This section describes the business process flow of a typical WebSphere Business Integration Server Express collaboration. The standard processes include the following:
The business process flow differs depending on the triggering verb and values of the collaboration object's configuration properties.
A collaboration can receive a triggering business object that uses the Retrieve verb. It is assumed that a source application's business object uses this verb when its attributes contain cross-referenced key values. The business object's map and the destination application's connector use the primary key to return the business object from the destination application.
Figure 81 illustrates a collaboration's process for retrieving business objects when the triggering verb is Retrieve.
Figure 82 illustrates a collaboration's Use_Retrieve Process when its USE_RETRIEVE configuration property evaluates to true. For information about the configuration property, see its entry in TABLEA3.
Figure 82. Use_Retrieve process
Table 89 illustrates the relationship between the setting for the
USE_RETRIEVE and CONVERT_CREATE properties when the triggering verb is
Create. The relationship is similar between the USE_RETRIEVE and
CONVERT_UPDATE properties.
Table 89. Relationship between the USE_RETRIEVE and CONVERT_CREATE properties
Value of USE_RETRIEVE | Value of CONVERT_CREATE | Action |
---|---|---|
true | True | Retrieve the business object from the destination application.
If the destination application does not return a business object, send the business object with the Create verb to the destination application. If the destination application returns a business object, check whether the source and destination business objects are identical:
|
false | True | Send the business object with the create verb to the destination
application.
|
false | False | Send the business object with the Create verb to the destination
application.
|
true | False | Retrieve the business object from the destination application.
If the destination application does not return a business object, send the business object with the Create verb to the destination application. If the destination application returns a business object, determine whether the source and destination business objects are identical.
|
Figure 83 illustrates a collaboration's process for filtering business objects based on values in specified attributes.
The above graphic refers to filter configuration properties with an "X_" rather than "1_" because you can add sets of filtering configuration properties to the collaboration in order to filter on multiple attributes. For more information on adding filter properties, see Filtering data in the triggering business object and Table 90.
To understand the collaboration's behavior when 1_FAIL_ON_INVALID_VALUE evaluates to false, assume that a top-level business object named BusObjA contains an array of child business objects named BusObjB. Assume further that each BusObjB child business object contains an array of child business objects named BusObjC. To filter on an attribute named Type in the BusObjB business object, set the value of 1_FILTER_ATTRIBUTE to BusObjA.BusObjB.Type. To exclude all business objects whose Type contains the value of "Non-standard", set the value of the 1_EXCLUDE_VALUES property to "Non-standard".
Now assume that one of the business objects in the array of BusObjB has a value of "Non-standard" in its Type attribute and that 1_FAIL_ON_INVALID_VALUE evaluates to false. The collaboration removes this business object and its child business objects from processing.
If a collaboration's ADDITIONAL_RETRIEVE property evaluates to true, the collaboration retrieves the business object from the destination application after it has successfully synchronized the data. This property is useful when the source application requires a full-valued business object to be returned from the destination application, but the destination application's connector does not send back a complete business object after creating or updating its data. For more information on the ADDITIONAL_RETRIEVE configuration property, see Standard properties for collaboration templates.
Figure 84 illustrates a collaboration's Additional Retrieve process.
Figure 84. Additional Retrieve process
The settings of a collaboration's SEND_EMAIL and INFORMATIONAL_EXCEPTIONS properties determine whether the collaboration does one of the following:
Figure 85 illustrates a collaboration's process for sending email and determining whether a particular exception can cause the collaboration to end in failure.