. It is similar to creating a business flow chart.

Each element in the flow chart is configured to function as the analyst desires. Before deploying the business model, the analyst has the chance to simulate his created business model. This will test the effectiveness of the process based on the estimated input and cost requirement included as you simulate the process. This will give you a chance to remodel and improve the process you created. You can also easily deploy and manage your business process using this tool. You can save your business process as a XPDL file that can be used by TIBCO iProcess Engine for the execution of the business model.

What are its features?

TIBCO Business Studio™allows you to create business processes in an eclipse-based environment that offers many working perspective such as Modeling and Simulation perspective. It follows the BPMN modeling standards that are understandable to all business analysts. Both the model process and the process documentation can be created in this tool. This tool lets you simplify complex business flow and allows you to integrate new business process into your existing business processes. This tool also supports XPDL format and it can import business processes from various modeling tools.

What is XPDL?

XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) is a standardized format proposed by Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) for different business workflow modeling products in order to exchange process workflow information. This is the mostly used format for all business modeling products. This format handles all the business process graphics and transitions. TIBCO Business Studio™ supports this format.

Who should use TIBCO Business Studio?

Business process modeling is normally a job suited for a business analyst. Business analysts make sure that the needs of the client to discover problems and create solutions to their business workflow are met. Then, the business process that has been approved by the business analyst is passed on to the business developers for the implementation of the business process. TIBCO Business Studio™ software makes business analysts and developers increase their productivity because it cuts the boundary of both users in developing and implementing workflow. It lets users coordinate the development process like never before. But this tool is not just for business analyst. This tool can be used by anyone working on modeling and simulating business process because of user friendly environment.

What is BPMN?

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is the standard format in creating business processes workflow. TIBCO Business Studio™ follows this standard because this is easily understood by all business users. This standard lessens the gap between the business analysts and the developers.

What are the benefits of using TIBCO Business Studio?

TIBCO Business Studio™ will increase your working productivity because of the easy-to-use working environment and the superb simulation capabilities that let you test your process efficiency. It is flexible and can easily adapt to changes in business trends because you can easily integrate new application into your existing and already proven business workflow. It minimizes the difficulty of the collaboration among the analysts and the developers. It supports the mostly used standards such as BPMN, UML and XPDL, which make it easy for you to use this tool and these standards lower the development cost.

How to build business process using TIBCO Business Studio?

Building business process model is really easy using Business Studio. You are provided with Modeling Perspective in your working environment. You first create a Project Package that includes a process package. In the process package, you will see there the data field, participants and processes. You can then create new business processes using this package. You use the existing activities, gateways and events in creating your business workflow. These are like objects that can be dragged and dropped from the palettes panel into the design panel and they are configured according to their functions. It is so much easy since BPMN standard is being followed. It is similar to creating a flow chart of your business workflow.

How to simulate a business process?

Simulation is performing an imitation of the real thing in order to gather the information and assumptions you need. Simulating business process execution before deployment using Business Studio is a big advantage for business analysts since you will be making assumptions of events from reality and you will be provided with certain outputs. You will be using these outputs to revise and improve your business processes. In your working environment, you are provided with Simulation Perspective where you can do simulation of your business processes. You can create simulations that will give you results for a number of case completed with the average cost, workers’ time utilization and information like how many times a certain activity has been executed. Another feature is that it can display results in graphical notations and you can even compare results from different events you used as inputs.

How to make your process executable?

You can make your process executable by exporting it to a XPDL file and through the use of the TIBCO iProcess Engine. Easy modeling that conforms to a standard protocol and a very helpful simulation capability are the things Business Studio offers. TIBCO Business Studio is the best tool for companies that aim to manage and improve their business workflow.

NOTE: This article was written by one of the TIBCO Certified Professionals of Xmarter, Inc., a technology consulting firm that specializes in delivering business solutions using TIBCO technology. To schedule a technical interview with the consultants, send an email to info@xmarter.com.

