Authors:
Sheng YE
;
Wei SUN
and
Zhong TIAN
Affiliation:
IBM China Research Lab, China
Keyword(s):
Flat file, XML, data extraction, data transformation, application integration
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Coupling and Integrating Heterogeneous Data Sources
;
Databases and Information Systems Integration
;
Enterprise Information Systems
;
Legacy Systems
Abstract:
With the development of e-business, the capability of exchanging data in different formats is necessary for integrating heterogeneous enterprise applications. Though XML is becoming the standard communication protocol over the Internet, most enterprise applications today can only process a specific format text data, mostly in a flat file. This paper introduces a round trip transformation technology between flat file and XML, Flat File Adapter. This technology employs a systematic data extraction and formatting method to support the processing of complex format flat file. By using Flat File Adapter, developer can quickly design templates containing the data transformation rules. It can be easily updated when requirements change later. In this paper, we introduce the system architecture, detailed components, and particular data extraction and transformation method. Finally, a sample application in B2B e-procurement solution is also described.