Choosing an Attachmate API

Attachmate provides several APIs that you can use to access your host-based tasks from your custom applications. The API you choose depends upon several factors; including, the language your custom application is written in, whether you will be publishing your task as a Web service, and the type of application server you will be deploying your applications from.

Available Interfaces

APIs are provided for the following development environments, applications, and component technologies:

Development Environment	Remarks
Java	Several different Java-based APIs for running tasks are defined to access tasks generated as XML task files or Java beans.
Web Services	You can choose between two Web service application servers with which to integrate: Microsoft .NET, and Apache Axis.
.NET	NET components are generated in the designer and can be deployed to a .NET runtime environment as Web services, or as remotable .NET objects.
J2EE Architecture	Using the management tools in MCS, you can deploy your tasks as J2EE Session EJBs or J2EE resource adapters, which are packaged in an enterprise application. Use this option to integrate with BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, Sun's SunOne, and Oracle AS.
BEA WebLogic	To integrate with BEA WebLogic, deploy your tasks as J2EE Session EJBs.
Native Win32	A COM interface is provided for developers who prefer native Win32 environments (such as ASPs, VisualBasic, or C#).

Choosing a Java Interface

There are currently three Java interfaces available to you:

Java Interfaces	Description
IConnectorAccess (ICA)	An XML-based API that is typically a bit more flexible than the other APIs.
ITask	A Java bean-based API that has a smaller footprint than ICA, and is typically slightly faster because no XML parsing is needed. Task-specific methods — a get method for each defined task output and a set method for each defined task input. Task beans provide a listener interface for monitoring task execution.
Service Beans	Efficient, lightweight Java beans that include multiple tasks and work well in J2EE environments. Task-specific methods and helper classes for task inputs and task outputs. Multiple tasks can be encapsulated in a single service bean in contrast to the task beans where one task is contained in a single bean.

Choosing a Web Service

Web services generated from Task Builder for IMS can be used in two different development environments to expose host access tasks as Web services and then be made available as resources to other applications and application components. What Web service you decide to use is based on your application server.

Application Server	Description
.NET	Microsoft's .NET framework provides a Web service framework for Windows environments.
Apache Axis	A free cross-platform application server.

When Web services are generated they are custom-tailored for one particular project or task so the APIs will vary. However, a Web service API will always define the following in some manner:

A IMSInputs interface with properties for setting task inputs
A IMSOutputs interface with properties for getting task outputs
A service interface for executing tasks. Typically there will be one method per task. Each method takes a single IMSInputs argument and returns a IMSOutputs object.

Using a Native Win32 Interface

IMSConnectorProxy Service is a Windows service that maintains a single instance of the JVM for executing stateless tasks. It exposes a simple DCOM API through which client applications can run tasks in the shared VM.


	Using Tasks in Your Applications
	Using XML
	Using Java Beans
	Using J2EE Architecture
	Using Apache Axis Web Services
	Using .NET
	Using Native Win32 Technologies