Getting started with developing applications

To begin developing WebSphere® eXtreme Scale applications, you must set up your development environment, learn about APIs that you can use, then develop and test your application.

1. Set up a development environment and access the API documentation.

   You can begin to use the APIs to develop your applications. You can also use the API documentation within the development environment.

   More information:Setting up a stand-alone development environment in Eclipse

   More information: Accessing Java API documentation

   More information: Setting up the .NET development environment

   More information: Accessing WebSphere eXtreme Scale Client for .NET API documentation

2. In a Java environment, you can create a simple application that starts servers, creates an ObjectGrid instance, and inserts data into the data grid.
   1. Use the ServerFactory API to start and stop servers.

      More information:Using the embedded server API to start and stop servers

   2. Use the ObjectGridManager API to retrieve the ObjectGrid instance that you created.

      More information: Interacting with an ObjectGrid using the ObjectGridManager interface

   3. Use the ObjectMap API to insert data into the data grid.

      More information: Caching objects with no relationships involved (ObjectMap API)

      The ObjectMap API is the simplest way to access and write data to the data grid. If your objects have complex relationships, you can use the following APIs to read, write, and update data:

      • Accessing data with indexes (Index API)
      • Caching objects and their relationships (EntityManager API)
      • Retrieving entities and objects (Query API)
      • Accessing data with the REST data service

      For more information about choosing between the different APIs, see Developing applications.
3. In a .NET environment, you can write a client application that connects to the catalog server, obtains a data grid and map instance, and reads, writes, and updates data.
   For more information about writing a basic .NET application, see Getting started tutorial lesson 2.2: Creating a .NET client application.
4. Unit test your application.

   You can also use the xscmd utility to display information about the running servers, replicas, and so on. See Administering with the xscmd utility for more information.

5. When you are satisfied with your application within the development environment, create XML configuration files and update your application to use the configuration.
   The Getting Started sample application provides examples of these configuration files and a simple application that uses the configuration files.

   More information:Tutorial: Getting started with WebSphere eXtreme Scale

6. Run your application using the XML configuration files. How you start your servers depends on the environment that you are using.

   You can run your application in one of the following containers:

   • Stand-alone Java virtual machine (JVM)
   • Tomcat
   • WebSphere Application Server
   • OSGi