Quartz - service distribution with e-mail

Overview

Quartz is about service distribution through electronic mail and the World Wide Web (WWW). The aim of the project is to make CORBA objects widely and easily accessible from desktops and consumers, making them simple to use and removing the need to learn a particular interface for each.

Benefits

As the world marketplace develops, IT application service users are more likely to be located far away from the central site and to be equipped with different types of machine. Installing services is a costly process, especially if they are not to be used frequently or if complete consistency has to be achieved across all sites. Often external users, such as customers of the company or corporate partners, are involved and there is an increasing need for temporary use of an application or for a punctual connection to a service.

Aiming to meet these requirements, Quartz demonstrates a technology for distributing CORBA services. It provides them with the following advantages:

• Accessible from different sites and different platforms
• Easy connection and installation
• Simple but powerful interface
• Easy access to related information
• Rapid application development
• Re-usability and extensibility

Approach

Tools such as electronic mail and the World Wide Web (WWW) are generally known to many people. The Web's simple and user-friendly interface makes users (even non-technical ones) able to access, provide, and exchange information easily and widely. The core idea of Quartz is to wrap CORBA objects with a Web interface and use email and Web infrastructure for distribution.

To provide interoperability between WWW and CORBA -- a fundamental issue to the project -- Quartz will take an approach based on Java over IIOP. A client interface for a CORBA object is defined as a Java applet that can be embedded right into HTML pages, therefore accessible using the WWW. However, to enable such an applet to talk to its CORBA object, a CORBA IIOP engine implemented in Java is required. Such an engine will be developed in the Jade project.

Demonstration example

Quartz will use application examples to demonstrate the feasibility, advantages and benefits of its technology. One of the examples will be a workflow application, an electronic Leave Request system. The key component is a workflow manager that monitors and controls the process of a service. The following is a typical scenario:

1. A member of staff makes a leave request by filling an application form through a Web browser, say on a Unix workstation.
2. After receiving the submission, the workflow manager notifies the secretary about the application by sending an email including the application form.
3. The secretary, perhaps working on a PC, reviews the application form encapsulated in the email, and checks whether the staff have enough available holiday time.
4. Supposing the staff is entitled to the days he applied for, the workflow manager sends the manager an email about the application.
5. The manager (who may be away for a conference, and using a laptop machine) reviews the application form via a Web browser. He will decide whether to accept the request, checking whether there is any time collision with important company activities by reviewing the company diary through a Web Browser.
6. Finally, the workflow manager sends an email to the staff to notify the result.

Deliverables

The result of the Quartz project will include:

• Working demonstration examples - robust source code, and descriptions
• Object library - key components that are reusable in similar applications
• Builder package - tools to reduce the difficulty of developing similar applications
• Architectural reports - documentation describing the demonstration example's key architectural features and design decisions
• Project report - documentation describing the project principles and design decisions

Timescale

Completion is expected by May, 1996.

Contact

For further details please contact Z Wu (wu@ansa.co.uk) or Toby Speight (tms@ansa.co.uk).