Working with components in integration component libraries

The majority of your time is spent working with integration components when you implement a WebSphere Business Integration Server Express integration system. Although this guide does not go into detail about how to develop individual components, this section does cover how to launch the designer tools, how to start creating new components, how to start modifying existing components, and how to work with the few components that are developed in System Manager.

For more information on how to develop integration components, see the following guides:

For information on working with components that you have developed and deployed to an InterChange Server Express instance, see Working with components in an InterChange Server Express repository.

Naming component guidelines

When you create components, keep in mind the following general guidelines and requirements

In the interest of backward compatibility, IBM enforces only a few naming requirements. However, because naming is subject to restrictions from underlying system components, follow the conventions in this guide. For example, Java imposes restrictions on Java class names, and your operating system and database likely have restrictions on the length of and characters used in file names.

Launching designer tools

This section describes the different ways you can launch each of the designer tools. You can use the designer tools to create new components or to open and modify existing components.

Note:
If you attempt to launch one of the designer tools and experience an error about a class not being found, you must launch System Manager and then try to launch the designer tool again. System Manager does not have to remain running after the tool is initially launched, however.

Business Object Designer Express

To launch Business Object Designer Express, do one of the following:

For more information on Business Object Designer Express, see the Business Object Development Guide.

Connector Configurator

To launch Connector Configurator, do one of the following:

For more information on Connector Configurator, see Configuring connectors .

Map Designer Express

To launch Map Designer Express, do one of the following:

For more information on Map Designer Express, see the Map Development Guide.

Relationship Designer Express

To launch Relationship Designer Express, do one of the following:

For more information on Relationship Designer Express, see the Map Development Guide.

Process Designer Express

To launch Process Designer Express, do one of the following:

For more information on Process Designer Express, see the Collaboration Development Guide.

Creating new components

For the following components, launching their respective designer tools as described in Launching designer tools allows you to create a new component of that type:

Some components do not have dedicated designer tools, so you create them in interfaces displayed by System Manager. To create new collaboration objects, database connection pools, and schedules see Table 4:

Table 4. Techniques for creating new integration components without designer tools

Component Technique For more information, see...
Collaboration object Right-click the Collaboration Objects folder in the WebSphere Business Integration System view and select Create New Collaboration Object from the context menu Configuring collaboration objects
Database connection pool Right-click the Database Connection Pools folder in the WebSphere Business Integration System view and select Create New Database Connection from the context menu Configuring database connection pools
Schedule
  • Right-click the Schedules folder in the WebSphere Business Integration System view and select Edit Components' schedule from the context menu
  • Right-click any component that can be scheduled in a library or the shortcut to any component that can be scheduled in a user project and select Edit Components' schedule from the context menu

System Administration Guide
Web service To designate a Web service as an integration component, right-click theWebServices folder in the WebSphere Business Integration System view and select Register New Web Service from the context menu. Designating web services as integration components

Designating web services as integration components

This section describes how to register and invoke a web service as an integration component in System Manager and contains the following sections:

Overview

Web services are self-contained, modular, distributed, dynamic applications that can be described, published, located, and invoked over the network to create products, processes, and supply chains. They can be local, distributed, or Web-based. Web services are built on top of open standards such as TCP/IP, HTTP, Java, HTML, and XML. Web services use new standard technologies such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) for messaging, and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) and WSDL (Web Services Description Language) for publishing and discovery.

Using System Manager, you can register a web service as a component of an integration component library (ICL). The registration process lists the web service as a component under Integration Component Libraries and automatically generates the business objects that InterChange Server Express will use to communicate with the web service. You can also use System Manager to test the registered web service before deploying it to the server.

Registering a web service

In System Manager, use the Register a new web service wizard to register a web service.

  1. To start the wizard, expandIntegration Component Libraries in the WebSphere Business Integration System view, right-click the WebServices folder, and select Register New Web Service. The Choose a method to register web services page appears.
  2. Click one of the following options:
    Option Description
    Enter a URL for WSDL file Allows you to specify the exact web service you want to register
    Search UDDI registry for a web service Allows you to specify a UDDI registry that you can further search to locate the web service.
  3. Click Next.
  4. If you clicked Enter a URL for WSDL file in Step 2, the Please enter WSDL URL page appears. In the WSDL URL field, specify the URL of the service you wish to register, click Next, and proceed to Step 8.
  5. If you clicked Search UDDI registry for a web service in Step 2, the Searching for web services page appears. Do the following:
    1. In the Search terms field, type the search criteria for the web service you wish to find.
    2. Select one or more of the following supported UDDI registries:
      • IBM UDDI Registry
      • Microsoft UDDI Registry
      • XMethods UDDI Registry
    3. Click Search. The Search Results tab displays the names of those registries in which results have been found. If the registry you selected is not available, an error message appears on the page.
  6. For each registry name on the list, do the following:
  7. Select the name of the web service you want to register and click next to proceed to the next page of the wizard. The New Web service is found page appears.
  8. On the New Web service is found page, you can do the following:
  9. When you click on an available method, more information (if available) will be displayed on the right hand pane. Note that the Fault(s) parameter is used to store errors or exceptions that may occur when the service is called.
  10. Click Finish to register the web service.

