Java, 'NET,

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Java, .NET, PERLWeb Services Interoperability

• Dr. Timothy M. Chester
• Texas AM University

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Timothy M. Chester is. . .

• Senior IT Manager, Texas AM University
• Application Development, Systems Integration,
  Developer Tools Training
• Lecturer, Texas AM College of Business
• Courses on Business Programming Fundamentals
  (VB.NET, C), XML Advanced Web Development.
• Author
• Visual Studio Magazine, Dr. Dobbs Journal, IT
  Professional
• Consultant
• President Principal, eInternet Studios
• Contact Information
• E-mail tim-chester_at_tamu.edu
• Web http//tim-chester.tamu.edu

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Texas AM University
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You Are. . .

• Software Developers
• .NET, Java, and Open-source PERL
• Interested in Interoperability Lessons from the
  trenches
• IT Managers
• Whats interoperability in the real-world look
  like?

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This session . . .

• Assumes you have a pretty solid understanding of
  object-based, and object-oriented programming.
• Provides you with a demonstration of the nuts and
  bolts of interoperability between .NET, J2EE, and
  PERL.
• Discusses a practical application of these
  technologies at Texas AM University

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Agenda

• Its time for. . .
• The Problem
• The Architecture
• The System
• The PERL Challenge
• The J2EE Challenge
• Lessons Learned
• Questions

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Underlying Technologies XML Is the Glue
XML
HTML
TCP/IP
Technology
Connecting Applications
Connectivity
Presentation
FTP, E-mail, Gopher
Innovation
Web Pages
Connect the Web
Web Services
Browse the Web
Program the Web
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Evolution of Web
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Now what do we do?

• Time to stop talking, and start coding?
• End the hype cycle
• Less focus on standards, more focus on
  applications.

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Agenda

• Its time for. . .
• The Problem
• The Architecture
• The System
• The PERL Challenge
• The J2EE Challenge
• Lessons Learned
• Questions

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An image challenge

• Texas AM University
• First higher education institution in Texas
  (1876)
• Top 50 university, U.S. News 2001
• 44,618 enrolled
• 5,200 acre campus
• Top ten library
• Holds federal land, sea, space grants
• Only institution to clone 3 species
• Problem
• No infrastructure to allow electronic payments.

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Texas AM University

• Aging legacy information systems on OS/390
• Tightly coupled systems, little to no integration
  with exception of batch/flat file transfers.
• Cumbersome 3270 or VOCOM/Telephone based access
  to critical business processes

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Management Wants

• Self-service access to all types of information
  admissions, financial aid, registrar.
• Tighter, real-time coupling between
  administrative management support systems.
• Acceptance of electronic payments and full
  integration w/existing accounting systems

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Technical Challenges

• Must support every conceivable platform, and
  every conceivable programming language out there.
• Must perform, to meet the needs of 45,000 students

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Introducing. . .

• Aggie Epay
• Accepts credit card payments
• Accepts electronic check payments
• Automatic clearing into departmental accounting
  system
• Web Service Integration
• Request Transaction
• Request Transaction Results

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Agenda

• Its time for. . .
• The Problem
• The Architecture
• The System
• The PERL Challenge
• The J2EE Challenge
• Lessons Learned
• Questions

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Aggie Epay Architecture Application Model
Partner Web Service
Other Web Services
Partner Web Service
Internet XML
epay.tamu.edu
End Users
Application Business Logic Tier
Data Access and Storage Tier
Other Applications
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Work Flow

• Customer comes into departmental website to
  purchase product or service

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• Departmental system uses Aggie-Epay Web Service
  to request new transaction

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• Aggie-Epay returns a unique transaction id and
  URL that will accept this payment

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• Department system redirects customer to the URL
  for this transaction

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• Customer submits payment to Aggie-Epay

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• Aggie-Epay redirects customer back to
  departments web site.

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• Departmental system queries Aggie-Epay to
  determine the results of the transaction

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Agenda

• Its time for. . .
• The Problem
• The Architecture
• The System
• The PERL Challenge
• The J2EE Challenge
• Lessons Learned
• Questions

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System Demonstration
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Agenda

• Its time for. . .
• The Problem
• The Architecture
• The System
• The PERL Challenge
• The J2EE Challenge
• Lessons Learned
• Questions

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PERL Integration

• Platforms Tools
• Sun Solaris
• Apache
• PERL
• SOAPLite PERL Mod

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Code Walk-Through
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Agenda

• Its time for. . .
• The Problem
• The Architecture
• The System
• The PERL Challenge
• The J2EE Challenge
• Lessons Learned
• Questions

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J2EE Integration

• Platforms Tools
• Windows 2000
• Apache Tomcat
• J2EE

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Code Walk-Through
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Agenda

• Its time for. . .
• The Problem
• The Architecture
• The System
• The PERL Challenge
• The J2EE Challenge
• Lessons Learned
• Questions

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Lessons Learned

• Keep it simple stupid
• Primitives strongly encouraged
• Avoid Complexity
• Complex/reference types strongly discouraged
• Think about RPC versus doc/literals
• Dont underestimate issues with encoding and
  character sets

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Agenda

• Its time for. . .
• The Problem
• The Architecture
• The System
• The PERL Challenge
• The J2EE Challenge
• Lessons Learned
• Questions

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Questions?
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Resources

• Sample code at
• http//tim-chester.tamu.edu
• SOAPLite
• http//www.soaplite.com
• GLUE
• http//www.themindelectric.com