This page contains definitions of terms commonly used when discussing Composite Applications.
A
Actions
Actions are values which are consumed by a component view. They have a type scoped by a namespace. In Notes 8.0 actions are defined at a component level and are visible to all component views within a component. Whether they have a function for a particular component view depends on the implementation. Consult the component view's documentation.
In a future release there will be a method for scoping actions to specific component views.
Advanced component properties
Advanced Component Properties are static settings for each instance of the component view on a page. They are always strings. You can access the advanced properties by selecting component properties and selecting the "Advanced" button
Assembly
Assembly is the act of creating a page. It consists of layout, setup, and wiring of different components. One or more pages assembled in this way creates a composite application.
C
Component
Components are reusable objects or programs that perform a specific function and are designed to work with other components and applications. In the context of composite applications, a component is a unit of technology (NSF file or Eclipse plugin) that contains business logic and one or more component views. Components views include databases, forms, framesets and views within a Notes NSF database, View Parts within Eclipse plugins, and Portlets deployed in a local portlet container.
Component views
Component Views consist of UI which is displayed in a rectangle on the page, and three programmatic access points: properties, actions and advanced component properties.
Composite applications
Composite Applications are applications that combine smaller applications or components. They have been constructed by connecting together components which have been independently developed.
- Each of the components in the composite application will typically be reusable in many different applications.
- There will only be loose coupling between each of the components.
- Each of the components in an application can potentially be developed using different technologies (e.g. Eclipse plugins developed using Java, Notes components developed using Domino Designer, Portlets developed using Portlet Factory, etc.).
D
Deployment
In order to provide end-users with access to composite applications, these have to be deployed to a server (e.g. IBM Lotus Domino or IBM WebSphere Portal Server).
Design template
A design that lets you share design elements among applications and store design elements with a template. You can enable the template so that when it changes, the change automatically occurs in all applications created with that template.
E
Eclipse
Eclipse is an open-source, Java-based, extensible development platform. It is a framework and a set of services for building a development environment from plug-in components. Eclipse includes a standard set of plug-ins, including the Java Development Tools (JDT) and the Plug-in Development Environment (PDE), that enable developers to extend Eclipse and build tools that can be integrated seamlessly with the Eclipse environment. Both IBM Lotus Notes and IBM Lotus Expeditor are based on the Ecplipse platform.
Expeditor
IBM Lotus Expeditor software is IBM's universal managed client software to extend composite applications to laptops, desktops, kiosks and mobile devices. It packages the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP)
with some extra services (around security, synchronization, data, deployment, and so forth) to be used across Lotus and other groups.
For instance, IBM Lotus Notes is based on Expeditor.
F
@function
In terms of Lotus Notes, an "@function" is a built-in formula that performs a specialized calculation automatically.
L
Layout
Layout is the process of placing the components on the page in rows, columns and tabbed folders.
N
Notes application
A Notes application is represented by a file or files that contain both a set of documents and a copy of the design elements that control the creation and modification of those documents. A typical Notes application consists of a set of design elements that specify, among other things, the type of dowments in the application, the way that documents can be indexed and viewed, and the application's logic, which is written in the Notes Formula Language, LotusScript, Java, or JavaScript. A complex Notes application consists of several individual database designs that work together to perform a specific task. An application can be shared, local, or remote.
Notes database
A Notes database is a single file with the NSF extension that physically contains both a set of documents and a copy of the application design elements that control the creation and modification of those documents.
NSF
NSF is the file extension for a Notes database file. A database file contains the data for an application. Its structure is composed of forms, fields, folders, views, and other presentation features, such as a navigator and a database icon.
NTF
NTF is the file extension for a Notes template file. A template file contains the structure for the application - that is, forms, folders, and views - but does not contain documents. Domino Designer comes with a collection of templates that you can use to create system and application databases.
P
Pages
Pages are collections of component views in a composite application. A composite application consists of at least one page. Only one page can be displayed at a time. Pages may be arranged hierarchically.
A page has two major purposes: (1) bring together all of the functionality need to perform an operation and (2) present all the information necessary to make that operation easy and intuitive.
Plug-in
A plug-in is a software module that adds function to an existing program or application.
Portal applications catalog
The portal applications catalog is a library of portal applications on the WebSphere Portal server to which a user has access.
Properties
Properties are values which are sourced from a component view. They have a type scoped by a namespace. In Notes 8.0 properties are defined at a component level and are visible to all component views within a component. Whether they have a function for a particular component view depends on the implementation. Consult the component view's documentation. In a future release there will be a method for scoping properties to specific component views.
Property broker
The property broker enables the communication between components in a composite application. This kind of communication allows different components to interact in a loosely-coupled way. The property broker available on the client platform allows for declarative properties, actions and wires to be used among completely decoupled components. In particular, the property broker detects changed properties and invokes the corresponding actions, which are connected or wired, as defined by the wires that are registered.
Provisioning
Provisioning takes place if components are copied from a server component library (e.g. an update site) into a client side component library. This typically happens when an end-user launches a composite application hosted on a remote domino or portal server.
S
Service orientation
Service orientation is a way of thinking about your business processes as linked, loosely coupled tasks supported by services.
Setup
Setup is setting the static values of the advanced component properties for each instance of that component view on the page.
SOA
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a business-driven IT architectural approach that supports integrating your business as linked, repeatable business tasks, or services. SOA helps today's businesses innovate by ensuring that IT systems can adapt quickly, easily and economically to support rapidly changing business needs. SOA helps customers increase the flexibility of their business processes, strengthen their underlying IT infrastructure and reuse their existing IT investments by creating connections among disparate applications and information sources.
T
Template
In terms of IBM Lotus Notes, a template is a model of a new Notes application. A design template will update design elements created from the template. See Design template.
In terms of IBM WebSphere Portal, composite application are always created from application templates. These are thus the starting point for creating composite applications hosted on a portal server. Application templates promote the rapid assembly and reuse of composite applications.
Template file
In IBM Lotus Notes, a file with the extension NTF that contains the structure of the application - that is, forms, folders, and views - but does not contain documents. IBM Lotus Domino Designer comes with a collection of templates that can be used to created applications and system databases.
U
Update site
The place to store features and plug-ins in order to provision them to an Eclipse based client is called an update site. Since Eclipse v3.0, update sites are used to install new features into Eclipse and to update existing ones. An update site is usually a very simple file based repository. Update sites can be accessed through either local file access or via the HTTP protocol. Contents of an update site are managed in an XML based file, called site.xml, residing at the root of an update site location.
W
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 encompasses a range of technologies, tools, techniques and standards which focus on enabling people to increase the social factor - how people connect with each other to improve how software works. Key principles involve use of lightweight programming models and standards, and techniques such as mash-ups, wikis, tagging and blogs for richer user interfaces and improved use of data.
Web services
A Web service is a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. It has an interface described in a machine-processable format (specifically WSDL). Other systems interact with the Web service in a manner prescribed by its description using SOAP messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML serialization in conjunction with other Web-related standards.
White list
A White list is a restricted list of sites from which to obtain new or updated features in terms of components for composite applications.
Wiring
Wiring is the act of connecting a property from a component view to the action of a different component view. The property and action must have the same type (and namespace). When the property value changes, it is transmitted and set into the action. If the component views are on different pages of your composite application, a page switch also occurs and the page with the component whose actions is being set will be displayed.