Example: Manual conversion of Version 7.0 resources to applications and libraries

The Version 7.0 resources

Resources have been created in Version 7.0 to implement two solutions: "MyFirstSolution" and "MyOtherSolution".

The following images show how the resources for the two solutions are represented in the Version 7.0 WebSphere Message Broker Toolkit.

The problems and the solution

The organization of the resources in the Version 7.0 WebSphere Message Broker Toolkit does not make it clear which projects apply to which solution.

Similarly, deployed resources are shown as a flat list in the Brokers view of the WebSphere Message Broker Toolkit, and in WebSphere Message Broker Explorer. When it is time to deploy a solution, you need to know exactly which resources to add to your broker archive (BAR) file.

A lack of isolation is also an issue in this example. Both solutions use the message set project, SharedMessageSet. If you deploy a new SharedMessageSet message set project, the change affects both solutions. To use different versions of the SharedMessageSet project with each solution, you could deploy each solution to its own integration server, which might not be appropriate in your environment.

To resolve these issues, you can use one application to encapsulate all the resources required for MyFirstSolution, and another application to contain all the resources for MyOtherSolution. You can use libraries to contain the resources that are used by other solutions (the CommonSubFlows message flow project, and the SharedMessageSet message set project).

Manual conversion to applications and libraries

The following table lists the steps that are taken to convert the Version 7.0 resources to applications and libraries.

	Conversion step	Results
1.	Import Version 7.0 resources into the Version 9.0 IBM® Integration Toolkit.	To convert the Version 7.0 resources to applications and libraries, they are first exported from the Version 7.0 WebSphere Message Broker Toolkit and imported into the Version 9.0 IBM Integration Toolkit. The imported resources are initially listed under the Independent Resources category in the Version 9.0 IBM Integration Toolkit. Message flow projects do not exist in Version 9.0. Therefore, the Version 7.0 message flow projects are converted automatically to integration projects when they are imported. At this stage, you could use the Convert Projects to Applications and Libraries wizard to analyze all the projects in the Independent Resources category and decide how to convert them (see Example: Wizard-assisted conversion of Version 7.0 resources to applications and libraries). The wizard describes how it will convert the resources so that you can decide if the conversion is appropriate. For example, the wizard might decide to convert all message set projects to libraries in case any of them are required by other projects in the future. However, if you know that the message set project will only ever be used in one solution, you might choose to include that message set project in the application rather than making it a separate library. For the purposes of this example, the resources will be converted individually.
2.	Convert shared projects to libraries.	Dependent resources are converted first. The Version 7.0 message flow project, MyFirstSolution, depends on the CommonSubFlows message flow project, which was converted to an integration project automatically when it was imported into Version 9.0. An application cannot refer to an integration project. Therefore, MyFirstSolution cannot be converted to an application until CommonSubFlows has been converted. CommonSubFlows might be shared by other projects in the future, therefore it is converted to a library. SharedMessageSet is used by both solutions, therefore it is converted to a library.
3.	Convert the main projects to applications.	If the message set projects, MyFirstSolutionMessageSet and MyOtherSolutionMessageSet, might be used by other solutions in the future, you would convert them to libraries at this point. This example assumes that the message set projects will be used in their associated solutions only. Therefore, the MyFirstSolution and MyOtherSolution integration projects can now be converted to applications. You can see from the following image that the message set projects that were not converted to libraries are included in the relevant applications. The projects that were converted to libraries are listed as references for each application.

The Version 9.0 resources

After conversion, you can see more clearly which resources are used by each solution. At deployment time, you do not need to know exactly which resources are required by your solution. The following image shows how, on the Prepare tab of the BAR File editor, you select the application, and all required resources are deployed.

Similarly, the organization of resources is obvious when you are administering brokers in IBM Integration Explorer.

The following topics contain detailed instructions about how to complete these conversion steps:

• Importing resources from previous versions: This topic describes how to export a Project Interchange file from one version of the WebSphere Message Broker Toolkit and import it to another version.
• Converting a project to an application or library: This topic describes how to convert projects individually and how to use the Convert Projects to Applications and Libraries wizard. It also lists the restrictions that apply when you convert certain types of project.

For a demonstration of how to convert resources to applications and libraries, see IBM Education Assistant module: Applications and Libraries conversion.