Creating a z/OS Connect data transformer

You can use the z/OS® Connect SPI to create a custom data transformer. Data transformers are OSGi services that implement the com.ibm.wsspi.zos.connect.DataXform SPI that is provided by z/OS Connect.

About this task

z/OS Connect data transformers are written and delivered by any component to plug into the framework. A data transformer is included with z/OS Connect and provides both to and from JSON byte arrays that are consumable by COBOL, PL/I, and C programs on z/OS.

A data transformer that is implemented for z/OS Connect is an OSGi service that connects and interacts with z/OS Connect through the OSGi framework.

Procedure

  1. Create an OSGi service that implements the z/OS Connect com.ibm.ws.zos.connect.DataXform SPI in the service.
  2. To integrate the new z/OS Connect DataXform SPI implementation with z/OS Connect, add ibm:objectClass="com.ibm.ws.zos.connect.dataXformType" to the data transformer configuration element definition in the associated metatype.
      <OCD id="custom.banking.dataXform" ibm:alias="bankingXform" name="bankingXform" description="Banking Xform" ibm:objectClass="com.ibm.ws.zos.connect.dataXformType">
        ...
      </OCD>
    If the z/OS Connect DataXform implementation is being developed to run on WebSphere Application Server version 8.5.5.9 or earlier, add the following attribute definition instead: <AD id="com.ibm.ws.zos.connect.dataXformType" required="false" type="String" ibm:final="true" name="internal" description="internal use only"/>. The attribute definition goes under the new data transformer's configuration element in the associated metatype.
      <OCD id="custom.banking.dataXform" ibm:alias="bankingXform" name="bankingXform" description="Banking Xform">
        <AD  id="com.ibm.ws.zos.connect.dataXformType" required="false" type="String" ibm:final="true" name="internal" description="internal use only"/>
        ...
      </OCD>

    The ibm:final attribute indicates that the value cannot be specified in the configuration. The name="internal" attribute indicates that tools do not display this property.

    The Java™ API documentation for each Liberty SPI is available in a separate .zip file in one of the Javadoc subdirectories of the ${wlp.install.dir}/dev directory.

    For more information, see the documentation on extending Liberty.

    Note: The Java API documentation for each Liberty SPI is detailed in the Programming interfaces (Javadoc) section of the documentation, and is also available as a separate .zip file in one of the Javadoc subdirectories of the ${wlp.install.dir}/dev directory.

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