The much-anticipated SanFrancisco Application Business Components product from IBM provides a platform-independent infrastructure and ready-built components for constructing business applications. SanFrancisco is one of largest software projects based on Java technology, providing Common Business Objects that can be used in many different application domains and Core Business Processes that each address a specific application domain. SanFrancisco(tm) Design Patterns documents the design patterns identified as part of this ambitious multidomain development effort.

Design patterns are the heart of SanFrancisco. Whether building a business application in SanFrancisco or from scratch, the patterns identified in this book will help you build flexibility, power, and strength into your business applications. This book follows the format established by the seminal Design Patterns, with a case study providing a business context for patterns running throughout the book. The authors focus on the generic use of these patterns, using SanFrancisco as an example.

With this book as your guide, you will learn how to use and extend these patterns within the context of a business application's requirements. SanFrancisco(tm) Design Patterns explains the purpose, design, and implementation of patterns in the following categories:

Foundational patterns, which provide an underlying structure for all SanFrancisco-based business objects and produce mechanisms for creating business objects, changing behavior, and constructing business processes. Behavioral patterns, which describe various methods of incorporating flexible algorithms throughout a business application. Structural patterns, which focus on how business information is organized and accessed throughout a framework or application. Process patterns, which define how businesses organize and process information. Dynamic behavioral patterns, which support the structural and behavioral transformation of business objects throughout their lifecycles. These transformations include the addition and removal of attributes and capabilities (methods).