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TIBCO Developers Library – What is TIBCO BusinessConnect?

TIBCO BusinessConnect

Real-time capability is the most important factor for businesses today. It links the proceedings of personnel, applications and partners through fast and efficient communication. It makes information available anytime and anywhere. It is flexible to the changes that may happen anytime, which will optimize the business activities accordingly. TIBCO makes sure that these capabilities are within our reach. TIBCO BusinessConnect lets you experience optimized business flow, integrated application and a secure communication across all your trading partners.

What is TIBCO BusinessConnect?

TIBCO BusinessConnect is business-to-business (B2B) communication software that enables different companies to establish a secure transaction using dissimilar internal systems. It is integrated with the TIBCO BusinessWorks platform. It uses a web-based administration tool called TIBCO Administrator for easy configuration of server settings, hosts, business partners, security settings, and business protocols. Internal applications that communicate to the BusinessConnect server can be easily created using TIBCO Designer. BusinessConnect enables business partners to exchange documents with reliable security capabilities and non-repudiation support.

What is non-repudiation?

Non-repudiation means a proof of existence of a certain transaction. This feature will really benefit the companies because transactions are recorded with digital signatures and timestamp, which prove that a transaction has taken place. Neither the host nor the partner company can deny that a transaction took place. All transaction records are saved on the database, and you can use a third party application to connect to BusinessConnect for this feature.

What are the protocols supported by BusinessConnect?

BusinessConnect supports popular B2B protocols such as RosettaNet, chemXML, UCCnet, ebXML, cXML, xCBL, EDI, and EDI – HIPAA. Upon installation, BusinessConnect is bundled with the EZComm protocol. It supports transports such as HTTP(S), FTP(S), SMTP, FILE, AS1 and AS2. It also supports data format like XML, MIME, S/MIME, SOAP and EDI, as well as multiple security standards, such as PKCS and Java Keystore.

What is a business protocol?

A business protocol is a standard used by the BusinessConnect server for the communication of two business partners. BusinessConnect has an Operation Editor that lets you configure your selected protocol.

How do you set-up a B2B connection?

You will be using the TIBCO Administrator to set-up a B2B Connection. First, you have to deploy the BusinessConnect engine on the TIBCO Administrator. It can be a Single Server Mode or Dual firewall DMZ Mode, and you have to select the type of transport and port number you wish to use before the deployment of the engine. Then, select and configure what type of business protocol that fits your company’s needs. The configuration of the protocol depends on the type of protocol you use. Next, you have to create host and partner participants. Use these host and partner in creating business agreements. Lastly, you can create private processes. Private processes are internal processes that are connected to the BusinessConnect server, and send and receive information being passed over the public processes.

What is the difference between Single Server Mode and Dual firewall DMZ Mode?

Single Server Mode offers a minimal but secure and reliable security that can be deployed in your system. The Dual firewall DMZ Mode is a more secure deployment setting because you can place your DMZ behind your firewall. This means that you have a double security of data exchange since you have your firewall and DMZ securely check the data being exchanged. You can even add another firewall as your second firewall behind the DMZ for a more secure communication.

What are Hosts and Partners?

The host and the partner are the two elements that participate in the exchange of data. They are referred to as participants. The host is your company. It is configured to reflect your company unit and connected to your BusinessConnect B2B gateway. The partner is your partner company. It is configured to reflect your partner company unit and it is connected to its own B2B gateway. It’s a huge advantage for TIBCO BusinessConnect users because BusinessConnect is capable of integrating applications even if the other company is using a different B2B solution, as long as requirements are met, such as using the same protocol.

What is a business agreement?

In order for the two trading partners to exchange data and perform business deals, the host and partner must establish an electronic B2B deal. This deal is called a business agreement in BusinessConnect. To configure the business agreement, you have to select the host and partner involved in the deal. Then, select the protocol common to both parties, and configure the security. You can even select the validity dates for the deal.

