user manual

284 BES Developer’s Guide
VisiConnect Features
Local Connectors are used with most J2EE Applications, while Remote
Connectors are mainly used in the following cases:
■
Migrating a non-J2EE application to J2EE, where it is required to interface
the legacy application to Connectors as a migration step
■
Running a non-J2EE application outside the aegis of an Application Server,
where it is required to interface the application with Connectors
■
Running CORBA clients/servers which are required to interface with
Connectors
■
Partitioning an application environment by host, where, for example, it is
required to run the Connectors layer on a host remote to the Application
layer.
■
Other scenarios where it is required to access Connectors outside of J2EE,
or remotely.
Note This list is by no means conclusive.
Most Resource Adapters available on the market are written as Local
Connectors. However, the requirements for converting a Local Connector to a
Remote Connector are minimal
■
Packaging two classes in the Resource Adapter Archive (.rar) for the Local
Connector, one which extends the Resource Adapter's connection factory
interface to extend java.rmi.Remote, and one which extends the Resource
Adapter's connection factory implementation to implement
java.rmi.Remote.
■
Modifying the Resource Adapter's deployment descriptors to reflect the
new connection factory interface and connection factory implementation
class.
VisiConnect bundles pre-built Remote extensions to
javax.resource.cci.ConnectionFactory and javax.sql.DataSource for your
convenience. To use these for converting a candidate Local Connector to a
Remote Connector, use
com.borland.enterprise.visiconnect.cci.ConnectionFactory or
com.borland.enterprise.visiconnect.DataSource as your connection factory
interface, extend the connection factory implementation to implement these
interfaces, and use either of these implementations as your connection factory
implementation class.
Additional Classloading Support
VisiConnect supports the loading of properties or classes that are specified in
ClassPath entry of the Resource Adapter's Manifest.mf file. The following is a
description of how you configure properties and classes that are in and used
by a Resource Adapter.
The Resource Adapter (RAR) archive file and the application component
using it (for example, an EJB jar) are contained in an Enterprise Application
(EAR) archive. The RAR requires resources such as Java properties that are
stored in a JAR file, and that JAR file is contained within the EAR file (not in
the RAR itself).