Viewing a registered web service

After you have registered a web service you can view it in System Manager.

  1. Under Integration Component Libraries > WebServices, double-click the name of the web service: The Overview tab appears.
  2. Click the Overview tab to display the Available Operations page. This page provides the list of services, or methods, for that web service. The Web Service Methods panel, which appears to the right of the Available Operations page, also displays the list of methods.

    All the methods of the web service, whether you intend to use them or not, are registered and appear on the Available Operations page, in the Operation column.

    The business objects that were created for each method when you registered the web service (see Registering a web service) are listed under the Input BO and Output BO columns.

  3. To refresh the list, click the Create Business Objects Definitions button.
  4. In the Web Service Methods panel, select a method to view its parameters in the Method Parameters panel. Parameters are listed under the Input, Output, and Fault categories.

Using web service business objects

If you manually create customized business objects for use with a web service, when you deploy your project you must include certain business objects that get generated automatically when you register that web service.

Each web service that you register requires some customized business objects in order to function properly. When you register a new web service, a default set of these business objects is generated automatically, and placed in the business objects folder. You can recognize these business objects by the WS prefix in their names:

WS_<name of webservice>

These automatically-generated business objects can be used in maps and collaborations just like any other business objects. Using them can save you the manual work of creating your own business objects. You can choose to create and use your own business objects instead--but because of certain dependencies between objects, if you choose to use your own customized business objects with a web service, you will also need to manually deploy the following businss objects from your System Manager project to the server:

If you do not do this, after you deploy the project and start the server, you may see the following error message:

BusOBj definition xxx not found

Testing a registered web service

You can test a registered web service before deploying it to the integration server.

  1. Under Integration Component Libraries > WebServices, double-click the name of the web service. The Overview tab appears, along with the Web Service Methods panel and the Method Parameters panel.
  2. In the Web Service Methods panel, select a method.
  3. In the Overview page, either double-click on the method name, or right-click it and select Test to test the method. A business object editing page appears with the name of the input and output business objects for the method. This page is used to test the input business object.
  4. To test the business object, do the following:
  5. Click the panel of each web service method with which you want to test the business objects created when you registered the service.

Modifying existing components

To modify business objects, maps, relationships, and collaboration templates you can do the following:

See Table 5 for information on how to modify collaboration objects, database connection pools, and schedules:

Table 5. Techniques for modifying integration components without designer tools

Component Technique For more information, see...
Collaboration object Double-click the collaboration object in the Collaboration Objects folder in the WebSphere Business Integration System view Configuring collaboration objects
Database connection pool You cannot modify a database connection pool. You may modify some properties of the pool component, but cannot change definition elements such as the database to which the pool connects. Configuring database connection pools
Schedule
  • Right-click the Schedules folder in the WebSphere Business Integration System view and select Edit Components' schedule from the context menu
  • Right-click any component that can be scheduled in a library or the shortcut to any component that can be scheduled in a user project and select Edit Components' schedule from the context menu

The "Schedule" interface appears and allows you to modify schedules that have been defined.

System Administration Guide

Importing components into a library from a server using the import wizard

You can import integration components into a library from an InterChange Server Express repository.

Do the following to import components into an integration component library from an InterChange Server Express repository:

Note:
To import components into a library from an InterChange Server Express instance, the server must be running. If System Manager is not connected to the server when you start the "Import components" wizard then no components will be displayed for importing.
  1. Connect System Manager to InterChange Server Express as described in Connecting to InterChange Server Express.
  2. In the WebSphere Business Integration System Manager view, right-click the library into which you want to import components, select Import components from server from the context menu, and then do one of the following to start the "Import components" wizard:

    System Manager displays the "Import the additional components from the server" wizard, as shown in Figure 13.

    Figure 13. Importing components from the server


  3. Enable checkboxes next to the servers, component groups, or individual components that you want to import from the server.
  4. Enable the Deep checkbox if you also want to import the dependencies of the component. For more information about dependencies, see Dependencies and references.
  5. If you know you want to overwrite any components you currently have in the library that have the same name as those you selected to import from the server, enable the Overwrite the existing components without warning checkbox. If you don't know whether you want to overwrite existing components, disable the checkbox.
  6. Click Finish.
  7. If you enabled the Overwrite the existing components without warning checkbox, any existing components of the same name will be overwritten without warning. If you disable the checkbox, a confirmation dialog will prompt you to replace or not replace each component of the same name. If you do not want to replace the component, choose Cancel; the component will not be overwritten, and the confirmation dialog will close.

Importing components into a library from the server using drag-and-drop

Do the following to import components into an integration component library by using drag-and-drop techniques among the System Manager views:

  1. Do the following in the InterChange Server Express Component Management view to select the components you want to deploy:
  2. Drag-and-drop the selected resources onto the integration component library into which you want to import the components in the WebSphere Business Integration System Manager view.

    System Manager attempts to import the components to the specified integration component library. Messages and errors are displayed in the Console view.

