KNOTX.io is an event-driven, non-blocking integration framework that uses Vert.x and RxJava. It allows for highly scalable and modular integration of modern platforms. KNOTX provides features like data ingestion from CMSs and services, forms handling, prototyping with mocks, and extensibility through pluggable modules. It handles integration challenges through a transparent, reusable, and easily replaceable modern microservices-based architecture. Performance is optimized through asynchronous non-blocking code, event-driven architecture, and reactive programming with RxJava.

1. KNOTX.io
When Vert.x & RxJava meet
highly-efficient and scalable integration approach
for modern platforms
Maciej Laskowski
Tomasz Michalak

2. KNOTX.io
300 pageviews / second
Page available in less than 3 seconds

3. KNOTX.io

4. KNOTX.io

5. KNOTX.io
Ready?
> 300 views / s
< 0.05 s

6. KNOTX.io
Challenge
- The client is one of the biggest
perfume and cosmetics
retailer in Europe.
- Its sales concentrate on an
online platform.
- The client needs to connect
several incompatible systems.

7. KNOTX.io
Challenge

8. KNOTX.io
Traditional approach

9. KNOTX.io
Client-side approach

10. KNOTX.io
Nope!

11. KNOTX.io
Modern approach
● Scalable
● Transparent
● Reusable
● Each component
easy to replace

12. KNOTX.ioKNOTX.io
TEAMWORK

13. KNOTX.io
Modern approach

14. KNOTX.io
HACKATHON
OPEN SOURCE

15. KNOTX.io
Integration layer == Knot.x

16. KNOTX.io
Knot.x features: Data ingestion
<script
data-knotx-knots="services,handlebars"
data-knotx-service="welcome"
type="text/knotx-snippet">
<h1>{{message}}</h1>
<div>
<div>Message type - {{body.type}}</div>
<div>Statistics: {{statistics}}</div>
</div>
</script>
CMS

17. KNOTX.io
Knot.x features: Data ingestion
{
"message": "Hello from Knot.x!",
"body": {
"type": "greeting",
"priority": "1"
},
"statistics": 20
}
<script
data-knotx-knots="services,handlebars"
data-knotx-service="welcome"
type="text/knotx-snippet">
<h1>{{message}}</h1>
<div>
<div>Message type - {{body.type}}</div>
<div>Statistics: {{statistics}}</div>
</div>
</script>
CMS
Service

18. KNOTX.io
Knot.x features: Data ingestion
<h1>Hello from Knot.x!</h1>
<div>
<div>Message type - greeting</div>
<div>Statistics: 20</div>
</div>
{
"message": "Hello from Knot.x!",
"body": {
"type": "greeting",
"priority": "1"
},
"statistics": 20
}
<script
data-knotx-knots="services,handlebars"
data-knotx-service="welcome"
type="text/knotx-snippet">
<h1>{{message}}</h1>
<div>
<div>Message type - {{body.type}}</div>
<div>Statistics: {{statistics}}</div>
</div>
</script>
CMS
Service
Final page

19. KNOTX.io
Knot.x features: forms
Knot.x supports simple and multi-step
forms. Easily handles submission
errors, form validations and redirects.
Knot.x allows you to define a graph of
interconnected steps, responding to
user input or site visitor choices.

20. KNOTX.io
Knot.x features: prototyping
Knot.x gives you the ability to use
simple Mocks. This allows you to
expose your sample data directly to
pages even if the real service is not
available yet, and switch to the real
service without any further
development work.

21. KNOTX.io
Knot.x features: extensions
Knot.x is a fully modular platform with
very flexible extension points that we
call Knots and Adapters that
efficiently communicates with Knot.x
Core using event bus. Thanks to the
polyglot nature of Vert.x you can
implement extensions in languages
other than Java.

22. KNOTX.io
is
an event-driven, non-blocking, polyglot
application framework
that runs on the Java Virtual Machine

23. KNOTX.io
Actor-like modules in Vert.x
VerticleHandlers
HTTP?

24. KNOTX.io
Vert.x Event Bus
Machine

25. KNOTX.io
Vert.x Event Bus
heavy
load

26. KNOTX.io
Vert.x Event Bus

27. KNOTX.io
Vert.x Event Bus
Machine 2Machine 1

28. KNOTX.io
Knot.x Architecture
- CMS (Repository) responds
with HTML markup.
- REST services respond with
JSON.
Knot.x Core
Modules

29. KNOTX.io
Knot.x Architecture

30. KNOTX.io
Performance
What’s ?
- message
- notification,
- HTTP request
- command/instruction
- file
- result
- error

31. KNOTX.io
Handlers
void operation(param1, param2,
Handler< > handler) {
// …
handler.handle( );
// …
}
void handle( ) {
// do something with
}
Event Loop
The Golden Rule: don’t block the Event Loop

32. KNOTX.io
Multi-thread

33. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search

34. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search (Vert.x Callbacks)
public class RequestHandler implements Handler<HttpServerRequest> {
@Override
public void handle(HttpServerRequest request) {
vertx.eventBus().send("user-tracking", userId, reply1 -> {
String userTrackingData = (String) reply1.result().body();
});
}
}

35. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search (Vert.x Callbacks)
public class RequestHandler implements Handler<HttpServerRequest> {
@Override
public void handle(HttpServerRequest request) {
vertx.eventBus().send("user-tracking", userId, reply1 -> {
String userTrackingData = (String) reply1.result().body();
vertx.eventBus().send("search-engine", query, reply2 -> {
String searchEngineData = (String) reply2.result().body();
});
});
}
}

36. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search (Vert.x Callbacks)
public class RequestHandler implements Handler<HttpServerRequest> {
@Override
public void handle(HttpServerRequest request) {
vertx.eventBus().send("user-tracking", userId, reply1 -> {
String userTrackingData = (String) reply1.result().body();
vertx.eventBus().send("search-engine", query, reply2 -> {
String searchEngineData = (String) reply2.result().body();
String combinedData = userTrackingData + "-" + searchEngineData;
vertx.eventBus().send("personalize", combinedData, reply3 -> {
request.response().end("Personalized results are: " + reply3.result().body());
});
});
});
}
}

37. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search (Vert.x Callbacks)

38. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search (Vert.x Callbacks)

39. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search (Vert.x Callbacks)

40. KNOTX.io
Callback Hell
public class RequestHandler implements Handler<HttpServerRequest> {
@Override
public void handle(HttpServerRequest request) {
vertx.eventBus().send("user-tracking", userId, reply1 -> {
String userTrackingData = (String) reply1.result().body();
vertx.eventBus().send("search-engine", query, reply2 -> {
String searchEngineData = (String) reply2.result().body();
String combinedData = userTrackingData + "-" + searchEngineData;
vertx.eventBus().send("personalize", combinedData, reply3 -> {
request.response().end("Personalized results are: " + reply3.result().body());
});
});
});
}
}

41. KNOTX.io

42. KNOTX.io
RxJava - Observable
source: http://reactivex.io/intro.html

43. KNOTX.io
RxJava
Observable.subscribe(
onNext( ),
onError( ),
onCompleted()
);
X
Data stream #1:
Data stream #2: X
|
|
Each form the stream goes here.
Whenever any error happens, it triggers
onError and finishes processing.
X
When all were processed (no more
events: ), this is triggered|

44. KNOTX.io
RxJava
Observable.subscribe(
onNext( ),
onError( ),
onCompleted()
);
Data stream #1: |
x3
x1

45. KNOTX.io
RxJava
Observable.subscribe(
onNext( ),
onError( ),
onCompleted()
);
X
Data stream #2:
X |
x2
x1

46. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search (RxJava)
public class RequestHandler implements Handler<HttpServerRequest> {
@Override
public void handle(HttpServerRequest request) {
Observable<Message<String>> reply1 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("user-tracking", userId);
Observable<Message<String>> reply2 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("search-engine", query);
}
}

47. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search (RxJava)
public class RequestHandler implements Handler<HttpServerRequest> {
@Override
public void handle(HttpServerRequest request) {
Observable<Message<String>> reply1 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("user-tracking", userId);
Observable<Message<String>> reply2 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("search-engine", query);
Observable
.zip(reply1, reply2, (Message resp1, Message resp2) -> resp1.body() + "-" + resp2.body())
.subscribe(combinedData -> vertx.eventBus().sendObservable("personalize", combinedData)
.subscribe(reply3 ->
request.response().end("Personalized results are: " + reply3.body()))
);
}
}

48. KNOTX.io
Personalized Search (RxJava)

49. KNOTX.io
RxJava - abstraction over low-level threading
public class RequestHandler implements Handler<HttpServerRequest> {
@Override
public void handle(HttpServerRequest request) {
Observable<Message<String>> reply1 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("user-tracking", userId);
Observable<Message<String>> reply2 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("search-engine", query);
Observable
.zip(reply1, reply2, (Message resp1, Message resp2) -> resp1.body() + "-" + resp2.body())
.subscribe(combinedData -> vertx.eventBus().sendObservable("personalize", combinedData)
.subscribe(reply3 ->
request.response().end("Personalized results are: " + reply3.body()))
);
}
}
Nothing happens
here. Just
declarations.

50. KNOTX.io
RxJava - abstraction over low-level threading
public class RequestHandler implements Handler<HttpServerRequest> {
@Override
public void handle(HttpServerRequest request) {
Observable<Message<String>> reply1 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("user-tracking", userId);
Observable<Message<String>> reply2 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("search-engine", query);
Observable
.zip(reply1, reply2, (Message resp1, Message resp2) -> resp1.body() + "-" + resp2.body())
.subscribe(combinedData -> vertx.eventBus().sendObservable("personalize", combinedData)
.subscribe(reply3 ->
request.response().end("Personalized results are: " + reply3.body()))
);
}
}
Nothing happens
here. Just
declarations.
Also, no actions
here until we
subscribe.

51. KNOTX.io
RxJava - abstraction over low-level threading
public class RequestHandler implements Handler<HttpServerRequest> {
@Override
public void handle(HttpServerRequest request) {
Observable<Message<String>> reply1 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("user-tracking", userId);
Observable<Message<String>> reply2 = vertx.eventBus()
.sendObservable("search-engine", query);
Observable
.zip(reply1, reply2, (Message resp1, Message resp2) -> resp1.body() + "-" + resp2.body())
.subscribe(combinedData -> vertx.eventBus().sendObservable("personalize", combinedData)
.subscribe(reply3 ->
request.response().end("Personalized results are: " + reply3.body()))
);
}
}
Nothing happens
here. Just
declarations.
Also, no actions
here until we
subscribe.
This subscribe triggers
simultaneous calls to search-engine
and user-tracking.
This subscribe triggers calling
personalized service.

52. KNOTX.io
RxJava - Marble Diagrams

53. KNOTX.io
RxJava - Marble Diagrams

54. KNOTX.io
Live demo
https://goo.gl/lqG76x

55. KNOTX.io
Thank you
● Tutorials: www.knotx.io
● Sources & Wiki: https://github.com/Cognifide/knotx
● Twitter: @knotx_project
● Gitter / Google Groups
Maciej Laskowski
@skejven
https://github.com/Skejven
Tomasz Michalak
@tomichalak
https://github.com/tomaszmichalak