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e-Adapter Development Kit Installation Guide

Glossary

Glossary

A component that provides an interface between an internal application and external applications or messaging systems. An adapter detects events and validates event contents. In Sybase Enterprise Event Broker, adapters pass events to an inflow processor. Adapters also receive events at outflow processors and export the events to external applications.

The adapter runtime environment includes the Adapter Shell, e-ADK Shared Libraries, shared data dictionary, and error catalogue files. The ARE is required for testing and running the adapters that are run on the customer's server.

A Java program that runs within the web browser. When using Java on the Web, an applet is an HTML-based program built with Java that a browser temporarily downloads to and runs fro a user's hard disk. Java applets can be used to add background music, real-time video displays, animation, and interactivity such as calculators and games to Web pages without having to send a user request back to the server.

A packaged application, database, protocol, file, or other data source.

A logical grouping of applications used to organize rules.

The interface (calling conventions) by which an application program accesses services. An API is defined at source-code level and provides a level of abstraction between the application and the kernel or other privileged utilities to ensure portability of the code.

In electronic messaging, a method of operation in which receiving applications are loosely coupled and independent. The receiver need not respond immediately to a message, and the sender does not have to wait for a response before proceeding with the next operation. Compare to synchronous.

A method of handling computer operations in which requests for operations are grouped for periodic processing. Compare to transaction processing.

A type of middleware that connects clients and servers.

A program that executes in the background. Also known as agents, services, or daemons, brokers only activate when defined system conditions become true. For example, a broker may activate when the system clock reaches 2:00 a.m. every other Saturday. Another broker may activate when the system senses the arrival of e-mail

An application-level component you can use in unpredictable combinations. A business object is independent of any single application. Business objects provide a natural way for describing application-independent concepts such as customer, order, competition, money, payment, and patient. They encourage a view of software that transcends tools, applications, databases, and other system concepts.

A set of specific (usually standardized) characters with an encoding scheme that uniquely defines each character. ASCII is a common character set.

In object-oriented programming, a category of objects. For example, there might be a class called shape that contains objects that are circles, rectangles, and triangles. The class defines all the common properties of the different objects that belong to it.

An instruction to a database to make permanent all changes made to one or more database files since the last commit or rollback operation and to make the changed records available to other users. compare with rollback.

In programming and engineering disciplines, a component is an identifiable part of a larger program or construction. Usually, a component provides a particular function or group of related functions. In object-oriented programming and distributed object technology, a component is a reusable program building block that can be combined with other components in the same or other computers in a distributed network to form an application. Examples of a component include a single button in a graphical user interface, a small interest calculator, an interface to a database manager. Components can be deployed on different servers in a network and communicate with each other for needed services. A component runs in a context called a container. Examples of containers include pages on a Web site, Web browsers, and word processors.

To define to a system the devices, optional features, and programs installed on the system.

A file that specifies the characteristics of a system or subsystem.

A connection string is a string version of the initialization properties needed to connect to a data source and enables you to easily store connection information within your application or pass it between applications. Without a connection string, you would be required to store or pass a complex array of structures to access data. The basic format of a connection string is based on the ODBC connection string. The string contains a series of keyword/value pairs separated by semicolons. The equals sign (=) separates each keyword and its value.

The capability to attach a variety of functional units without modifying them.

A computer terminal used to monitor and control a computer or network.

Used to describe programs that can execute in dissimilar computing environments.

The file or physical allocation of space on a disk intended to hold schema.

A computer-based system for defining, creating, manipulating, controlling, managing, and using databases. It is a program that lets one or more computer users create and access data in a database. The DBMS manages users requests (and requests from other programs) so that users and other programs are free from having to understand where the data is physically located on storage media and, in a multi-user system, who else may also be accessing the data. In handling user requests, the DBMS ensures the integrity of the data (that is, making sure it continues to be accessible and is consistently organized as intended) and security (making sure only those with access privileges can access the data). The software for using a database can be part of the database management system or it can be a stand-alone database system. Contrast with relational database management system.

