The infrastructure that make up ALF has been given considerable thought with respect to functions and extensibility. It is extensible both on the "top" (i.e., the tools and processes that participate in ALF) and on the "bottom" (i.e. the underlying transports and plumbing.) The ALF framework itself focuses on several main areas:
Tools make ALF aware that something significant has happened, and the ALF EventManager filters and routes those events.
Using a BPEL engine to orchestrate the ServiceFlows - sequences of tool operations that run in response to an Event.
Simplifying tools demand for authenticating credentials, whether a user is directly operating a tool or a tool is being invoked as part of a BPEL ServiceFlow.
A family of Eclipse plug-ins to configure everything from Event routing to security options.
The community effort to define the events, operations and data structures that tools will raise and exchange to provide interoperability and interchangeability.
The project defines the vision for ALF:
