TIBCO Designer


TIBCO Designer provides the design-time environment for configuring an adapter. Using Designer, you create a project, add adapter services to it with a simple drag-and-drop interface, and specify the configuration information for each adapter service.

Before using TIBCO Designer, you should read:

The guides are available via the TIBCO Designer Help > Designer Help from the menu bar. The next diagram shows the TIBCO Designer interface.

Figure 11 TIBCO Designer main window

Project Panel

Each TIBCO Designer window contains one and only one project, which is represented as the root folder in the panel.

Projects are the key organizational principle for the configuration information you specify. A project is a collection of all configured resources. Resources are the components of a project. For example, an adapter publication service is a resource. Resources can be complex and contain other resources, much like a folder can contain other folders on your computer's file system. Together, these resources make up your integration project. The top-level (root) folder in the project tree panel represents a project. The top-level folder is initially named Untitled and is renamed to the name of the project when you save the project for the first time.

Most resources have context-sensitive help available for the configuration of that resource. Right-click on the resource and choose What Is This? from the popup menu for more information on configuring the resource.

An adapter project contains the following folders:

Palette Panel

Palettes organize resources and allow you to add them into your project. Palettes are available from the palette panel in TIBCO Designer. Resources are visible components in a palette. You select resources in the palette panel and drag-and-drop them into the design panel to add them to your project.

Each adapter you install adds one or more palettes during installation. Which palette is displayed depends on the resource selected in the project tree and on your preferences. In the default view, the current selection in the project tree determines which palettes are displayed in the palette panel.

Design Panel

The design panel displays the current resource selected in the project tree panel. For resources that contain other resources, the contents of the selected resource are shown in the design panel. For example, if you select a folder, its contents are displayed.

Configuration Panel

The configuration panel allows you to specify configuration options for the selected resource. The type and the purpose of the resource determine the contents of the configuration panel. There are usually one or more tabs in the configuration panel that allow you to access the various configuration options. The tabs provide an organization to the options for the resource.

You can click the question mark icon (?) in the top right corner of the configuration panel for online help on the current selection.

For each tab, you must click Apply after you have specified configuration information before you can select another tab. If you decide you do not want to add the configuration information, click Reset before you apply any changes to return to the previous values for each field in the tab.

Projects

A project is a named collection of data, usually schema data and configuration data that is persistently stored. Each project is opened and saved in multi-file format, which allows the project to be used with a version control system. It allows different developers to collaborate on a project and merge changes as needed.

When a project is ready to be deployed, it can be created or exported in the following formats:

Enterprise Archive File

An Enterprise Archive file contains information about the adapter instances and processes you wish to deploy. The format is used with TIBCO Administrator Enterprise Edition. The EAR file is imported into Enterprise Edition where you can deploy, start and manage the adapter instance on the machines of your choice.

Local Repository

A project exported to a local repository is saved in .dat format. Projects saved in .dat format should only be used for development and testing. The format can be used where data is not to be shared by more than one adapter. It is possible to have a few local adapters accessing a local project in read-only mode. It is, however, not possible to have more than one local adapter accessing a local project in read and write mode.

Data are loaded at startup for local projects, so a local project has higher memory requirements.

Server Repository

A project exported to a server repository is managed by a TIBCO Administration Server running in a separate process, typically elsewhere on the network. One or more adapters can communicate with a project managed by an Administration Server. Each can support multiple projects.

An Administration Server is identified by a name that must be unique among all administration servers on a network. The server-based mode of operation is scalable and generally recommended for production situations. Server repositories allow multiple simultaneous write operations with locking, automatic updates of clients, and notification.

Data are loaded on demand for server-based projects.

ZIP Archive

A project exported to a ZIP archive is written to the location you specify as a read-only ZIP file. A project exported as a ZIP archive can be imported into TIBCO Designer.

Version Control

TIBCO Designer allows multiple developers to work on the same project and to use file sharing/locking or a version control system so that the same resource is not changed by two developers at the same time. Different users can then add resources to the project and lock the parts of the project they are working on.

TIBCO Designer creates a file that can be shared and locked for each top-level resource, such as an adapter configuration. It does not create a file for each resource. As a result, for example, you can lock an adapter configuration but cannot lock individual adapter services.
When an adapter service is configured, the adapter creates a corresponding set schema files. A warning is displayed when the files are created advising you to add the files to your version control system. You must add the files to your version control system and ensure they are checked-in, otherwise your project will not be managed correctly by the version control system.
TIBCO Designer also creates folders for folders you create in your project. You can lock each folder as needed.


TIBCO Adapter™ Concepts
April 2005
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