Connectivity Tools

Connectivity is essential for successful next-generation applications. Today, enterprise software must interact with a myriad of diverse applications and databases.

Allegro Common Lisp 8.0's Java and C++ interfaces, SOAP and XML support, CORBA ORB, database connections and powerful foreign function interface provide the necessary tools to link programs and functionality within an enterprise and across business partners quickly and efficiently.

New for ACL 8.0

• IPv6 -- Internet Protocol version 6 socket support
• Major jLinker update -- Application programmers can choose the socket interface or native JNI interface on most platforms
• Major COM/OLE update -- A high-level OLE/OCX interface has been added to complement the low-level interface that has been available for some time. The core of the new high-level interface is automatically reading typelibs and automatically creating the interface on the Lisp side. Common Graphics widgets can be defined for arbitrary OCX controls
• SWIG interface to C++ -- (see www.swig.org for more information)
• aclrpc performance improvements and a new API to start and manage client Lisp images
• Major SOAP update --
  • CLOS wrappers for SOAP structures
  • built-in definitions for many Schema types
  • new warning hierarchy
  • new condition hierarchy
  • access to element attributes in SOAP messages
  • attribute values may be computed when message is composed
  • top-level multiRef handling
  • multiple SOAP Body elements
  • access to encoding and content-type headers
  • complete access to all the message components
  • user extensions to WSDL code generators

Allegro Web Services

Compose and deploy Web Services applications dynamically in Lisp.

• SAX/DOM XML Parsers: Validating XML parsers, tested against all major test suites. Faster than the C++ and Java versions
• SOAP API: Enables Allegro CL applications to communicate with new and legacy applications on the internet via the SOAP protocol, and to access web services over the internet
• WSDL Compiler: Automatically generates client Soap templates from WSDL files and server WSDL files from Lisp expressions
• Allegro Webactions: A Web Application Framework on AllegroServe for building dynamic web pages that can be easily maintained and updated. Webactions provides a clear distinction between web design and programming, allowing web designers to work independently from programmers with their choice of tools. While similar to the Java Struts in concept, is much simpler to use and more powerful for application evolution

JAVA Tool Suite

Connect seamlessly to Java applications, without additional software.

• Package Allegro CL applications as Java Beans or Servlets
• Allegro jLinkerٺ Directly call Java methods as if they were Lisp functions and vice-versa
• Allegro JiLٺ Dynamically generate and compile Java code to run in the Java Virtual Machine

Allegro ORBLink™

A CORBA-compliant ORB designed for developers who need to connect Lisp to legacy code or systems written in other languages in a robust, standardized manner.

• CORBA 2.1 with POA (Portable Object Architecture)
• Allegro ORBLink applications can be distributed for load sharing or fault-tolerance
• IDL interfaces map directly to classes, and IDL methods to generic functions
• Supports :before, :after, and :around methods
• ORB administration interface
• Configurable error recovery policy
• Optimized for deadlock-avoidance
• COM support

XML-RPC

Industry standard protocol that allows applications written in different languages and/or separated by firewalls to communicate over the Internet.

• To access and/or create third-party servers
• Lighter-weight alternative to CORBA

Lisp RPC

Allows one Lisp image to call functions and access data in another Lisp image anywhere on a network.

• Lighter-weight alternative to CORBA
• Facilitates splitting an application into distributed components
• Enables effective use of multi-processor architectures, where distributed components may utilize several processors
• New security features to prevent accidental and inadvertent interference
• Shared memory communication for an alternative to network sockets - up to 50x faster!
• Revised documentation: more examples and expanded explanations

Foreign Function Interface

Calling code written in other languages dynamically in a running Allegro CL application.

• Load and call compiled code written in another language
• Call non-Lisp functions from within Allegro CL and vice versa
• Automatically marshall and unmarshall datatypes between Allegro CL and foreign functions
• Link libraries written in other languages in Allegro CL, and have all the functions accessible
• Generate foreign function interfaces directly from SWIG definitions