A view system for CORBA-wrapped data sources

Abstract

Integration of data from disparate, heterogeneous and autonomous data sources is a common problem of different domains, including molecular biology. Mediator-based architectures and views have been used to integrate data and restructure data representation. CORBA facilitates data integration by providing language, platform and network transparency. In CORBA, data itself can be modelled in IDL, essentially creating IDL schemas. Integration of IDL modelled data from available source CORBA servers involves mapping between source IDL schemas and a preferred target IDL schema. Implementing the mapping manually is tedious. We have developed a system for creation of customised representations of data and data integration on CORBA-wrapped data sources. Views are employed to restructure data representation. The system supports semi-automatic generation of target CORBA servers based on the specification of source to target IDL mapping in a high-level mapping language.