A keyword that identifies the characteristics of stored information on a computer. Some common data types are char, int, smallint, date, time, numeric, and float. Different databases support different data types.

Process of walking a tree (for example, the DataTree of the NNDOObject) and writing the data for each node to a string buffer. This generates a buffer containing the wire format representation of the data in the tree.

A document type definition is a specific definition that follows the rules of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). A DTD accompanies a document and identifies what the codes (or markup) are that separate paragraphs and identify topic headings and how each is to be processed. A generated document that specifies the grammatical structure of other SML documents. A hypertext markup language entity to describe the document type.

A group of computers and other devices that are networked and managed as a unit, with policies and rules specific to the unit.

A program that interacts with a particular device or specially (frequently optional) kind of software. The driver contains the special knowledge of the device or special software interface that programs using the driver do not. In a personal computer, a driver is often packaged as a dynamic link library (DLL) file.

A module containing functions and data that can be loaded at run time by a calling module (an executable file or another dll). A file containing executable code and data bound to a program at load time or run time, rather than during linking. The code and data in a dynamic link library can be shared by several applications simultaneously.

This is the Sybase web application server. An integrated set of application servers used to deploy web applications.

Encryption is the conversion of data into a form that cannot be easily intercepted by unauthorized people.

An application that can be directly accessed or updated by an acquisition or delivery adapter (via an integration server).

EAI involves the integration of applications (including data and process integration) within an enterprise.

The systems that provide the information infrastructure for an enterprise. Enterprise resource planning systems, relational database management systems, and legacy information systems are examples of enterprise information systems.

The header and trailer information contained within an ANSI ASC X12 transaction. The envelope is critical for routing, trade agreement determination, and message management.

An entity that is sent into the system and drives the business processing. It consists of a name, scope, and attributes.

The format used by New Era of Networks Process Server to describe a business process.

A grouping of events that can be shared by more than one business process.

A variable that describes how an operating system runs and the devices it recognizes.

A simplified subset of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) that provides a file format for representing data, a method for describing data structure, and as a mechanism for extending and annotating HTML with semantic information.

As a universal data format, XML provides a standard for the server-to-server transfer of different types of structured data so that the information can be decoded, manipulated, and displayed consistently and correctly. In addition, it enables the development of three-tier Web applications, acting as the data transfer format between the middle-tier Web server and the client.abend.

The smallest possible container for information. You can use a field in more than one table. If the first_name field exists in one table, for example, you can use the same field in other tables.

A TCP/IP utility that moves files efficiently between machines.

The file produced by basic EDI translation software to serve as input to the interface. Usually has the same fields as the standard but has each field expanded to its maximum length. A computer file where all the information is run together in a single character string.

A format containing only fields and associated controls. Flat input formats are composed of fields with associated control input controls. Flat output formats are composed of fields with associated output controls.

Formats describe how messages are constructed. Input formats describe how to separate input messages into their component parts. Output formats describe how to build output messages from the parsed components of the input message.

A collection of related business functions.

A request for the next message in a queue. Compare to put.

The combination of internationalization and localization. See also internationalization and localization.

A type of computer interface consisting of a visual metaphor of a real-world scene, often of a desktop. Within that scene are icons, representing actual objects, that the user can access and manipulate with a pointing device.

Composed of different parts of different kinds. Having dissimilar constituents.

A host computer is directly connected to the Internet that provides services to other computers on the network, such as e-mail connections or access to program and data files. Each host computer has a unique Internet address, or IP, and a unique domain name, which identifies the computer to other computers and users on the Internet. Host means any computer that has full two-way access to other computers on the Internet.

The language used to mark a document so it can be published on the World Wide Web (WWW) and viewed with a browser.

HyperText Transport (or Transfer) Protocol is the set of rules that governs the exchange of text, graphic, sound, and video files on the World Wide Web.

An identifier data element always contains a value from a predefined list of values (codes) that are maintained by the ASC X12 or some other body recognized by the X12 Committee.

An Oracle-specific term for a set of memory structures and background processes that access a set of database files. Compare to database sever.

