Organik   
Software Development Kit   

 

 

 

Customizing and Extending Organik

Although Organik is targeted at providing direct ‘out of the box’ functionality its design explicitly addresses the needs of end-users and system integrators to deliver enhanced functionality. Two main routes exist for building upon Organik:

  • The behavior of the Agents at the heart of the system can be modified
  • Support can be added for additional external storage, retrieval and communication facilities

Customizing Agent Behavior

The core functionality of Organik is controlled by generic agents whose behavior is controlled by the execution of pre-prepared scripts. Currently these scripts are straightforward Java classes that implement a standard Organik interface. This facility is being augmented by a higher-level scripting environment that allows scripts to be developed and debugged graphically without any need for users to manipulate raw Java code.

Integration

There are four main areas where Organik interfaces with external systems:

  • The Repository, where the persistent state of objects is stored. Organik can either handle storage itself or this can be delegated to other systems such as a suitable relational database server accessed through JDBC.
  • Knowledge Ports provide the means for importing new resources into the Organik environment. New Knowledge Ports can be constructed to manage new sources of information.
  • The Retrieval Engine can integrate both Organik’s own indexing technology and external search engines using our advanced data fusion and relevance feedback techniques.
  • Additional means of communication between Organik, its users and other systems can be supported. As well as the standard set of protocols currently supported we investigating broad support for CORBA IIOP, the Data Replication Protocol, XML and various messaging systems.

Technical Strategy for Developer Support

We plan to have our development API stabilized in Q1 ’98. We will then be able to provide a firm consistent base for developers to build upon Organik. We actively encourage comments and suggestions for the features you would like to see in both our product and its APIs. Please email comments to ideas@orbital-tech.com

Order the Organik SDK Kit online at http://www.orbital-tech.com/sdk.html

 

Copyright © 1998 Orbital Technologies. All rights reserved.