Target Skill:

List the BillerXpert components and identify the function of each  

Biller Xpert Application Architecture

BillerXpert is implemented as a number of front-end and back-end components that run on Netscape Application Server.  These components can run on a single machine, or be distributed on a number of different servers. The following diagram, which will be described in greater detail in Module 4 of this course, illustrates how the BillerXpert front-end and back-end components are built on NAS services. 

BillerXpert front-end components, which together form the application stencil, are built using AppLogics. The stencil is designed to allow increasingly sophisticated levels of customization through the use of different techniques, such as modifying HTML templates or modifying and creating AppLogics. AppLogic objects, which are sets of programming instructions, run on NAS and are managed and hosted by it. AppLogics can be deployed across many servers and provide the procedural portion of the BillerXpert application. AppLogic objects are derived from the AppLogic class in the NAS Server Foundation Class Library. 

BillerXpert back-end components are built using "Biz Beans," which are similar to Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) but which work with the current version of NAS. JavaBeans is an interface specification for reusable components, similar to Microsoft’s OCX or ActiveX control specifications, but which work in a platform-neutral way. The JavaBeans specification allows programmers to change a Java class into a bean, or cross-platform, reusable component, by changing the class to conform to the specification. NAS 2.1 does not support Enterprise JavaBeans. or EJB, but the next major release of NAS will. 

 

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