A custom adapter created with the TIBCO Adapter SDK changes the format of the data so it can be accessed by other applications. Though the data model of a source application may be complicated, the adapter retains much of the source information and makes it easy to access the information.
However, a custom adapter does not change the content of the data, so two applications might still be incompatible. For example, the name and address of a customer might be stored in five fields in one ERP application and in six fields in another. In this case, content conversion must be performed by a separate tool, for example, the mapper included within TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks.
TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks Mapper provides a graphic interface for creating and modifying data transformation rules. An XPath Formula Builder, which allows you to drag functions and data elements to create the transformation rules, is available in the GUI.
The adapter pushes data out of a third-party application (for example, SAP R/3). TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks can then transform the data to be accessible by other adapters.
TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks is configured using TIBCO Designer. When configuring a TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks integration project, TIBCO Designer includes an ActiveEnterprise Adapter palette that contains activities capable of interacting with adapter services. For example, an Adapter Subscriber activity can be configured to receive data from an adapter Publication Service.