Chapter 2 Working with the AI Component Builder

Understanding AI Connections

An Application Integrator connection is a named set of properties that specifies how to connect to a target system (similar to an ODBC data source or a JDBC URL). At design time, the AI connection definition tells the Component Builder how to retrieve metadata about target stored procedures. At run time, the AI connection can be used by the component to obtain a connection to the target by default; alternatively, you can configure AI components to use the Jaguar connection cache to acquire a connection. See "Defining Connection Caches in Jaguar Manager" and the Jaguar documentation for more information.

You use the Component Builder to define connections, associate them with components, and deploy them to Jaguar. Every component is associated with exactly one connection.

All connectivity in AI for Stored Procedures uses JDBC. The Component Builder uses JDBC to test connections and to browse databases when creating component methods. At run time, Application Integrator components running in Jaguar use JDBC to invoke stored procedures. The connections you build in the Component Builder are JDBC connections.

This section covers the following topics:

Defining Connection Properties

When you create a connection, you must supply the following information in the Component Builder:

The type of connection you want to create.
The following connection types are supported in the zComponent Builder:

Table 2-1: Connection types supported in the Component Builder
Connection type	Description
Sybase ASA	Connection to a Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere database
Sybase ASE	Connection to a Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise database
Sybase DirectConnect	Connection to a Sybase DirectConnect gateway
Oracle OCI	Connection to Oracle using the Oracle OCI JDBC driver
Oracle Thin	Connection to Oracle using the Oracle thin JDBC driver
JDBC-ODBC Bridge	Connection to any database accessible through ODBC using the Sun JDBC-ODBC bridge
Generic	Connection to a database accessible using JDBC

Properties needed to connect to the database containing the target stored procedure.
These properties differ for each target but often include a host name and port number. When you create a connection, the Component Builder derives a JDBC URL for the connection from these properties. The Component Builder provides a simple interface for entering properties and does not require you to know the URL format for supported JDBC drivers.

See Appendix A, "Target Types" for detailed information about the properties required for each supported connection type.
User name and password for the database containing the target stored procedure.

Registering JDBC Drivers

Application Integrator and Jaguar include the Sybase JDBC driver jConnect, which you can use to create connections to Sybase servers. For other connection types, such as Oracle, you must provide additional JDBC drivers.

You also must register each non-Sybase JDBC driver with the Component Builder before you create connections that use it. To register a driver, add it to the JDBC Driver Class Path that appears in the Component Builder Options dialog box.

The JDBC Driver Class Path is a Java class path that the Component Builder uses to locate JDBC drivers. It can include jar files, zip files, or directories that contain JDBC drivers you are using with the Component Builder. Entries in the class path are separated by semi-colons.

After you register a driver, you can test connections in the Component Builder and browse databases accessible through the driver to create component methods.

You must also install each non-Sybase JDBC driver on the Jaguar server where Application Integrator components are deployed. This must be done so that components can use the JDBC driver at run time to invoke stored procedures.

Testing Connections

The Component Builder allows you to test a connection to the database where the target stored procedure resides. This makes it easy to verify that the database is running, and that you have defined the connection correctly.

Common reasons that connection tests fail are:

The network or database is down.
Invalid values, such as host name, port number, user name, or password, were specified for the connection.
The JDBC driver for the connection was not registered with the Component Builder, or it is not installed correctly.

See Appendix A, "Target Types" for information on properties needed for each connection type.

Connection Caching

Application Integrator components do not use Jaguar's connection caching feature at run time by default; however, components can be configured to use the connection caching feature in Jaguar. See Chapter 3, "Jaguar and Application Issues" for details.