ioMorph

ioMorph is free software released by Phosphorix under the Apache 2 open source license.

ioMorph is a light weight data transformation engine.

ioMorph is utilised by ioPortal and most recently by CourseExchange.

The ioMorph Toolkit consists of;

• example clients for using an ioMorph transformation e.g. Php, jsp scripts
• detailed commented mappings
• xslt data transformations
• a web service for consistent xml transformation and mapping
• access to a manged hosted web service for those who don't want to deploy the web service themselves
• project documentation
• how to use the web service guide
• io... Not Jupiter's moon... io is an abbreviation for interoperability
• easy to install war file

For a more detailed look at ioMorph visit our ioMorph website

Background to ioMorph

ioAgents was originally conceived to deliver interoperability between otherwise incompatible systems, the original design stressed the ambiguity of IMS LIP and the need to agree on a consistent mapping of data fields to XML elements.

Phosphorix proposed an ioAgent forum and the development of a blueprint for interoperability. During the JISC funded SHELL project ioAgents were developed to provide a plug-in framework for interoperability and ioHub was developed to orchestrate and handle messages between ioAgents.

ioAgents plugged into different colleges and a university to provide a common XML currency. The distributed hub / spoke architecture of agents, and central services was implemented in the JISC funded SHELL project, the ioAgents were supposed to be 100% open source, however due to an emergency family crisis, there was a compromise.

ioMorph was developed both with hindsight and the determination to deliver a 100% open source agent.

ioNode simply stands for a node [agent, hub, web server, database, other hardware point...] of an ioNetwork deployment. ioNode 1.0 was developed to be configured to perform agent or hub roles within an ioNetwork infrastructure.

2005 onwards the Phosphorix team decided to address the ever inflating core ioNode code and plan the refactoring of the core code plus the delivery of the 100% open source ioAgent.

ioMorph fills the missing link and replaces the proprietary java transformation which had become so hard-wired into ioNode 1.0. Furthermore we took a decision that ioNode would be split into smaller modules to deliver the main features such as XML transformation, reliable messaging. IoHub was soon split into ioDB and ioHub. IoAtom and ioNodeMX were designed to deliver simple secure reliable messaging based on the ebXML conformant design of the original ioNode.

So, we are developing jar and war versions, of very explicit transformations for XCRI, IMS LIP and IMS Enterprise, so that distributed projects linking multiple institutions or multiple systems can provide common open web service for consistent.

ioMorph at its simplest provides a service for consistent transformations between different systems and different resources.

What does it do, in a nut shell?

ioMorph 1.0 took a string of data from a SOAP client and returns that data transformed as XML profile of the system integrators choice, for example, a string of course information can be submitted to an ioMorph web service which returns XCRI formatted data. In turn the client can use this XCRI to interoperate with others.

The advantage of this approach is less work on the client plug-in side, change is centralised, transformations are extensible, so one plug-in can yield many returned formats.