Benefits of using applications and libraries

Use applications and libraries to help manage multiple solutions and to share resources across multiple teams or projects.

The use of applications and libraries has the following benefits:
  • Flexible organization of resources.
    • You can organize resources that are required by message flows (such as XSD files, IDL files, WSDL, and .inadapter or .outadapter components) into libraries.
    • You control the structure of the library.
    • You can build a library by using resources from several projects (for example, a message set, and a Java™ project).
  • Encapsulated packaging of flows and their dependencies.
    • Applications are packages of message flows and libraries.
    • You can use message flows from several projects to build an application.
    • You can deploy and redeploy a whole application.
  • Modular and collaborative development.
    • Libraries can reference other libraries to reuse resources.
  • Unified packaging and organization through application development, deployment, and operational environments.
    • You can develop, deploy, then administer applications.
    • You can administer individual libraries.
    • You can maintain dependency relationships during operation.

Consistency through the development, deployment, and operational management processes

Applications, libraries, and integration projects provide a consistent view of your resources through the development, deployment, and operational management processes. In WebSphere® Message Broker Version 7.0 and earlier versions, file types and concepts were different at each stage of the development process. Multiple project types were used in the IBM® App Connect Enterprise Toolkit to contain different types of resource. No consistent method existed to reuse common components across all processes. However, applications and libraries span the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit for development, the BAR file for deployment, and tools like the web user interface for operational management.
This diagram contains screen captures that are taken from the Version 7 and Version 10 Toolkits, showing the different ways in which the resources are organized.