2001
During the spring of 2001 the move of the Web Kit into a pure Java architecture,
using Java Server Pages (JSP) and Java Servlets instead of ASP for page layout, and CORBA instead of COM for backend communication was completed.
The project to migrate the actual web pages in IFS Applications ran in parallel and was completed during the fall. A special tool was developed to automate migration of the thousands of ASP+JScript web pages in IFS Applications to JSP+Java.
This means that for IFS Applications 2002 - to be released spring 2002 - the web interface can be used with any web server (Apache, IIS, etc.) and any operating system.
This migration was achieved while heavily extending the IFS Applications web interface.
IFS Connect saw its biggest development ever. The framework and most of the adaptors were moved to the new middleware. New adaptors equaling the functionality of IFS Event Server were added. The Event Server introduced in 1996 was now completely superseded by IFS Connect and no longer needed. The reborn IFS Connect framework was given built-in support for SOAP over Http, XML Schemas, and out-of-the-box integration to MS BizTalk Server and IBM WebSphere MQ.
The Ti22 project continued to run throughout the year working mainly on the new middleware, the new connect framework and supporting services.
The concept of BizAPIs was launched as a name for XML integration interfaces developed directly under the CORBA architecture. A Java framework for development of BizAPIs was produced, and a project to provide an initial set of BizAPIs for the coming IFS Applications 2002 release was initiated. The possibility of using the CORBA middleware for client access from custom clients was explored and access providers for both Java and COM were developed.
