ioMorphWhat is ioMorph?ioMorph is a light weight data transformation engine.
The ioMorph Toolkit consists of;
example clients for using an ioMorph transformation e.g. Php, jsp scripts) detailed commented mappings xslt data transformations a web service for consistent xml transformation and mapping easy to install war file access to a manged hosted web service for those who don't want to deploy the web service themselves project documentation how to use the web service guide io... Not Jupiters moon... io is an abbreviation for interoperability.
Who is ioMorph for?System integrators, systems engineers, software engineers, web service integrators.
What is ioMorph for?Interoperability frameworks, interoperability architecture, consistent data transformation between disperate systems.
Are there any special features or benefits of the toolkit?Yes, ioMorph features a simple extensible transformation plug-in library which means, for example, if a database admininstrator is tasked to produce many different types of XML output from an e-learning system, he need only follow the explicit commented mapping process once, then for each xml type she wishes to out put the data as, call the relevant transformation xsl in the web service call. This means in terms as long as somebody has the ability to extend the open source xslt library provided beging with by Phosphorix then the support for different xml is endless from a single generic plug-in.
The ioMorph toolkit also features and extensible client 'plug-in' for example an administrator may wish to write a second client interface supporting both partial inputs or a third interface supporting receiving XML.
Beyond the targets we set ourselves for the JISC toolkits programme we have just begun testing reverse transformations for receiving XML and an ioMorph toolkit for IMS Enterprise. This could be released very soon.
Specific ioMorphs for IMS LIP, UK LEAP and XCRI.
Background to ioMorphioAgents was originally conceived to deliver interoperability between otherwise incompatible systems, the original design stressed the ambiguity of IMS LIP and the need to agree on a consistent mapping of data fields to xml elements. Phosphorix proposed an ioAgent forum and the development of a blueprint for interoperability. During the JISC funded SHELL project ioAgents were developed to provide a plug-in framework for interoperability and ioHub was developed to orchestrate and handle messages between ioAgents. IoAgents plugged into different colleges and a university to provide a common xml currency. The distributed hub / spoke architecture of agents, and central services was implemeted in the JISC funded SHELL project, the ioAgents were supposed to be 100% open source, however due to an emergency family crisis, there was a compromise.
ioMorph was developed both with hindsight and the determination to deliver a 100% open source agent.
IoNode simply stands for a node hub, web server, database, other hardware point... of an ioNetwork deployment. IoNode 1.0 was developed to be configured to perform agent or hub roles within an ioNetwork infrastructure.
2005 onwards the Phosphorix team decided to address the ever inflating core ioNode code and plan the refactoring of the core code plus the delivery of the 100% open source ioAgent, ioMorph fills the missing link and replaces the proprietary java transformation which had become so hard wired into ioNode 1.0. Furthermore we took a decision that ioNode would be split into smaller modules to deliver the main features such as xml transformation, reliable messaging. IoHub was soon split into ioDB and ioHub. IoAtom and ioNodeMX were designed to deliver simple secure reliable messaging based on the ebXML conforment design of the original ioNode.
So, we are developing jar and war versions, of very explicit transformations for XCRI, IMS LIP and IMS Enterprise, so that distributed projects linking multiple instituions or multiple systems can provide common open web service for consistent “xml currency†ioMorph at its simplist provides... a service for consistent transformations between different systems and different resources.
What does it do... in a nut shellioMorph 1.0 took a string of data from a SOAP client and returns that data transformed as xml profile of the system integrators choice. , for example, a string of course information can be submitted to an ioMorphWS which returns XCRI formatted data... in turn the client can use this XCRI to interoperate with others.
The advantage of this approach is less work on the client plug-in side, change is centralised, transformations are extensible, so one plug-in can yield many returned formats.
Whats the license?Apache 2.0
How is the project funded?Primarily by Phosphorix.
Phosphorix has been developing ioMorph4XCRI, ioMorph4IMSLIP variantsand ioMorph4IMSEnterprise as part of funded and non funded JISC initiatives. Mainly the JISC toolkits, JISC reference models and JISC DEL pilots. SHELL was part of the JISC MLE programme. IoMorph was originally jointly funded by Phosphorix and JISC indirectly and now continues to be funded by Phosphorix. We welcome any contributions or sponsorship of the further development of ioMorph.
Future DevelopmentIn addition to the most recent developments for IMS Enterprise and reverse plug-ins xml2string Phosphorix would like to simplify ioMorphs core architecture further and bring in a further plug-in layer in the form of an XML based mapping library.
Further news of these developments will be published on this blog and the Phosphorix web site. Phosphorix Homepage
Training and SupportPhosphorix demonstrated and ran a workshop for ioMorphWS Toolkit for XCRI and an ioMorphWS Toolkit for IMS LIP at Oxford University on the 28th/29th of March 2006.
For further information please see...http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/members/enterprise/registration/meeting13/
Project Team
Selwyn Lloyd , Yasir Siraj, David Hunter, Daniel Cottam, Richard Carowicz, Oliver Hayes, Duncan Gray, Daniel Cox.