A programming environment integrated into an application. For example, Microsoft Office applications support various versions of the BASIC programming language. You can develop a WordBasic application while running Microsoft Word.

An integration point is an entry point into a computer system. It typically consists of the login information required to establish a connection with a software system so that information can be transferred into and out of the system.

A User Interface that allows users to build complex projects or programs by filling out forms in a Windows program. Examples are the MSG-IDE tool (for creating custom adapters) and the TRAN-IDE tool (for creating production objects).

The process of extracting locale-specific components from the source code and moving them into one or more separate modules, making the code culturally neutral so it can be localized for a specific culture. See also globalization. Compare with localization.

A 32-bit number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent in packets across the Internet. An IP address has two parts: the identifier of a particular network on the Internet and an identifier of the particular device, which can be a server or a workstation, within that network.

Microsoft's programming interface between applications and their Internet Server. Active Servers created with ISAPI extensions can be complete in-process applications themselves, or can "connect" to other services. ISAPI is used for the same sort of functions as CGI but uses Microsoft Windows dynamic link libraries (DLL) for greater efficiency. The server loads the DLL the first time a request is received and the DLL then stays in memory, ready to service other requests until the server decides it is no longer needed. This minimizes the overhead associated with executing such applications many times.

For users: Use this term when referring to specific content in the console tree. Do not use the terms node or namespace. If possible, refer to the actual name of the item in the tree unless you must use an explicit term. To direct users to an item, you should write out the entire path to the item.

A field that contains unique information.

A named disk area that can contain programs and related information. A library consists of different sections, called library members.

One or more symbols or letters in data that represents itself.

When using MQSeries Remote Queueing, a local queue is defined on the receiver side that can be referred to from the sending queue. The receiving application talks to the local queue.

The process of preparing an extracted module for a target environment, in which messages are displayed and logged in the user's language; numbers, money, dates, and time are represented using the user's cultural convention; and documents are displayed in the user's language. See also globalization. Compare with internationalization.

A system in which applications run integrated on a common database. A client corresponds to a logical system.

A type of unit that enables end-users or programs to gain access to network resources and communicate with each other.

A search done by the computer within a predefined table of values or within a data file.

Specification that indicates the value for an element or attribute in a target document that is produced by a Mapper transformation. A mapping can be an XPath to a source schema item, a string literal, or a function that operates on XPaths, string literals, or functions.

A message type defines the layout of a string of data. The message type name in the Rules GUI is the same as the input format name in Formatter.

A string of bytes that has meaning to the applications that use it. Messages are used for transferring information from one application to another between components in a single application. The applications can be running on the same platform or on different platforms.

Components that enable asynchronous, event-based processing in the application server.

A form of communication between programs. Application data is combined with a header (information about the data) to form a message. Messages are stored in queues, which can be buffered or persistent (see buffered queue and persistent queue). It is an asynchronous communications style and provides a loosely coupled exchange across multiple operating systems.

A message type defines the layout of a string of data. The message type name in the Rules GUI is the same as the input format name in Formatter.

Software that can enable the capture and delivery of information between applications.

Data that describes other data. Any file or database that holds information about another database's structure, attributes, processing, or changes.

Software that facilitates the communication between two applications. It provides an API through which applications invoke services and it controls the transmission of the data exchange over the network. There are three basic types: communications middleware, database middleware, and systems middleware.

A method used by adapters to invoke specific methods of operation. Generally, New Era of Networks adapters use Acquire, Deliver, Schema, Schema Remove, and Process modes. The user guide for each adapter contains detailed information about modes and data representation.

Any message transmitted to indicate that some data has been received incorrectly, for example it may have a checksum or message length error. A NAK message allows the sender to distinguish a message that has been received in a corrupted state from one that is not received at all.

An alternative is to use only ACK messages, in which case the non-receipt of an ACK after a certain time is counted as a NAK but gives no information about the integrity of the communications channel.

New Era of Networks canonical form (NCF) is a layout specification that states how data is transported to the wire.

New Era of Networks data object (NDO) is the in-memory form of New Era of Networks canonical form.

The New Era of Networks-provided language that users can use to build Initialization, De-initialization, Validation, Callback, and Custom functions in programs.

