Understanding JCA Transactions

By Mikhail Genkin
2005-04-22


Learn How the Various Levels of Transaction Support Provided by Different EISs and Resource Adapters Can Affect Application Design.
Transaction processing is a vital part of most real-world J2EE application development. In this article, IBM Solution Architect Mikhail Genkin explains how different enterprise information systems (EIS) can participate in transactions via the J2EE Connector Architecture. Using an example e-commerce application, Mikhail demonstrates the various levels of transaction support provided by different EISs and resource adapters and shows how these factors can affect application design. The article concludes with Mikhail's tips for choosing the right transaction demarcation strategy and EJB deployment descriptor settings for your enterprise development scenario.

The world of e-business is a rapidly changing environment. Businesses need to integrate business logic and data that are available on existing enterprise information systems (EIS) -- such as Customer Information Control System (CICS), Information Management System (IMS), or SAP -- into new applications. Frequently, vital business transactions are written in procedural languages such as Cobol or C. The J2EE™ platform includes a specification that provides developers with a standard interface for accessing EIS transactions and data: the J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA) specification.

In this article, I'll explain how the JCA transaction contract helps implement transactional behavior in e-business applications. Specifically, you'll learn about the JCA's two transaction demarcation techniques, distributed transaction demarcation and programmatic transaction demarcation. I'll explain the pros and cons of each and offer tips for deciding which one is best suited to your application development scenario. Then I'll walk you through an enterprise programming example implementing programmatic transaction demarcation. The article will conclude with tips for choosing and applying the correct EJB deployment descriptor settings for your transaction demarcation solution.

Techniques described in this article can be implemented with any application server that is compliant with J2EE 1.3 or higher, as well as both JCA 1.0- and JCA 1.5-compliant resource adapters.

Tutorial Pages:
» Learn How the Various Levels of Transaction Support Provided by Different EISs and Resource Adapters Can Affect Application Design.
» Overview of JCA Transactions
» Transaction Support Levels
» JCA Transaction Support
» Transaction Demarcation Strategies
» Programmatic Transaction Demarcation
» EJB Deployment Descriptor Settings
» In Conclusion
» Resources


First published by IBM DeveloperWorks

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