View source for Introduction to EIS Projects (ELUG)

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[[Special:Whatlinkshere/Introduction to EIS Projects (ELUG)|Related Topics]]</div>
This section provides an overview of EIS projects and their components.

For information on project concepts and features common to more than one type of EclipseLink projects, see [[Introduction%20to%20Projects (ELUG)|Introduction to Projects]].

==EIS Project Concepts==
Use an EIS project for transactional persistence of Java objects to a ''nonrelational'' data source accessed using a Java EE Connector Architecture (JCA) adapter and EIS records.

JCA provides a Common Client Interface (CCI) API to access nonrelational EIS. This provides a similar interface to nonrelational data sources as JDBC provides for relational data sources. This API defines several types of nonrelational record types including mapped and indexed. XML has emerged as the standard format to exchange data, and most leading JCA adapter providers have extended the CCI API to define XML data records.

To use a JCA adapter with EclipseLink EIS, the JCA adapter must support the JCA CCI interface. At run time, your JCA adapter and the Java <tt>connector.jar</tt> file (that contains the <tt>javax.resource.cci</tt> and <tt>javax.resource.spi</tt> interfaces that EclipseLink EIS uses) must be on your application or application server classpath.

If you are using Workbench, you must add your JCA adapter to the Workbench classpath. By default, Workbench updates its classpath to include the Java 1.5.''n'' <tt>connector.jar</tt> file from <tt><</tt>''<tt>ECLIPSELINK_HOME</tt>''<tt>>/utils/workbench/jlib</tt>. If this version of the <tt>connector.jar</tt> file is incompatible with your environment, edit the <tt>workbench.cmd</tt> or <tt>workbench.sh</tt> file in <tt><</tt>''<tt>ECLIPSELINK_HOME</tt>''<tt>>/utils/workbench/bin</tt> to change the path to this file. For more information, see [[Using%20Workbench%20(ELUG)#Configuring the Workbench Environment|Configuring the Workbench Environment]].

EIS includes legacy data sources, enterprise applications, legacy applications, and other information systems. These systems include such sources as Custormer Information Control System (CICS), Virtual Storage Access Method (VSAM), Information Management System (IMS), ADABASE database, and flat files.

We recommend using EIS projects to integrate EclipseLink with a legacy or nonrelational data source. Other methods of accessing EIS data sources include:
* Using a specialized JDBC driver that allows connecting to an EIS system as if it were a relational database. You could use an [[Introduction%20to%20Relational%20Projects%20(ELUG)|EclipseLink relational project]] with these drivers.
* Linking to or integrating with the EIS data from a relational database, such as Oracle Database.
* Using a proprietary API to access the EIS system. In this case it may be possible to wrap the API with a JCA CCI interface to allow usage with an EclipseLink EIS project.

EclipseLink provides support for mapping Java objects to EIS mapped, indexed, and XML records, through JCA, using the [[EIS Mappings (ELUG)|EclipseLink EIS mappings]].

You configure an EclipseLink EIS descriptor to use a [[Configuring%20an%20EIS%20Descriptor%20(ELUG)#Configuring Record Format|particular EIS record format]]. EclipseLink EIS mappings use their EIS descriptor's record format configuration to determine how to map their Java objects to EIS records.

If you use XML records, the EclipseLink runtime performs XML data conversion based on one or more XML schemas. In an EIS project that uses XML records, Workbench directly references schemas in the deployment XML, and exports mappings configured with respect to the schemas you specify. For information on how to use Workbench with XML schemas, see [[Using%20Workbench%20(ELUG)#Using XML Schemas|Using XML Schemas]]. For information on how EclipseLink supports XML namespaces, see [[Introduction%20to%20Projects (ELUG)#XML Namespaces Overview|XML Namespaces Overview]].

This table describes the components of an EIS project.


<span id="Table 67-1"></span>
''''' EIS Project Components'''''

{| class="HRuleFormal" dir="ltr" title="EIS Project Components" summary="This table describes the components that make up an EIS project, including data source, descriptor, and mappings." width="100%" border="1" frame="hsides" rules="rows" cellpadding="3" frame="hsides" rules="rows"
|- align="left" valign="top"
! id="r1c1-t2" align="left" valign="bottom" | '''Component'''
! id="r1c2-t2" align="left" valign="bottom" | '''Supported Types'''
|- align="left" valign="top"
| id="r2c1-t2" headers="r1c1-t2" align="left" |
Data Source
| headers="r2c1-t2 r1c2-t2" align="left" |
[[Introduction%20to%20Data%20Access%20(ELUG)#EISLogin|EISLogin]] and [[Introduction%20to%20Data%20Access%20(ELUG)#EIS Platforms|EIS Platforms]]
|- align="left" valign="top"
| id="r3c1-t2" headers="r1c1-t2" align="left" |
Descriptors
| headers="r3c1-t2 r1c2-t2" align="left" |
[[Introduction%20to%20EIS%20Descriptors%20(ELUG)#EIS Descriptor Concepts|EIS Descriptor Concepts]]
|- align="left" valign="top"
| id="r4c1-t2" headers="r1c1-t2" align="left" |
Mappings
| headers="r4c1-t2 r1c2-t2" align="left" |
[[EIS Mappings (ELUG)|EIS Mappings]]
|}

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You can create an EIS project with Workbench for use with [[Creating%20an%20EIS%20Project%20(ELUG)#Creating an EIS Project with XML Records|EIS XML records]] or you can build an EIS project in Java for use with [[Creating%20an%20EIS%20Project%20(ELUG)#Creating an EIS Project with Indexed or Mapped Records|any supported EIS record type]].

In an EIS project, your [[Introduction%20to%20EclipseLink%20Queries%20(ELUG)#Enterprise Information System (EIS) Interactions|EIS interactions]] can make full use of [[Introduction%20to%20EclipseLink%20Queries%20(ELUG)|EclipseLink queries ]]. However, you cannot use EclipseLink expressions with EIS: in an EIS project, interactions replace expressions.





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[[Category: EclipseLink User's Guide]]
[[Category: Release 1]]
[[Category: Concept]]
[[Category: EIS]]