ODBC is a Windows standard API that is used for SQL communication to connect applications to a variety of data sources. By using ODBC statements in a program, you can access files in a number of different databases, including Access, dBase, Excel, and Text. ODBC is based on and closely aligned with the Open Group standard Structured Query Language (SQL) Call-Level Interface. ODBC handles the SQL request and converts it into a request the individual database system understands. An open system (as opposed to a proprietary system) is one that adheres to a publicly known and sometimes standard set of interfaces so that anyone using it can also use any other system that adheres to the standard. Access is generally provided through the Control Panel, where data source names (DSNs) can be assigned to use specific ODBC drivers.

Open Transport configuration provides a means to adapt New Era of Networks applications to supported transport and transaction manager environments. This configuration capability increases the stability of the entire application by providing a single code base that maintains flexibility required by clients in a heterogeneous enterprise setting

An option consists of a name-value pair of data related to an action. An option name can be predefined (for Reformat and Put Message) or user-defined.

A variable that is given a constant value for a specified application and that can denote the application. Compare with property.

Compound formats contain other flat and compound formats. If you have a compound format (X) that contains a repeating format (Y), X is the parent of child Y.

To analyze a message by breaking it down into its component fields.

The level of access to an object, resource, or function.

The ability of a computerized system to remember the state of data or objects between runs.

An external software or SQL program that is accessed by a larger application to provide added and customer-specific functionality.

In programming, a port is a "logical connection place" and specifically, using the Internet's protocol, TCP/IP, the way a client program specifies a particular server program on a computer in a network. When a service (server program) initially is started, it is said to bind to its designed port number. As any client program wants to use that server, it also must request to bind to the designated port number.

A process is an instance of a program running in a computer. It is close in meaning to task, a term used in some operating systems. In UNIX and some other operating systems, a process is started when a program is initiated (either by a user entering a shell command or by another program). Like a task, a process is a running program with which a particular set of data is associated so that the process can be kept track of. A process can initiate a sub-process, which is a child process (and the initiating process is sometimes referred to as its parent). A child process is a replica of the parent process and shares some of its resources, but cannot exist if the parent is terminated.

A set of rules that govern the behavior of the computers communicating on a network.

A set of rules that govern the transmission and reception of data.

A request to store a message in a queue. Compare to get.

Answers the question "What is...?" It acts as a modifier.

A list constructed and maintained so that the next data element to be retrieved is the one stored first.

For example, one application can put a message on a queue, and another application can retrieve the message from the same queue.

Basic building block of a database. Each record is the lowest-level complete entity within a table in the database. Also known as a "row." A group of one or more records make up a table.

The part of the Window NT operating system that holds configuration information for a particular machine.

A collection of data in which relationships between data items are explicitly specified as equally accessible attributes. The data is viewed as being stored in tables consisting of columns (data items) and rows (units of information). Relational databases can be accessed by SQL requests. See also Structured Query Language.

A character in data that indicates that a delimiter is following, and that the delimiter should be processed as data.

An RFC is used to provide a "handshake" between two systems that are not connected. ALE and RFC are often used together.

A feature that allows a System Administrator to manage multiple DirectConnect Servers and multiple services from a client.

A component, a field or format, that may appear multiple times in an input or output message.

One or more database operations an application sends as a unit to the database. During a request, the application gives up control to the DBMS and waits for a response. See also commit, rollback, and unit of work.

An instruction to a database not to implement the changes requested in a unit of work and to return to the pre-transaction state. See also transaction and unit of work. Compare with commit.

A rule is uniquely defined by its application group, message type, and rule name. It contains evaluation criteria (a rules expression) and is associated with subscriptions to perform if the rule evaluates to true. Rules also have permissions that determine user access.

The ability of an information system to provide high performance as greater demands are placed upon it, through the addition of extra computing power.

The character that appears at the end of each segment within an X12 transaction. For inbound X12 documents, this character definition is read directly from the envelope. For outbound documents, customer-specific segment delimiters are retrieved from the trading partner database.

