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Chapter 6. Using Host Publisher Studio to develop J2EE applications 183

 Boat_db.mf: This file contains the created manifest with information about the contents of

the Java Archive (JAR) file.

For more details and editing guidelines, see

IBM WebSphere Host Publisher Programmer’s

Guide and Reference

.

6.5 Application Integrator

Use the Application Integrator component of Host Publisher Studio to create Web pages that

use the Integration Objects you created using Host Access or Database Access. Application

Integrator enables you to import Integration Objects, Enterprise JavaBeans Access Beans,

and other JavaBeans or objects. See 6.9, “Application Integrator Advanced” on page 235, for

more information about Enterprise JavaBeans and Web Services.

6.5.1 Specifying Integration Objects to publish to the application server

A Host Publisher application is a collection of Web pages, Integration Objects, and other Java

objects that enable the end user to interact with multiple data sources.

Application Integrator enables you to build a series of Web pages using standard HTML tags

in conjunction with special JSP tags and Java code. These standard tags manipulate Java

objects (such as an Integration Object) on the Web page. These tags also provide the ability

to specify Java object output directly on the page.

JSP tags are designed for any Java object or bean. You can use Application Integrator to

import other Java classes or beans, in addition to Host Publisher Integration Objects, into

your application and publish them into Web pages.

Application Integrator accepts as input any Integration Objects, other Java components, or

any prebuilt HTML pages to which you want to add data interactions. The output is a

collection of Web pages (JSPs) that have been generated or modified to interact with

Integration Objects.

6.5.2 Using the Application Integrator wizards

You can use the Integration Objects that Host Publisher creates to build your own server-side

components, such as servlets, JSPs, EJBs or Web Services. This section explains how to

develop Host Publisher applications using the Host Publisher Studio to generate an

application based on JSPs.

The Host Publisher application execution process can be described as follows (see

Figure 6-41):

1. The input page is invoked via a URL. The page contains a form, and the user enters the

required information, such as account number or name.

2. The user submits the request and the output page is posted.

3. The output page gets control and executes the following methods:

– Setter methods to pass the input variables

– Integration Object invocation

– Getter methods to obtain the output variables

4. The output page is dynamically built including the obtained output variables.

5. The error page is called in case of an error.

184 iSeries Access for Web V5R2 and WebSphere Host Publisher V4.0

Figure 6-41 Host Publisher Studio applications

The following steps explain how to create Web pages that use the Integration Objects that you

created using Host Access or Database Access:

1. Launch the IBM WebSphere Host Publisher Studio and start a new application by clicking

File-> New Application..., as shown in Figure 6-42.

Figure 6-42 New application

2. Provide a name for your application (Figure 6-43) so that it can be identified when you are

ready to transfer and deploy it.

Chapter 6. Using Host Publisher Studio to develop J2EE applications 185

Figure 6-43 Naming the application

3. As illustrated in Figure 6-44, there are two ways to start building your application:

– Select the I prefer to start with data option if you are familiar with the Integration

Object input and output variables (properties) and want to create the input, output, and

error pages.

– Start creating pages if you already have a page layout for your application.

In this sample scenario, the option I prefer to start with data is selected.

Figure 6-44 Selecting how you want to start

4. Import the Integration Object(s) that will be used for this new application. Click Import

(Figure 6-45) and select all the Integration Objects you need.

186 iSeries Access for Web V5R2 and WebSphere Host Publisher V4.0

Figure 6-45 Importing the Integration Object

5. After you import the Integration Object, define how it will be used. Select the Integration

Object and click Define (Figure 6-46).

Figure 6-46 Defining how the Integration Object will be used

At this time, the Host Publisher Studio knows which input and output properties are

required to be set (setters) and obtained (getters) for the defined Integration Object.

6. Host Publisher Studio starts collecting information to create the input and output

(execution) JSPs. As shown in Figure 6-47, enter the name of the output page that also

invokes your Integration Object.