When the XML message mapper parses an inbound XML message, it gets the document type, the version if it is available, and the element name, one by one from the XML documents in the message. The message mapper looks up the template document defined in the ECTemplate element of the template definition file. The template document tells the message mapper the following information:
- From which element the tag mapping should be started.
- Which tag template to use.
- The command name to be invoked by the inbound message. The command could be an existing WebSphere Commerce controller command or a new one that you have created.
Once the tag mapping has started, the message mapper looks in the TemplateTag, as defined in the ECTemplate file to determine the field name and type based on the XPath generated from the inbound XML message, then sets a value for that field. The field and value pairs are stored in a TypedProperty hash table of either commandProperty or messageProperty, based on the value in the FieldInfo attribute for that field. After the whole inbound message is parsed successfully, a PropertyCommand object is returned, which contains the command name as well as the commandProperty and messageProperty objects.