Process of taking items from a buffer and creating the corresponding tree representation from the wire format.

A functional unit that provides shared services to workstations over a network. See also client/server. Compare with client.

A servlet is a small, persistent, low-level program that runs on a server. The term was coined in the context of the Java applet, a small program that is sent as a separate file along with a Web (HTML) page.

Some programs that access databases based on user input need to be on the server. These programs were most often implemented using a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) application. However, if a Java virtual machine is running in the server, servlets can be implemented in Java. A Java servlet can execute more quickly than a CGI application. Instead of creating a separate program process, each user request is invoked as a thread in a single daemon process, so that the system overhead for each request is slight.

A connection between two programs or processes. In APPC communications, sessions allow transaction programs to have conversations between the partner logical units. Sessions are established through SNA bind requests. There are several types of sessions: single, multiple, and parallel. See also advanced program-to-program communications and parallel sessions.

A subscription that is associated with more than one rule. This subscription will only be retrieved once by the Rules APIs even if multiple associated rules evaluate true.

A floating list of actions. to open a shortcut menu, click an object and hold down the right mouse button; the available actions depend on the object.

A software component that provides easy access and configuration of information from the framework of the Microsoft Management Console for Windows NT.

Standard ML is a general-purpose programming language designed for large projects.

A language developed by IBM to process data in a relational database. SQL is an industry standard.

A subscription is uniquely identified by its application group, message type, and subscription name. It contains actions with options and can be associated with one or more rules. Subscriptions also have permissions that determine user access to change the subscription definition.

In electronic messaging, a method of operation in which sender and receiver applications are tightly coupled and dependent. The receiver must answer the sender's message immediately with a well-defined response; the sender must wait for the receiver's response before proceeding to the next operation. Compare to asynchronous.

The rules for using transactions and documents.

The person at a computer installation who designs, controls, and manages the use of the computer system.

The process of initiating, configuring, monitoring, and adjusting applications on a system.

A database remembers relationships between pieces of information by storing the information in tables. The columns and rows in each table define the relationships in a highly structured way. We can classify tables by function into two types: support tables and data tables. Most tables fit into only one category, but some can serve as both support and data tables.

A support table stores information that changes infrequently and functions as a list from which you make selections.

A set of bits or characters that identify various conditions about data in a file. In Formatter, a standard value indicating the field's name.

A system, program, or device that interprets and replies to requests received from a source.

A form, mold, or pattern used as a guide to making something. In programming, a template is a generic class or other unit of source code that can be used as the basis for unique units of code.

Thin client refers to the Net PC or the network computer (NC), personal computers for businesses that are centrally-managed, configured with only essential equipment, and don't have CD-ROM players, diskette drives, or expansion. Since the idea is to limit such computers to essential applications, they tend to remain "thin" in terms of the client applications they include.

A component or service is termed thread safe if multiple instances can be run at the same time. For example, a service may be used by multiple components that are running concurrently in multiple enclaves. Each component must be able to invoke that service without sharing violations.

The process of recording the sequence in which the statements in a program are executed and, optionally, the values of the program variables used in the statements.

An activity or request. Additions, changes, and deletions are typical transactions stored in a computer. An exchange between a program on a local system and a program on a remote system that accomplishes a particular action or results.

A method of handling electronic messaging in which only committed messages are sent, and only messages received and committed are considered delivered.

A piece of software that converts data from one format to another, often with intermediate lookups, validations, and edits.

The entity that stores individual message; for example, a queue.

A compact string of characters for identifying an abstract or physical resource and provides a simple and extensible means for identifying resources. An example of an URI is a URL.

A subset of a URI, a URL is like a networked extension of the standard filename concept: you can point to a file in a directory, but that file and directory can exist on any machine on the network. They can also be served by any of several different methods. URLs can also point to queries, documents stored deep within databases, and so on.

One of more database operations grouped under a commit or rollback. A unit of work ends when an application commits or rolls back a series of request or when the application terminates. See also commit, rollback, and transaction.

An alternative representation of data from one or more tables. A view can include all or some of the columns contained in the table or tables on which it is defined.