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DirXML Components
DirXML Engine
The DirXML Engine is made up of the NDS interface component and the Join Engine.
NDS Interface
The NDS interface supports loading of multiple drivers, guaranteed delivery of NDS events, and NDS loop-back detection. The NDS loop-back detection prevents endless looping data exchange between you application and NDS.
Join Engine
DirXML is primarily a Join engine that uses XML as a data representation and then operates XML-based rules and transformations against the XML documents which flow through the Join engine. The Join engine handles data transformations, rules processing, NDS communication and schema mapping.
Figure 2 is a high-level view of DirXML. On the left, is the application, directory or database that you want to exchange data with. Information from the application is channeled through the application shim or DirXML driver. This driver is specially designed to accept data from your application, passing it to eDirectory and vice-versa. The DirXML Join engine is made up of a subscriber and a publisher that allows the filtering of data. Filtering is important, since you probably don't want to synchronize all the available data fields between your application and eDirectory. Rules and Stylesheets facilitate the filtering of this data. The NDS' datastore is represented on the far right side.
Figure 2: The DirXML Engine--made up of the NDS interface component and the Join Engine.
Subscriber and Publisher Channels
There are two channels that facilitate data transfer from your application to eDirectory and from eDirectory back to your application. These channels are called the Subscriber channel and the Publisher channel.
The Subscriber channel, which receives XML data from the DirXML engine, converts the data to the external application format, and sends it to the external application. The Subscriber channel is implemented as a SubscriptionShim.
The Publisher channel, which receives events from the external application, converts the events into XML, and sends the XML to the DirXML engine. The Publisher channel is implemented as a PublisherShim.
Looking at Figure 3, data can be stored in the eDirectory tree about a single employee or multiple employees. This data can be accessed by various applications using DirXML technology. In this case, the HR department of XYZ company can have information about employees, filtered to their needs, while at the same time, XYZ company's e-mail server's database is populated with filtered relevant employee information.
Figure 3: Data about employees can be stored in the eDirectory tree.
Application Shim
The Application Shim, composed of the DirXML driver, is responsible for issuing and receiving information in XML format. Rules are provided by the Document Object Model (DOM).
The Application Shim interfaces with the application that you wish to synchronize with eDirectory. The application does not need to change. Interfacing is typically done by API or even taking advantage of the applicaton's own remote capability, if one exists.
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