What are private and public processes?

A private process is an internal process in your company, which sends and receives data from your BusinessConnect server and communicates to the server using Rendezvous messaging. You can create a private process using TIBCO Designer. BusinessConnect is bundled with the BusinessConnect Plug-in which you can use to easily create business processes in TIBCO Designer. A public process is the one responsible for the exchange of data of both BusinessConnect servers across the Internet. It includes both BusinessConnect servers and the medium that connects these servers.

How is the transaction being conducted?

When you send a transaction to a BusinessConnect server, the transaction is sent via Rendezvous Certified Messaging (RVCM). The server listens to a subject name and waits for the message to arrive. A message is considered valid if it conforms to structure specified in the agreement between participants. That certain message is encrypted by the server before the server sends it to the partner company. The message is then received by the partner’s BusinessConnect server. The partner’s BusinessConnect server decrypts the message and sends it to an RVCM subject name. The internal process of the partner company listens to that RVCM subject name, waiting for the message to arrive. When the message arrives, the data is processed and the partner company sends a response back to the host company via RVCM going through the servers.

The host subject names are called Initiator Request and Initiator Response while the partner subject names are called Responder Request and Responder Response. The host sends a request, and waits for a response. The partner waits for the request, and sends the response after processing the request.

BusinessConnect is a great tool for reliable business-to-business communication. It supports numerous protocols and easy to configure, making it a powerful tool to integrate your trading partners.

NOTE: This article was written by one of the TIBCO Certified Professionals of Xmarter, Inc., a technology consulting firm that specializes in delivering business solutions using TIBCO technology. To schedule a technical interview with the consultants, send an email to info@xmarter.com.

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TIBCO Developers Library – What is a TIBCO File Adapter?

Different application vendors have their own format and way on how to expose data. Thus, integrating their applications into your own enterprise can be a great challenge. This is why TIBCO developed adapters to provide a bridge and gateways between an application and the TIBCO environment. The TIBCO File Adapter is one of the adapters that TIBCO has developed and this lets you integrate file system into the TIBCO integration environment.

What is TIBCO File Adapter?

TIBCO File Adapter is a gateway between the file system and the TIBCO Messaging. Data coming from a text file is being processed by a file adapter in order to be published in real-time to the TIBCO Environment. The file adapter can also subscribe to the messages published it to the TIBCO environment, process these messages and write the output to a file.

Because it uses a no coding approach, the File Adapter does not require developers to have a programming skill. Developers just have to make use of the design-time components because once you install TIBCO File Adapter, design-time components are automatically integrated into the TIBCO Designer or TIBCO Business Studio. It provides an easy-to-use interface that allows you to quickly configure adapter-specific features and validate some of the adapter’s configurations.

The advantage of using the file adapter is that it can handle large files. It provides configuration options for performance tuning. Even though you are using one or more adapter services or you want to cater large files, still File Adapter can perform optimally.

What are the services supported by the TIBCO Adapter for Files?

The TIBCO Adapter for Files supports only two services: the publication and subscription services. The Publication Service parses the contents of the text file and then processes and publishes them in real-time to the TIBCO Environment. The Subscription service, on the other hand, subscribes and receives messages from the TIBCO Environment and then processes those messages and writes them to a text file.

What are the two types of the File Adapter Operation Mode?

File Adapter has two Operation Modes: the Record Transfer Mode and the Simple File Transfer Mode. In Record Transfer Mode, the adapter defines and uses schemas and integrates the file system into the TIBCO ActiveEnterprise. However, if you just want to transfer the files across the machines, then the adapter can be configured to operate in Simple File Transfer mode.

Both the publication and the subscription services use these operation modes. The operation that you choose dictates the steps in configuring the publication and the subscription services.

In Publication and Subscription formats, what is the difference between the MInstances and MBusinessDocuments?

There are two types of formats that are supported by file adapters while exchanging data between TIBCO applications and these are MInstances and MBusinessDocuments.

