A framework enables
data source components to be developed independently of data
consumer components. A mediation layer, typically implemented as a group of APIs (
application programming interface), handles and defines the mediation and interface between the source and data components. The framework, called XIS (extensible
information system), is especially suited for development of information-handling systems and applications.
Data source components and data
consumer components are typically designed to communicate with each other via several interfaces. Domain, relationship, attribute /
metadata, and change event interfaces are defined within the mediation layer. Other interfaces may also be defined.
Data source components that are written for non-XIS aware environments or frameworks may still be used with XIS by "wrapping" such source components with code to conform to the interface requirements.
Java objects are examples of
data source components. Data
consumer components thus are able to use or consume various source components regardless of the data types and the
data source. Thus, once a data consumer component is developed within the XIS framework, any data source components within the XIS framework may be consumed by a data consumer component.