Open Source Data Integration Software XAware 5.1 Supports REST, XML Validation and JMX BizComponent

Posted by Srini Penchikala on Aug 16, 2008

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The latest version of XAware, an open-source composite data services integration software supports REST operations, XML Schema validation and enhancements to JMX BizComponent monitoring component. XAware development team last week announced the general availability of version 5.1 of the data integration solution which can be used for creating and managing composite data services for Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Rich Internet Applications (RIA) and Software as a Service (SaaS) applications.

XAware aids in application development and deployment areas by simplifying the task of building and maintaining access to and from multiple external data sources. It also provides real-time, bi-directional data integration using "XML views" that can span different data sources, and can read, write, or transfer data between these data sources, all within a distributed transaction. These services provide the ability to abstract, transform, aggregate and mashup data which is an important part of RIA applications.

XAware Engine is a JEE application that can deployed on application servers (WebSphere, WebLogic, Oracle, Sun, JBoss), on web servers (IIS, Apache, Tomcat), embedded within custom applications or deployed as a stand-alone application. XAware applications can be invoked through different protocols like HTTP, Java API, messaging, or SOAP. Its design is based on BizComponents which are reusable, configurable processing components that can be used for the purposes of accessing and transforming data.

The new features in the latest version also include the support for JTA transactions, enhanced text processing, Xpath 1.0 support and improved MySQL and DB2 stored procedure support. Other new features released in this version include:

• Namespace manipulation is now supported in the XML tree, including the ability to add, modify, or delete namespace declarations on any element or remove the declaration from the JDOM structure.
• The BizDocument wizard includes the features to create a service and then validate input XML against a defined schema.
• JMS support for text messages has been improved to escape special characters and allow for more message types (map, text, or XML).
• The Engine logging has been improved for better performance and to add support for managing and monitoring deployed BizView services using JMX.

The framework provides adapters and connectors to integrate with different technologies like:

• Interface to structure and unstructured text using File BizComponent, or Multi-Format BizComponent.
• Relational database connectivity through SQL BizComponent or Stored-Procedure BizComponent.
• Link Java classes through Java BizComponent.
• Plug into messaging queues through JMS BizComponent or MQ BizComponent.
• Interface to web service interface through SOAP BizComponent or HTTP BizComponent.
• Map XML source and target structures through XML Mapper BizComponent or XSL BizComponent.

XAware project uses an Eclipse based Designer for building, testing and debugging XML data views. The runtime engine is based on Spring framework that can be used to access Spring beans in functoids, Java BizComponents, and custom instructions. The software also has integration with Enterprise Services Bus (ESB) servers and BPEL engines like ActiveBPEL.

The new version has an add-on connector that enables the development of SAP-compatible components and applications in Java for both desktop and server applications. XAware 5.1 is available for free use under the GPLv2 license and additionally via a commercial license. The new release can be downloaded from their site. XAware developer community information can be found at their community site and online tutorials section (which requires user registration to access the tutorials).

Srini Penchikala currently works as Security Architect and has 17 yrs of experience in software product management.

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