Configuring InterChange Server

For your interactions between WebSphere Partner Gateway and InterChange Server, you must create an Integration Component Library (ICL) within the System Manager tool. This ICL will include the following artifacts:

You must also create a user product and select from the ICL those artifacts required for your particular interaction between InterChange Server and WebSphere Partner Gateway.

Note: For more information on how to create ICLs and configure InterChange Server, see the System Implementation Guide in the WebSphere InterChange Server documentation set.

Creating business object definitions

WebSphere Partner Gateway sends your message to an adapter, which routes the message to InterChange Server in the form of one or more business objects. For InterChange Server to recognize a business object, it must first locate a template, called a business object definition, to describe the structure of the information in the business object. Each piece of information in a business object definition is held in an attribute. Therefore, you must create business object definitions to represent the information in your message. To create business object definitions, use the Business Object Designer tool.

Note: Business Object Designer is included as part of both the WebSphere InterChange Server and the WebSphere Business Integration Adapter products. For more information on the use of this tool, see the Business Object Development Guide.

InterChange Server uses business objects for the following information:

Business object for the document

To hold the payload of the WebSphere Partner Gateway document or message, you must define a business object definition to represent the payload business object. It is in the form of a payload business object that the adapter transfers the document into (or out of) InterChange Server. This section provides the following information on the payload business object:

Business object structure

The payload business object must be designed so that each piece of information in the document that you want to transfer has an attribute in its associated payload business object definition. As Table 30 shows, the contents of the payload business object depend on the structure of the document and the packaging type that the document uses.

Table 30. Relationship of packaging to the structure of the payload business object
Document structure Packaging type Payload business object definition
Payload only None Holds the payload information of the document.
Payload only Backend Integration

Holds:

  • The payload information of the document
  • Transport-level headers
Payload and attachments None Not applicable. You must use Backend Integration packaging if your document contains attachments.
Payload and attachments

The document contains an XML wrapper, called a transport envelope, in which both the payload and attachments are wrapped.

Backend Integration

Holds:

  • The payload information of the document
  • Transport-level headers
  • The attachment container, which holds the attachment data and any attachment business objects

A WebSphere Partner Gateway-supplied data handler, called the Attachment data handler, is required to process the transport envelope. For more information, see Handling documents with attachments.

The payload business object must also be designed according to the requirements of the particular adapter used for integration with WebSphere Partner Gateway. Table 31 provides information on where to find details of how to create the payload business object for transfer over a particular transport protocol.

Table 31. Creating payload business objects for different transport protocols
Transport protocol Notes and restrictions For more information
HTTP Creating business object definitions for ICS over HTTP
JMS If document uses Backend Integration packaging Creating business object definitions for JMS
All If document has attachments Creating attachment-related business object definitions
Business object conversion

Usually, the adapter uses a data handler to convert between the format of the document and its business-object representation. This data handler is called the payload data handler. The adapter must be configured to call the appropriate data handler for the payload's content type. Usually, the WebSphere Business Integration Data Handler for XML is configured as the payload data handler because it converts between XML messages and business objects. However, you can create custom data handlers for any message formats that do not have a corresponding data handler provided by WebSphere Business Integration Server.

Note: For processing XML messages, make sure you are using the WebSphere Business Integration Data Handler for XML, version 2.3.1 or higher. For cXML messages, you must use the Data Handler for XML, version 2.4.1 or higher.

You must make sure the payload data handlers you are using can ignore the child meta-objects that are required by the transport protocol you are using. Before using a data handler (whether it is supplied by WebSphere Business Integration or whether it is a custom data handler), make sure it provides support for child meta-objects. Refer to the section on the cw_mo_label tag in the business object's application-specific information in the appropriate section for your transport protocol (see Table 31).

To indicate which data handler to use to convert the payload, you must take the following steps:

  1. Identify the MIME type that the data handler must support to convert the payload and locate a data handler that can handle this MIME type.

    The Data Handler Guide in the WebSphere Business Integration Adapter documentation set describes the data handlers that IBM provides. If none of these data handlers can work, you can create a custom data handler.

  2. In Business Object Designer, create a child meta-object for the data handler you need to use. If you are using an IBM-provided data handler, refer to the Data Handler Guide for information on the structure of the child meta-object.
  3. In Business Object Designer, update the top-level data-handler meta-object for connectors to include an attribute for the supported MIME type. The attribute type for this attribute is the data handler's child meta-object.
  4. In Connector Configurator, set the appropriate connector configuration properties to identify the data handler to use:
    Note: You set either the DataHandlerConfigMO and DataHandlerMimeType properties or the DataHandlerClassName property.
  5. In Connector Configurator, include the top-level data-handler meta-object in the list of supported business objects.
InterChange Server terminology

For InterChange Server, the name of the payload business object depends on the direction of the communication, as follows:

Business objects for configuration information

For many of the adapters, you create business object definitions to hold configuration information. Such business objects are often called meta-objects.

Table 32 provides information on where to find details of how to create the data business object for transfer over a particular transport protocol.

Table 32. Sections that describe business-object creation
Transport protocol Related component For more information
HTTP Adapter for HTTP Creating HTTP transport-level header information for ICS
JMS Adapter for JMS Creating JMS header information
All Attachment data handler Creating the Attachment child meta-object

Creating the connectors

You must create a connector object for the adapter you will be using. This connector object represents an instance of the adapter at run-time. You create connector objects within InterChange Server's System Manager tool.

Note: For information on how to create connector objects, refer to the System Implementation Guide in the WebSphere InterChange Server documentation set.

Table 33 summarizes where to find information about how to create connector objects, based on the transport protocol you are using.

Table 33. Creating connector objects for different transport protocols
Transport protocol Adapter For more information
HTTP Adapter for HTTP Creating the HTTP connector object
JMS Adapter for JMS Creating the JMS connector object

Creating the collaborations

It is the collaboration, within InterChange Server, that performs the actual business process you need. Therefore, the appropriate collaboration must exist for InterChange Server to correctly process your WebSphere Partner Gateway documents. Make sure you take the following steps to make the appropriate collaboration available at run-time:

  1. Ensure that a collaboration template exists that provides the business process you need:
  2. Create a collaboration object and bind its ports, as follows:

Table 34 summarizes where to find information about how to create connector objects, based on the transport protocol you are using.

Table 34. Collaboration binding for different transport protocols
Transport protocol Adapter For more information
HTTP Adapter for HTTP Binding collaborations to communicate with Adapter for HTTP
JMS Adapter for JMS Binding collaborations to communicate with Adapter for JMS

Deploying the project

After your user project contains the artifacts that define the run-time components needed, you must deploy it to the InterChange Server repository. You deploy a user project within System Manager.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2005