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Developing Agricultural Models Using MetBroker Mediation Software.

2002; Society of Agricultural Meteorology of Japan; Volume: 58; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2480/agrmet.58.1

1881-0136

M. Laurenson, Akira Otuka, S. Ninomiya,

Advanced Computational Techniques and Applications

MetBroker offers consistent access for agricultural models to heterogeneous weather databases by using a mediated architecture. This paper discusses three approaches to developing software that uses the MetBroker system, namely Java applets, small bridging Java applications, and Java servlets. Working applications using these three approaches are presented as models for software development. All of the approaches except Java servlets require that the client computer have a copy of the Java 2 Runtime Environment. Applets have the advantage of flexibility and ease of updating, but require considerable memory and can be slow to startup. Small bridging Java applications run on the client's computer can be used to retrieve weather data from MetBroker and write it to a file, from which it can be read by models written in languages other than Java such as FORTRAN or BASIC. Models implemented as Java servlets take any input from users via HTTP requests, and output their results as HTML pages. Such models can be accessed via simple browsers such as Internet-enabled cellular phones. A fourth approach, creating ActiveX® controls from the Java beans, is being explored. Such controls would let developers using non-Java visual development tools such as Visual Basic or Active Server Pages directly include MetBroker-based components in their applications.