MInstances is an entity that TIBCO applications exchange with each other. MInstances is created after the file adapter parses the input file and identifies the schema associated with the publication service. After creating the MInstances, it will be published to the TIBCO Environment.

The MBusinessDocuments, on the other hand, is a facility for grouping MInstances and it serves as a container for MInstances. The attributes of MBusinessDocument can be used if you want a higher throughput from the publication service.

In configuring the publication, the publication service has an option to choose between two formats while the subscription service automatically uses the format of the received message.

What are the schemas supported by the Record Transfer Mode?

The Record Transfer Mode uses schemas such as Read, Wire and Write Schemas. The Read Schema refers to the schema used by the publication service. It is used in interpreting the contents of the file using the rules and relations being described by this schema. After interpreting the contents, it also generates and turns the content into a canonical format known as the Wire Schema, which is used to publish the data.

The Write Schema, on the other hand, is the schema used by the subscription service in receiving messages in canonical format. This schema is generated by a TIBCO ActiveEnterprise-compliant application from the existing wire schema. It is also used for interpreting and processing received data using rules and relations implemented by this schema before the subscription service writes the messages into a file.

How file records are classified?

File Records are classified into two categories: the Delimited file record and the Positional file record. To interpret lines in the record, the Delimited file record uses delimiters. These delimiters can be a single or multiple characters. Examples of delimiters are commas, pound signs or any other character.

The Positional file records use well-defined field lengths to interpret lines in the record. You can use line or record length or a constant field value; for example, the constant line length.

In configuring a Publication service, what are the types of life cycle used?

In configuring a Publication service, you can select whether it will operate repeatedly (Repeating) or it will execute only once (Once-only) after processing the files. If you configure more than one service in the adapter instance, the first service cannot use Once-only as a publication service life cycle. However, when you select Repeating as the Publication Service life cycle, you must specify a polling method. The publication service uses polling method as a triggering mechanism to start processing files.

What are the triggering methods used in the publication service?

To trigger a publication service, the File Adapter can use either a timer or a message. The Timer method of triggering can be used for both the transport types: the JMS and RV. The timer method uses parameters such as Polling Interval to set the amount of time until the next scanning of file is repeated.

Using a message as a triggering method depends on the transport type. A TIBCO Rendezvous message can be used to trigger the publication service if you select TIBCO Rendezvous as a transport type but if you select JMS as a transport type, then a JMS message sent to a topic can be used to trigger the publication service.

What are the File Recognition Methods used for Publication Service?

The adapter provides options to selectively recognize input files that need to be processed for publication. The File Recognition Methods are used to search input file in the input directory. It uses three methods: By file name, By prefix + extension and By trigger. In By file name, the adapter only looks for the file that exactly matches the value given in the File Name Field. By prefix-extension uses the File Prefix and File Extension fields to search for a certain input file. The By trigger, on the other hand, uses the fields such as the File Prefix, File Extension, and Trigger File Extension fields to search and process files.

How do you deploy a File Adapter?

After configuring and testing the File Adapter Services in the TIBCO Designer, create an Enterprise Archive (EAR) file. Use the Enterprise Archive resource in your designer, configure it so that it will contain all information about the adapter instances and use it to build an EAR file. Using TIBCO Administrator, upload the EAR file, and then deploy it to the machine that you want. Start the file adapter and then you can monitor it now by using the built-in monitoring tools provided by TIBCO Administrator.

After enumerating some points that can help you start learning TIBCO File Adapter, it is now up to you to further explore its capabilities in order to appreciate more of its benefits. File Adapter is such a powerful and efficient tool to integrate your file system into the TIBCO environment because of its no-coding approach and easy-to-use design-time components.

NOTE: This article was written by one of the TIBCO Certified Professionals of Xmarter, Inc., a technology consulting firm that specializes in delivering business solutions using TIBCO technology. To schedule a technical interview with the consultants, send an email to info@xmarter.com.

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