Installation and usage

This section discusses the following:

Installing the XML ODA

For instructions on how to install this ODA with the Express Installer, see the WebSphere Business Integration Server Express Installation Guide for Linux or for Windows.

When the installation is complete, the following files are installed in the product directory on your system:

Note:
Except as otherwise noted, this document uses backslashes (\) as the convention for directory paths. For Linux installations, substitute slashes (/) for backslashes. All product path names are relative to the directory where product is installed on your system.

Before using the XML ODA

Before you run the XML ODA, verify that your system has the required files for the XML ODA. In particular, make sure that the ODA environment file has been installed in the bin subdirectory of your product directory.

Linux

Make sure that the ODA environment file, CWODAEnv.sh, is installed in the following directory: ProductDir/bin.

Windows

Make sure that the ODA environment file, CWODAEnv.bat, is installed in the following directory: ProductDir\bin.

You must also make sure that the variables are correctly set in the startup script or batch file, which runs the ODA. Open for editing the shell (start_XMLODA.sh) or batch (start_XMLODA.bat) file and confirm that the values described in Table 78 are correct.

Table 78. Shell and batch file configuration variables
Variable Explanation Example
set AGENTNAME Name of the ODA set AGENTNAME=XMLODA
set AGENT Name of the ODA's jar file

Linux: set AGENT = ${ProductDir}/ODA/XML/XMLODA.jar

WINDOWS: set AGENT = %ProductDir%\ODA\XML\XMLODA.jar

set AGENTCLASS Name of the ODA's Java class set AGENTCLASS=com.crossworlds.oda.xml.XMLAgent

After installing the XML ODA and setting configuration variables in the shell or batch file (see Table 78), you must do the following to generate business objects:

  1. Launch the XML ODA.
  2. Launch Business Object Designer Express.
  3. Follow a six-step process in Business Object Wizard, a GUI interface that Business Object Designer Express provides to configure and run an ODA.

The following sections describe these steps in detail.

Launching the XML ODA

You can launch the XML ODA with the startup script appropriate for your operating system.

Linux

start_XMLODA.sh
Windows

start_XMLODA.bat
Note:
The Windows Installer provides shortcuts to startup the ODAs it installs.

You configure and run the XML ODA using Business Object Designer Express. Business Object Wizard, which Business Object Designer Express starts, locates each ODA by the name specified in the AGENTNAME variable of each script or batch file. The default ODA name for this connector is XMLODA.

Running multiple instances of the XML ODA

You can run multiple instances of an XML ODA either on the local host machine or a remote host machine. Each instance runs on a unique port. You can specify this port number as part of launching the ODA from within Business Object Designer Express. Figure 44 illustrates the window in Business Object Designer Express from which you select the ODA to run.

Working with error and trace message files

By default, error and trace message files (the default is XMLODAAgent.txt) are located in the \ODA\messages, subdirectory under the product directory. These files use the following naming convention:

AgentNameAgent.txt

If you create multiple instances of the ODA script or batch file and provide a unique name for each represented ODA, you can have those instances use the same message file. Alternatively, you can specify different message files for each ODA instance by specifying file names in odk.dd.xml, which is the ODA deployment descriptor file installed with the XML ODA.

To specify different message files for different ODA instances, you can copy the master ODA deployment descriptor, installed at \ODA\odk.dd.xml, and edit the messagefile, tracefile, and tracelevel values accordingly. The master ODA deployment descriptor has the following format and default values:

<odk> <startup> <messagefile usestandard="true"></messagefile> </startup> <diagnostics> <tracefile usestandard="true"></tracefile> <tracelevel canoverride="true">1</tracelevel> </diagnostics> </odk>

Business Object Designer Express assumes you name each file according to the naming convention. For example, if the AGENTNAME variable specifies XMLODA1, the tool assumes that the name of the associated message file is XMLODA1Agent.txt. Therefore, when Business Object Designer Express provides the file name for verification as part of ODA configuration, the file name is based on the ODA name. Verify that the default message file is named correctly, and correct it as necessary.

Important:
Failing to correctly specify the message file's name when you configure the ODA causes it to run without messages. For more information on specifying the message file name, see Table 80.

Note:
You do not have to make separate copies of the message file to run multiple ODAs. You can specify the same message file name in the oda.dd.xml files. But you must specify distinct trace file names, because if the trace messages from different ODAs go to the same trace file, the trace messages will be undecipherable.

During the configuration process, you specify:

Table 79 describes these values.

Table 79. Tracing levels
Trace Level Description
0 Logs all errors
1 Traces all entering and exiting messages for method
2 Traces the ODA's properties and their values
3 Traces the names of all business objects
4 Traces details of all spawned threads
5 * Indicates the ODA initialization values for all of its properties * Traces a detailed status of each thread that the XML ODA spawned * Traces the business object definition dump

For information on where you configure these values, see Table 80.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2004, 2005