Importing components into a library from a package

You can export integration components to a .jar file package, as described in Exporting components to a package using System Manager. This makes it easy to migrate components between environments, share them with other developers, and submit them to technical support.

Do the following to import components into an integration component library from a package:

Important:
If there are components with the same name as those in the package you are importing, System Manager overwrites the existing components without a warning.
  1. Right-click an integration component library and choose Import from Repository File from the context menu.

    System Manager displays the "Import Repository File" wizard, as shown in Figure 14.

    Figure 14. Importing a package


  2. At the "Import Repository File" screen, ensure that the Integration Component Library Name drop-down menu contains the name of the library into which you want to import the components.

    If you launched the "Import from Repository File" wizard from a library other than the one into which you want to import the components, you can change the destination this way instead of closing the wizard and launching it again.

  3. Do one of the following to specify the components you want imported:
  4. Click Finish.
Note:
Do not use the File > Import menu item in the workbench to import a package file. Although the "Zip file" wizard works with archives with the .jar extension, and InterChange Server Express package files have a .jar extension, the "Zip file" wizard does not work properly with package files.

Modifying map and collaboration object properties in integration component libraries

Maps and collaboration objects have properties that you can modify to change the behavior of those components. To modify the properties of a component, right-click either the component in an integration component library or a shortcut to it in a user project and select Properties from the context menu. System Manager displays a dialog to configure the properties of the component.

For more information about collaboration object properties, see Configuring collaboration objects.

For more information about map properties, see the Map Development Guide.

Creating synonyms for map automation

The Map Designer Express tool has a feature that allows you to create maps and reverse maps automatically between business objects that have source and destination attributes with similar attributes. To do this, Map Designer Express looks for attributes with matching names between the source and destination business objects.

System Manager enables you to enhance this basic matching process by creating multiple synonyms for attribute names of business objects.

This is done at the ICL project level in System Manager. The synonyms created are attached to the ICL, and are used by the map automation algorithm when it is invoked by Map Designer.The synonyms created are attached to the ICL project, and are used by the map automation algorithm when it is invoked by Map DesignerThe synonyms created are attached to the ICL project, and are used by the map automation algorithm when it is invoked by Map DesignerThe synonyms created are attached to the ICL project, and are used by the map automation algorithm when it is invoked by Map Designer."The synonyms created are attached to the ICL project, and are used by the map automation algorithm when it is invoked by Map Designer.""The synonyms created are attached to the ICL project, and are used by the map automation algorithm when it is invoked by Map Designer."

After they have been created, the synonyms from one ICL can be exported to a file (*.syn), and that file can be imported into another ICL. To export or import a synonyms file, right-click on the ICL, and click Synonyms > Export or Synonyms > Import.

Following are the steps for creating synonyms.

For a complete discussion of map automation, see the Map Development Guide.

Steps for creating synonyms

To add synonyms for attributes present in business objects, perform the following steps:

  1. Right-click on an ICL in System Manager to open the Context menu. Click Synonyms > Edit.

    Figure 1 shows the Synonyms option in the Context menu.

    Figure 15. Synonyms option in the Context menu

    Result: After you click Edit, the Synonyms window opens.

    Figure 2 shows the Synonyms window.

    Figure 16. Synonyms window

  2. On the left-hand side are the business objects. On the right-hand side are two windows for configuring synonyms for attributes: Business Object Specific and Global.
    1. From the business objects on the left-hand side, select the attributes you want to use and drag and drop them onto the right-hand side under the Attribute column in the Business Object Specific window.
    2. From the business objects on the left-hand side, select the attributes you want to use as synonyms and drag and drop them onto the right-hand side under the Synonyms column of the Business Object Specific window.
    3. Repeat steps 2a and 2b to configure synonyms that apply to all the business objects in the project. Drag and drop the selected attributes under the Attribute column and the Synonyms column, respectively, in the Global window.

Result: Map Designer Express will search for all the synonyms for a given attribute and perform automatic mapping when it finds the matches.

Tip: Use the same procedure to edit attribute and synonym entries and to add comma strings under the Synonyms column.

Example: The synonym configuration shown in Figure 2 will have the following results:

This topic described the procedure for setting up the synonyms in System Manager. For information about how to utilize the map automation feature when you work with Map Designer Express, see the Map Development Guide.

Validating database connection pools

There is a context menu item named Validate Connection for database connection pool components. For more information about this menu item, see Validating database connection pools..

Compiling maps and collaboration templates

You can compile maps and collaboration templates in System Manager, which is very convenient because components must be compiled to be deployed or exported to a package.

If the component you are compiling uses libraries that are not provided by IBM--for example, libraries in which you have created some components yourself--then you must configure System Manager to reference those libraries. For more information, see 4 for information about the "Compiler" preferences interface.

Do one of the following to compile a map or collaboration template:

Do one of the following to compile all the maps or collaboration templates in an integration component library:

To compile a map with its submaps, right-click the map in an integration component library or the shortcut to a map in a user project and select Compile with submap(s) from the context menu.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2004