Extending the Platform

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Extending the Platform

The platform may be extended at 3 logical points within the event life cycle.

1. At Entry Point:

• These extensions are responsible for injecting external event streams into the platform. Primarily they mediate betweeen the external event stream and the internal CloudEvents based Kafka Topics. These run on separate containers within the platform. The following are the typical examples.

  • Event Gateway: are the primary mechanism. To build event gateways we provide templates. Please check this document on extension.
  2. At Processing

• These are extensions that operate on internal event streams or are required by services that are created on the platform. The following are the types thereof.

  • Configuration Adapters and UIs. These are primarily used for connection setups and configurations which are applicable across the platform. Examples are the variety of connection set up UIs we provide. They are very easy to create. Use the the followinng guide to build your own.
  • Python Libraries and Modules: These are attached to the Executor. It primarily involves extending the Executor image with the required library. In order to add them to the platform use this guide.
  • Event Processing Packages: These are services that only modify event attributes which normally convert one type of event to another. These can be implemented as services within the platform. Please see following guide to see how they are used and some typical scenarios.
  • No Code Generators: Generators combine UI based with templated code to allow a no-code based approach to creating services. Please check this guide on how that works.

3. At Exit Point

• These are primarily modules that interact with external systems but operate across the example. They primarily operate on streams that originate from the platform and mediate with the outside. These run on separate containers within the platform. The following are typical implementaions. Examples are
  • Protocol Adapters They connect and integrate between the internal Kafka Event Streams and external protocols. For example webhook adapter, such as Kafka to IBM MQ adapter. Their primary purpose is to offload activity from the platform which may cause bottle necks or require long running services.
  • Splitters and Filters: These may operate on strams to split content or event infromation into derivative streams. Or feed data into supporting infrastructure. The elastissearch and Splunk adapters are typical examples. In order to build these use the following guide and related templates.